emergencies
Disturbance in the mobile radio at O2 – problems also with emergency calls
A disruption in a voice transmission server was the reason for the limitations in mobile telephony. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
If there are problems with the mobile network, it’s annoying – it can be very serious, especially if emergency calls are also affected. That’s how it was on Thursday in some places in Germany.
Due to disruptions in the mobile network, the authorities in many parts of Germany received increased notifications on Thursday afternoon that the emergency number could not be reached.
In Bremen and Hamburg, the situation centers issued official hazard reports that the emergency numbers 110 and 112 had been impaired. The authorities in Berlin, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg also reported problems in the O2 mobile network – and thus for some citizens also when reaching the emergency numbers.
“At the moment there seems to be disruption in the entire Hamburg telephone network. In some cases, both some of our departments and the emergency call 110 are affected,” said a tweet from the Hamburg police. The presence of officers on the street will be massively increased.
In Berlin, the emergency call from the fire brigade works, said a spokesman on request. If you can’t get through, it’s because of your own telephone network. A police spokesman said in the capital that there were no known disruptions to the 110 emergency call. In other federal states, disruptions were initially not known. Deutsche Telekom made it clear that its network was working without any problems.
Error on a voice transmission server
In the O2 network, cell phone calls in the afternoon were temporarily not possible for some users. The reason for the restrictions on mobile telephony was a fault on a voice transmission server, the company said. However, a large part of the telephone calls can be transmitted via other servers. “We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your patience.” A company spokesman said in the early evening that the disruption had been partially resolved. “The first measures taken by our technicians have stabilized the networks.” Calls with apps like Whatsapp were possible via data transfer servers.
It was initially not entirely clear why there were such severe restrictions on the accessibility of the emergency numbers in Hamburg and Bremen. An O2 spokesman told the dpa that some customers could not dial the emergency call due to the restrictions on telephony. “We cannot currently confirm other connections with regard to the availability of emergency calls.”
In Hamburg, citizens should contact a patrol car or a guard if necessary. In an absolute emergency, the DRK emergency number 19222 is occupied by the police, it said.