911 services in Minnesota unaffected by AT&T outage, DPS says
MINNEAPOLIS — A widespread outage affecting AT&T customers has not impacted 911 services in Minnesota, according to the state's Department of Public Safety.
"AT&T customers may be having difficulty making calls, sending and receiving texts and accessing the internet," DPS said. "While 911 services remain operational, if you're an AT&T user and encounter difficulties reaching out, please use an alternative device on a different carrier or a landline to contact 911."
In a statement, AT&T said some of its customers are experiencing outages, though it did not say how many were affected or what caused the issues. The website Downdetector.com showed tens of thousands of customers reporting no service. Other providers said their networks remain operational, but customers may have trouble reaching people using AT&T.
The city of Minneapolis echoed DPS' advice in a statement: "If you are having trouble contacting 911, please use a landline or call using a different phone."
Officials in other states, including Massachusetts and Illinois, were asking residents not to call 911 to test their phones.
AT&T recommended customers use Wi-Fi calling if they lack cellular service. If you see an "SOS" message on your iPhone, you should still be able to make emergency calls, according to Apple.
