Version customers in Leon County have reported that their calls are not fully connecting to a
911 dispatcher. This leaves many residents with no assistance during am emergency. Instead of
connecting almost instantly when dialing 911, these customers have reported dropped calls or
calls with a dead end on the other side.
Although the call is not connected it is not completely lost. Eventually, the individual will
receive a call back from the dispatcher.
The big issue associated with this is time. When calling 911 you are expecting an estimated time
until officers arrive. With the connection issue residents are left wondering how soon or if help
will be on the way.
“It’s scary you never know what kind of emergency will occur and it could be the cause of
situations getting worse because of something as simple as my phone service,” Kenyatta
Johnson, a local Verizon customer, said. There are many downsides to not being able to
connect to 911 properly. It could be the difference between life and death for some.
Residents should always be able to call on law enforcement and EMS for emergency assistance.
Local Verizon customers feel like they are being robbed of an opportunity for help if needed.
“I feel like Verizon isn’t doing a good job of making sure the safety of their customers comes
first, being able to connect to the police is a luxury many of us take for granted until we need
it,” Roderick Pouncey said.
Verizon confirmed that there were “intermittent issues” causing issues with customer calls. The
outage was heavily concentrated on the East Coast, starting in New York and Boston. The
connection issues lasted for about two hours and networks were up and fully functional again,
according to a Verizon spokesperson.
Leon County’s Consolidated Dispatch Agency suggests that if your call isn’t going through, the
only option it to text the agency. “If you are unable to make contact through a regular 911
phone there is always a text to 911. We highly encourage folks to call 911 first but if you are
unable to call 911 you can text to 911 and the same operator that would’ve answered the call
through the voice is now doing that through text,” CDA Director David Odom said.
Be sure to stay updated on local hotline emergency numbers in case this situation occurs again.