Oklahoma's 911 system experienced an outage affecting emergency calls amid AT&T issues. Service was restored at 10:50 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, according to state emergency officials.
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management
said AT&T issues were affecting 911 calls in Oklahoma. The State Emergency Operations Center said it was aware of the issues.
Local agencies provided alternate numbers for residents seeking emergency help while 911 service was affected.
Officials Warn Against Testing the Line
Emergency management officials also issued a pointed caution during the disruption: do not call 911 just to check whether your phone service or local emergency system is working. Test calls of that kind can clog the few operational emergency lines that remain during an outage, worsening the exact problem officials were trying to manage.
The Wednesday incident is not the first time Oklahoma's 911 infrastructure has buckled under a telecommunications failure. A fire at a downtown Tulsa AT&T building previously knocked out primary 911 lines across Tulsa County, according to News On 6, forcing police in Tulsa, Owasso, Sand Springs, and Jenks to reroute emergency calls and rely on physical drop-in points at QuikTrip locations and fire stations.
A Carrier With a Troubled Track Record
A February 2024 AT&T outage lasted nearly 12 hours and involved 911 failures, according to Total Telecom.
AT&T was fined nearly $1 million over 911 failures, according to Total Telecom.
Statewide 911 Oversight
Statewide oversight and standardization of 911 operations in Oklahoma fall under the Oklahoma 9-1-1 Management Authority.
That modernization push comes as AT&T moves to retire the older infrastructure altogether. The carrier filed a Section 214 application with the FCC in July 2026 seeking approval to discontinue legacy landline voice services in select wire centers across Oklahoma and four other states on or after October 16, 2026, according to filings with the Florida Public Service Commission.
