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AT&T outage: Des Moines police advise users to call non-emergency line during outage

Police are asking Des Moines residents in need of 911 services to reach out to DMPD's non-emergency line during the nationwide outage.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A nationwide AT&T network outage is impacting the way Des Moines residents can call for help. 

The Des Moines Police Department says those in need of 911 services should reach out to their non-emergency line during the outage, which has affected at least 70,00 users as of 8 a.m. CT, according to outage tracker Downdetector.

Thousands of impacted AT&T customers still have access to "SOS mode", which lets users call 911 by pulling from nearby networks even if their own is down.

"We have received reports that 911 calls from AT&T network are not connecting. Calls from that provider to the non-emergency line appear to be connecting," the post reads in part. 

The Des Moines Police Department's non-emergency number is 515-283-4811. 

“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored,” AT&T said in a statement.

Other network providers also reported problems Thursday morning, though minor compared to AT&T, with Cricket Wireless at 13,000 reports, Verizon with 4,000 and T-Mobile with 1,900. 

It is unclear when service will be restored to any affected customers. 

Local 5 will update this story as more information becomes available. Download the We Are Iowa app or subscribe to Local 5's "5 Things to Know" email newsletter for the latest.

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