NASHVILLE — On Christmas morning, emergency officials in the small Alabama town of Cullman found themselves nearly cut off from the outside world. Their 911 dispatch center was failing, and a backup system was only partly functioning. Veteran officers were having to teach younger colleagues how to use two-way radios to communicate with each other because their cellphones were not receiving a signal. Phyllis Little, the director of emergency management in Cullman County, had no internet or landline connection in her office. who pulled up outside an AT&T building that is a central hub linking cellular, internet and cable television services across the region.

Source: New York Times December 29, 2020 23:31 UTC