US Telco Support → FairPoint > FairPoint problem affecting NH Verizon wireless customers.

FairPoint problem affecting NH Verizon wireless customers.

Noticed this article today in local paper.
»www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/sta···-to.html

quote:

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Problems transferring calls from the cell phone network to the main telephone network has caused Verizon Wireless service to be unreliable in New Hampshire for the past few days, according to state officials. The problem has even affected 911 service.

“There are occasions when someone would call, they’d get dead air,” said Wanda Bowers, public information representative for the Division of Emergency Services.

The problem was first reported Friday afternoon and has shown up statewide, she said.

It appears to be “random,” which means that it often goes away quickly.

“If you get dead air, hang up and call again, and that may (go through),” she said.

The problem results from a “trunking issue between FairPoint and Verizon,” she said.

When signals are collected by cell phone towers, they are handled locally within the cell phone system’s network, but eventually must be handed off to the main telephone network in order to be connected with callers in other systems. That hand off, often called the “backhaul,” is an important source of income for wired telephone networks like FairPoint, but it can be complicated.

Bowers said the issue has been isolated to a switch, the system which allows information to be passed from the cell-phone to wired network. The state is “working with the carriers” to solve the problem.

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