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Company says recent false 911-call issue is repaired

POLK COUNTY—Windstream officials say a recent issue with one Polk County customer’s service making false 911 calls was caused by recent rainstorms and has been repaired.

Earlier this month, Kelley Thomson sent a letter to Polk County Commissioners and officials saying her landline that did not have a phone connected was making false 911 calls and deputies were continuing to have to come to her residence.

Windstream officials reached out to the Bulletin to say they dispatched a technician to the customer’s residence and found some wiring in the home that had been exposed to water following the recent rainstorms in the area.

“The wiring has been repaired and the customer has not had any additional issues to date,” said Windstream President of Field Operations Stacy Hale. “If the conditions are right, sometimes these types of faults can fool the equipment into thinking a call is being made. You usually find that a fault like this generates a random string of digits, but in this case it generated the digits for 911 in the correct sequence. These type of faults are rare, but they do happen.”

Hale said Windstream is working with Polk County’s 911 communication center and is trying to identify any other customers who may have a current issue of this type. He said Windstream will follow up with those customers individually, but as of Thursday, Windstream had no current issues that rise to that level of the recent complaint.

“If a customer is or has experienced this type of situation, I would encourage them to reach out to us to investigate,” Hale said. “We are committed with working with our customers and you will find our local technicians ready to help.”