Boone County 911 completes switch from Brightspeed to AT&T

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County’s 911 center switched its phone service provider from Brightspeed to AT&T on Wednesday, a week after a Brightspeed outage disrupted 911 service across Mid-Missouri.

Christie Davis with Boone County Joint Communications confirmed the switch Thursday. Boone County Joint Communications' 911 service went offline Sept. 16 for several hours because of a Brightspeed disruption. During the outage, people who needed emergency assistance were directed to call 311.

The Boone County Office of Emergency Management said the disruption affected 911 centers across Missouri but was concentrated in Mid-Missouri. Boone County announced shortly before 5 p.m. that service had been restored.

Jefferson City and Cole County were also affected by the outage. Jefferson City police said 911 calls continued to come in but had to be rerouted. Service was restored after about four hours.

Jefferson City Police Lt. Curtis Finke said there was no disruption or delay in emergency services during the outage.

The outage happened as Jefferson City works toward modernizing its 911 infrastructure.

In March, the Jefferson City Council tabled a proposal to replace the police department’s older copper-based call-delivery system with a next-generation emergency services internet protocol network, also known as ESInet.

City documents said the newer system would support voice calls, texts and other emergency data while improving call routing. The proposal also included renewing the city’s five-year contract with Intrado for 911 call-handling services and upgrading the system’s hardware.

The project was estimated to cost $458,351 over five years.

ABC 17 News is working to learn whether Jefferson City has completed that upgrade and whether the city is considering any additional changes following last week’s outage.