Massachusetts residents inundated 911 call centers with non-emergency calls to check if their cell phones were operational amid a widespread cellular service snafu sweeping across the country. The Massachusetts State Police, grappling with the surge of calls, issued an urgent plea on earlier today, insisting that locals avoid dialing 911 to test their connection.
"Please do not do this," the agency implored in a social media post on X shortly after 9 a.m. The state police advised that "If you can successfully place a non-emergency call to another number via your cell service then your 911 service will also work," according to a report by Boston 25 News.
Many 911 centers in the state are getting flooded w/ calls from people trying to see if 911 works from their cell phone. Please do not do this. If you can successfully place a non-emergency call to another number via your cell service then your 911 service will also work. #outage
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) February 22, 2024
Issues started in the wee hours, with AT&T customers reporting upwards of 74,000 incidents of outages from around 3:30 a.m. "Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them," the network said in a statement, encouraging users to lean on Wi-Fi calling until normal service resumed, as chronicled by The Boston Herald.
While AT&T bore the brunt, other cell carriers like Cricket Wireless and Verizon were also snagged by the outage, per Downdetector data. Cricket experienced over 12,700 complaints shortly after 9:15 a.m., and T-Mobile registered over 1,800. However, T-Mobile rejected notions of a breakdown, asserting "Our network is operating normally. Down Detector is likely reflecting challenges our customers were having attempting to connect to users on other networks," the company clarified in a reason.
As authorities grapple with the technology hiccup, they remind the public to use landlines for emergency calls if cell phones fail. The Massachusetts State Police stress the importance of keeping 911 lines open for real emergencies and confirmed they are "monitoring the outage situation involving some commercial cellular carriers."
