The county's telephone meltdown
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Kent's telephone system has returned to normal after it went
into meltdown this week with crossed lines and callers cut off.
BT managed overnight to fix the software problem at the
Maidstone telephone exchange that had caused chaos for two days. Up
to 76,000 lines across the county were thought to have been
affected.
Many businesses reported problems, with Kent County Council,
Maidstone Hospital and Kent Police all affected.
Personal conversations were also overheard as crossed lines led
to accidental eavesdropping. They included Aaron making his
stationery sales pitch to a client, Jill reporting how she "burnt
her bum" on holiday, and Jackie checking on the results of her
cholesterol tests.
One unlucky caller stumbled across a couple having a blazing
row.
BT spokesman Emma Littlejohn said: "It was a very complex fault,
something our engineers had never come across before, and it did
take a while to solve.
"We don't yet know what caused it - but we don't think it was
heat related as some people were suggesting. We're still
investigating the cause to ensure that we can prevent it happening
again."
Miss Littlejohn said there was no way of knowing how many
interrupted calls occurred or how widespread the problem was. She
said: "The fault was at Maidstone but it affected some of the
subsidiary exchanges too, with faults being reported in Whitstable,
Herne Bay and Folkestone."
Miss Littlejohn said callers should not be charged for wrong
connections. She said: "People should check their next bill
carefully. If they are unhappy, they should contact their service
provider."
- For the full story and more details of
overheard conversations, pick up a copy of this week's Kent
Messenger.
Thursday, July 02 2009
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