Technology

Software update causes partial 911 system outage in New York City

A Motorola software update rendered approximately 1,700 calls silent and prevented about 400 callers from connecting to emergency services.

Updated Aug 28, 2026 · 23:18 UTC1 reports

The short version

A seven-hour software outage on August 18 affected New York City's 911 emergency response system, particularly impacting the Bronx call center.
Operators were unable to hear callers on approximately 1,700 connected calls, while an estimated 400 callers failed to reach an operator entirely.
City officials did not disclose the incident publicly until receiving inquiries from journalists.
An investigation is underway to determine how the update was tested and why the failure occurred.

Part of New York City's 911 system experienced an outage from approximately 3:13 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on August 18.[Slashdot]
The failure occurred after Motorola pushed an early-morning software update to the system.[Slashdot]
Out of 5,659 calls to the Bronx call center during the outage, around 1,700 connected without audio for operators, and an estimated 400 human callers never got through.[Slashdot]
City officials did not issue a public notification about the outage and only confirmed details after inquiries from journalists.[Slashdot]

The full extent of emergency response delays and potential consequences resulting from the outage remain unknown.[Slashdot]
It is uncertain what specific changes the Motorola update contained, why it caused the system failure, and whether adequate testing was performed prior to deployment.[Slashdot]