I've encountered several toll free numbers (like the BellSouth DSG) which can no longer be dialed from Gainesville, FL roughly coinciding with Katrina slamming the Gulf Coast. I finally called BellSouth (the local ILEC) and asked what was up, as I can't get through from Gainesville, but I can if I use our VOIP network to route the calls out through other cities in FL (or if I use my Cingular cell phone).
According to BellSouth repair, it's a Sprint call routing problem. I found it amusing and unlikely that BellSouth's DSG would use Sprint for their phone lines.
Is anyone aware of Sprint having LD voice routing issues, probably a result of Katrina damage?
Officials at Cingular Wireless LLC, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Corp. and
BellSouth Corp. reported separately at noon today that with flooding and
power outages in New Orleans, crews can't access cellular sites and
switching stations for repairs. Sprint.s crews are waiting in Baton Rouge,
La., until officials say it's safe to enter New Orleans, a spokesman said.
LD and T1 from Pensacola FL were failing, it turned out because they
were routed through the affected area. LD was probably BS, T1 was
MCI/UUNet, but a lot of the fiber goes along similar paths, ISTM. They
are trying to re-route everything, TSPs first, then rescue / relief /
municipal, then others, so I am told.
http://www2.sprint.com/mr/cda_pkDetail.do?id=660
Current Service Impacts:
Wireless and wireline services in hurricane area impacted by flooding and
power outages.
Long distance voice and data service to Sprint local telephone customers
in Florida panhandle impacted, also to customers in Louisiana, Mississippi
and Alabama; traffic rerouting efforts underway to avoid a key switch in
the damage area.
Sprint Nextel's Enterprise Incident Management Team, the group which
oversees disasters such as hurricanes, will be deploying a Mobile Command
Center with full network and Information Technology capabilities to
coordinate Sprint Nextel's massive recovery effort.
I wouldn't consider Gainesville the panhandle...but we certainly seem to be affected. I just found that our paging gateway, which has a BellSouth 1FB and dials 18009094602 for cingular to send text messages to our phones no longer works. I get all circuits busy when I dial the number from my home (BellSouth) phone as well, though as others, it works from my Cingular cell phone. Can anyone give/point me to a full list of numbers for Cingular's pager/text message gateways? Perhaps we'll have better luck with another number or even an LD number.