Computer Software Snafu Knocks Out 20,000 Phone Lines

A phone disruption centered in the Irvine industrial park near John Wayne Airport on Monday got the week off to a frustrating start for at least 100 major businesses, dozens of smaller firms and 600 homes.

Pacific Bell spokeswoman Linda Bonniksen, calling it “a substantial service disruption,” said that more than 20,000 phone lines were affected by the snafu. All but 2% of the disabled phone lines were commercial, and the concentration of those service lines was in the industrial community immediately east of the airport, Bonniksen said.

Police and fire service was mostly undisturbed. The 911 emergency phone number was not among the eight prefixes affected by the computer software malfunction. By afternoon that malfunction was placed at a Pacific Bell switching station near the intersection of Von Karman Avenue and Main Street, Bonniksen said.

The malfunction disabled--in some cases completely shutting down--the processing of calls, she said. Problems reported to the phone company ranged from a delay in getting a dial tone to complete inability to receive calls. Bonniksen said that “some companies aren’t going to notice it.”

Crews Working Overnight

Repair crews were working through the night Monday and service was expected to be fully restored by this morning, Bonniksen said.

Phones at Irvine City Hall were disabled by the equipment malfunction that was first noticed about 9:45 a.m.

Phone lines at John Wayne Airport itself, as well as to the airlines operating there, were not affected. An unknown number of smaller businesses in the airport area of Irvine, as well as locations along the borders of Santa Ana and Tustin, reported phone disruptions, Bonniksen said.

Some of the bigger hotels near the airport, like the Irvine Hilton, and some of the county’s largest companies, like AST Research Inc., were not getting phone calls--or not getting very many of them--by the close of business Monday.

It was late afternoon before calls were received at places like Financial Corp. of America, the Irvine-based holding company for the nation’s largest savings and loan, American Savings & Loan Assn.

“We couldn’t dial out until noon or 1,” said Liz Kendall, head operator at FCA, where about 100 people work, at about 5 p.m. “We’re still having trouble (receiving calls).”

Problems Begin

Some corporate officers took the situation in stride, noting that they often finds circuits busy in Monday morning phone calls to Wall Street and the East Coast.

The problems began at 9:45 a.m., when the first of more than 300 phone calls to the 611 service and repair number were made, according to Bonniksen.

Workers at numerous businesses began experiencing trouble making phone calls, Bonniksen said. But the biggest disruption was in their ability to receive calls. Bonniksen said that only about one-fourth of all incoming calls actually made it in.

“The calling party was either getting a busy circuit or the person just lost the call,” Bonniksen said. “We’ve got reports of slow dial tone and no dial tone. . . . I’d say it’s a substantial outage. That’s a heavy business area (in Irvine).”

The numbers affected had the following prefixes: 250, 261, 474, 553, 660, 756, 852, 863 and 050, the last a Wats line.

At the Irvine Marriott, Chief Operator Dee Wagy said that phone service to the large hotel was restored by early afternoon but that the previous 3 1/2 hours had been hectic.

“For a while, (hotel guests) couldn’t call out, and then they couldn’t receive their calls,” Wagy said with a chuckle. “We couldn’t get the operator, we couldn’t get information, we couldn’t get anything. . . . I think everybody is glad it’s over.”

Police Phones ‘Basically Out’

At the Irvine Police Department, “our phones were basically out for a two- to three-hour period this morning,” Lt. Mike White said.

But “we got the emergency calls through. It was more of a thing where, when you pick up the phone it took 15 to 20 seconds to get a dial tone. There were delays and at some points you couldn’t get an outside line.”

Looking at the bright side of the situation, White added that, until about 1 p.m., the department was unable to receive calls, “which was kind of nice.”