Service Issue Prevents AT&T Customers From Reaching Austin-Area 911 Dispatchers [UPDATED]

UPDATE: By late Wednesday evening, AT&T officials said they had resolved the issue that had prevented wireless users from accessing 911 dispatchers for several hours.

From earlier:

AUSTIN, TX — Customers of AT&T wireless may have trouble making 911 calls as a result of service interruptions, company officials said Wednesday evening.

"We are aware of a service issue affecting some calls to 911 for wireless customers, and we're working to resolve it as quickly as possible," AT&T officials said in a prepared statement on Wednesday. "We apologize for this inconvenience."

Police officials in Austin and throughout Travis County, Cedar Park Round Rock and other areas throughout the state have reported an inability to receive 911 calls with the ongoing service issue. Tweets from customers as far as Dallas have reported similar problems in dialing 911, and some reports indicate the service interruptions are a nationwide issue.

Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, tweeted Wednesday evening that the federal government was aware of the issue. Reports indicate much of the service interruption is concentrated in much of Texas but also in cities that include Chicago New York, Los Angeles and Orlando, Florida.

AT&T issued a second statement later Wednesday evening to convey they were still working on the problem, apologizing again for the inconvenience:

AT&T users should use the regular land lines for law enforcement agencies for the time being. Among those numbers:

• Austin and Travis County. dial 3-1-1
• Cedar Park, (512) 260-4600, extension 0
• Leander Police, Fire EMS, (512) 528-2800
• Round Rock, (512) 218-5500
• Travis County Sheriff's office, (512) 482-5860 or 3-1-1
• Williamson County Police, Fire, EMS, (512) 943-1399
• Those in Bastrop, dial (512) 332-8600 or the Bastrop County sheriff’s office at (512) 549-5100