WY - Qwest investigates half-hour Gillette outage

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Qwest investigates half-hour Gillette outage GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) -- Qwest is investigating a half-hour telephone outage that affected the entire city Monday.

The outage from about 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. might have also affected part of the surrounding area, according to Qwest spokeswoman Debra Hinckley.

"They think the problem was with software in the switch in Gillette," Hinckley said. "But that's speculation."

County Emergency Management Coordinator David King said the biggest problem was anyone who needed emergency help was not able to notify authorities by phone.

"Ten minutes after the phones came back up, there was a call from Albertson's where a lady had fallen and was bleeding profusely from the head," he said. "If that would've been earlier, they may have had trouble."

Four 911 outages have occurred in the area over the last couple years.

King said all the county's airport, hospital and fire departments, as well as several ranchers, have radios that can reach emergency dispatchers.

"We are so used to having this portion of our communication working, we're aghast when it doesn't," he said.

http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/WYO/PhoneOut8.html

-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), December 10, 2000


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