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County says 911 stayed online during fiber outage; dispatch used backups and satellite links
Summary
Sumter County officials said that despite a county-wide internet outage caused by multiple fiber cuts, 911 voice and text services remained functional through backup routing, satellite internet and LTE MiFi devices; outage lasted about 3.5–4 hours and staff tested alternatives throughout the event.
Sumter County emergency communications staff told the Board of County Commissioners that county 911 voice and text services were never lost during a multi-county internet outage that affected internal county systems and public access to the agenda.
Mr. Kennedy (county emergency communications) said dispatch continuously tested 911 functionality and that both voice and text-to-911 remained operational. He explained the county lost full internet access and administrative phone lines but established voice connectivity with neighboring counties over radio and leveraged LTE/MiFi components and a satellite link from a Bushnell resource to restore internal connectivity for field units.
“We didn't lose 911 at any point during the outage,” he said, adding the interruption lasted about 3 and a half to 4 hours and that a secondary call-routing and a temporary voice agent number were used to accept calls while backups were stood up.
Commissioners asked whether location services for mobile callers were affected; Mr. Kennedy said initial visibility of carrier-based location was impacted for dispatchers but they used Mifi/LTE-connected laptops to obtain caller presentation data and callback numbers. The board connected the outage to ongoing infrastructure investment discussions and thanked emergency communications staff for contingency measures.
The board noted the outage affected multiple neighboring counties and staff committed to a post-incident follow-up with providers to understand why multiple fiber paths were disrupted.
