bill@gauss.eedsp.gatech.edu (04/11/91)
UPce 04/10 1244 40,000 without phones for about five hours
RACINE, Wis. (UPI) -- Some 40,000 customers were left without
telephone service in Racine for nearly five hours Wednesday because of
the failure of a switching unit in Wisconsin Bell's Racine office.
Wisconsin Bell spokesman Maurie Louret said the unit failed about 6
a.m., leaving 40,000 customers unable to make or receive any phone
calls. The switching unit was repaired and brought back on line at
10:45 a.m.
The prefixes affected by the outage were 631, 632, 633, 634, 636
and 637.
Louret said Wisconsin Bell took mobile telephones to Racine for use
by emergency services and major customers.
Louret said the switching unit manufactured by AT&T is a computer
and its central processing unit failed for unknown reasons.
He said some circuit packs were replaced and some reprogramming was
done and the system began working again at 10:45 a.m.
He said many people trying to place calls at the same time caused
some congestion in the system after it was brought back up.
Bill Berbenich Georgia Tech, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
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