Bruce Oneel <oneel@heawk1> (06/26/91)
This is from a WTOP 1500 News report at 16:30 EDT. Not an exact quote. The Washington DC area phone switching system is out with over six million callers affected. Please don't call 411 because they are swamped with calls. Local C&P officials have no idea what the problem is and nothing can be done about it until the problem is determined. Repair people are currently sorting through a telephone switch which is basically a large computer in North West DC but still no problem has been determined nor is it known when repairs will start. Customers over a seven state area are affected. A bit later they talked to a representive from Cellular One, the local cellular phone carrier, who said that C1 to C1 calls would work, but that was it. The only two other data points is our local (Goddard/NASA) phone people call it a computer crash and my ITT/Metromedia 950 number continues to work for (local only was tested) calls. When I use 950 the calls go through just fine and people have no problem recieving them, just making them. My first knowledge of the problem came around 13:00 EDT. More as I find out more. bruce