Jan. 12, 2021

Faulty Equipment to Blame for 911 Issue in Minnesota 

911 Dispatchers Create Workaround to Speak With Callers

ST. PAUL —The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Emergency Communication Networks division (DPS-ECN) is learning more about the incident that affected 911 service for residents in eight southeastern Minnesota counties on Monday, Jan. 11.

People in Dodge, Freeborn, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha and Winona counties experienced issues when attempting to call 911 between 12:56 p.m. and 8:08 p.m. Monday. Callers could speak to a dispatcher and heard the dispatcher speak, but the dispatcher could not hear the caller.

To work around this issue, the PSAPs (public safety answering points), or 911 dispatch centers, used caller information from their display screens to contact each caller using their administrative lines. In addition, PSAPs encouraged people who needed help to use their 10-digit, 24-hour, non-emergency numbers until service was restored. Text-to-911 service was also operational at that time.

CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies) is the state’s 911 service provider. Representatives now say that a bad card that supports a large national fiber in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is to blame for the issue- and not a fiber line cut as they previously indicated. Engineers rebooted the equipment, which resolved the issue and fully restored service. Lumen Technologies is still investigating and will provide a Reason for Outage (RFO) in three to five business days as required by its contract with DPS-ECN.

It is important to note that 911 service was operable for the duration of this incident. No 911 calls went unanswered. The network was working as intended. Calls were routed accurately and were answered by PSAPs. The DPS-ECN oversees Minnesota’s 911 program and is committed to maintaining a robust, secure, state-of-the-art 911 system you can depend on with its Next Generation 911 project.

“911 is still a number Minnesotans can trust and should always be the first thing you try, but there are alternatives you can use in an emergency during a disruption,” said DPS-ECN Director Dana Wahlberg. “We encourage people to save the non-emergency numbers for PSAPs located in the counties where they live, work and frequently visit.”

The DPS-ECN is in the fifth year of a five-year $29 million contract with CenturyLink, which was rebranded as Lumen Technologies in September 2020.  

About the Minnesota Department Public Safety

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) comprises 10 divisions where 2,200 employees operate programs in the areas of law enforcement, crime victim assistance, traffic safety, alcohol and gambling, emergency communications, fire safety, pipeline safety, driver licensing, vehicle registration and emergency management. DPS activity is anchored by three core principles: education, enforcement and prevention.

About Emergency Communication Networks

The Emergency Communication Networks Division oversees the Statewide 911 Program, which provides immediate access from all telephones to critical public safety services. ECN also oversees the Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) radio communications network, the Interoperability Program, Integrated Public Alert and Warning Systems (IPAWS), and a statewide Wireless Broadband initiative in coordination with FirstNet.

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