In the midst of an emergency, every person’s worst nightmare is being unable to reach 911. This was exactly the case for over 11 million CenturyLink customers across 7 states during a 6 hour window. This lapse is expected to incur one of the biggest 911-related fines in FCC history at $16 million.
The FCC takes the welfare of customer safety very seriously. These hefty fines demonstrate the enormity of such widespread failure. The outage affected areas in parts of Washington, Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
An investigation was conducted to evaluate how the provider addressed the emergency call center disruptions. It was determined that the outage was preventable. According to the FCC, there were measures not taken to prevent the problem or address it in a timely manner.
"Americans need to be confident that the service they use to reach first responders is reliable and accessible in their time of need," said FCC chairman Tom Wheeler. "Providers have a responsibility to ensure that Americans can use 911 to call for help any time. When a company fails to live up to its obligations, it will be held accountable."
Intrado Communications, the 911 support service for CenturyLink, has already reached a settlement of $1.4 million. In addition, Verizon will end up paying $3.4 million to the FCC for a 911 outage of their own. The disruption came about due to a software coding error. It seems inevitable that CenturyLink will end up paying their $16 million fine. Hopefully, this does not become a trend across provider platforms.
Launch 3 Telecom is a distributor of new and used telecom equipment that helps phone lines function at peak capabilities. In the event of a failure, we can perform routine maintenance and repair services. For more information, contact Launch 3 at 877-878-9134 or email Sales@launch3.net.
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