Riverside County 911 Outage Hits Cell Callers, Backup Numbers Issued
County and city police departments across the Coachella Valley posted direct dispatch numbers early Thursday after cellphone callers reported they could not get through to 911.
Key points
- The problems reached well beyond Riverside County on Thursday.
- In Santa Barbara County, the outages hit AT&T and T-Mobile customers, and the Santa Barbara Police Department told anyone who cannot reach 911 to call its dispatch center directly.
- Cellphone callers across Riverside County had trouble reaching 911 on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, and police departments across the Coachella Valley spent the early morning hours posting direct…
Updated 18:45 UTC: Outages also hit Oakland and Santa Barbara County
The problems reached well beyond Riverside County on Thursday. In Oakland, the police dispatch system froze at about 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday and showed an error message, the Oakland Police Department said. All 911 calls were transferred to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, dispatchers moved to a local fire dispatch station, and the department said it was responding only to Priority One calls while the city IT department worked with AT&T to restore service.
In Santa Barbara County, the outages hit AT&T and T-Mobile customers, and the Santa Barbara Police Department told anyone who cannot reach 911 to call its dispatch center directly. Text to 911 was not affected there. AT&T said damage to another provider's fiber, potentially linked to theft, affected 911 routing for some AT&T mobility customers in the Los Angeles area. No official has linked the outages to the recent PHP software vulnerabilities, and that question stays open.
Cellphone callers across Riverside County had trouble reaching 911 on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, and police departments across the Coachella Valley spent the early morning hours posting direct dispatch numbers for anyone who could not get through.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department issued a county alert at about 6 a.m. The department said it was aware of an outage affecting some cellular users and their ability to call 911. Residents with an emergency who cannot reach 911 should call 951-776-1078, the county said.
The numbers to call, city by city
Palm Springs police moved first. Shortly after 2 a.m., the department said T-Mobile customers may have trouble reaching 911. Anyone in Palm Springs who cannot get through should call the dispatch line at 760-327-1441. The department also said texting 911 still works, so a T-Mobile customer who cannot complete a voice call can send a text instead.
In Indio, police said the emergency lines went down at about 3:30 a.m. Indio residents who need police or fire help should call 760-775-3730. As of 7 a.m., the department had no estimate for when normal 911 service would return.
Cathedral City confirmed the disruption reached its residents too. The city said the problem hit AT&T and T-Mobile callers, and it directed residents to its dispatch line at 760-770-0300.
One city reported no problem at all. Desert Hot Springs said its 911 system stayed fully operational through the morning. The city still posted its dispatch number, 760-329-2904, for residents who wanted it.
What may have caused it
No agency had confirmed a cause by mid morning. Cathedral City Officer Joseph Brooks said the cause appears to be vandalism in Los Angeles. He also said he could not confirm that the vandalism caused the countywide outage, and that gap matters. A cut or damaged line in Los Angeles is a lead, not an answer, until the carriers and the county say what actually failed.
Officials also asked residents to leave the lines alone if they do not have an emergency. Gizmodo reported that officials urged people not to call 911 just to test whether the outage affects them. Test calls tie up dispatchers who are already working around the failure. Gizmodo also noted that it is unclear whether the outage connects to the PHP software vulnerabilities that have been dubbed Black October. No official has linked the two, and residents should treat that question as open.
Why it matters
Most emergency calls in the United States now start on a cellphone, so a failure that hits cell callers cuts the main road into the 911 system. Landlines and text to 911 may still work, but a person in a crash or a medical emergency does not stop to compare options. The backup plan on Thursday was a patchwork of ten digit numbers, and each city had a different one. A caller in Indio needed a different number from a caller in Palm Springs, ten miles away. That is why the county and city alerts led with phone numbers instead of explanations.
What happens next
Crews for the carriers had not given a public restoration time on Thursday morning, and Indio police said plainly that they had no estimate. Until service is confirmed back, Riverside County residents should save the dispatch number for their own city in their phones, use text to 911 where voice calls fail, and call the county number, 951-776-1078, if their city line does not answer. Anyone with a real emergency should keep trying rather than assume no one will pick up. Dispatchers in every affected city were answering the direct lines on Thursday, and those lines, not 911, are the working route to help while the outage lasts.
Timeline
- Oct 22, 2026Shortly after 2 a.m., Palm Springs police said T-Mobile customers may have trouble reaching 911 and gave the dispatch number 760-327-1441.
- Oct 22, 2026At about 3:30 a.m., Indio police reported their emergency lines down and directed callers to 760-775-3730.
- Oct 22, 2026At about 6 a.m., Riverside County told residents who cannot reach 911 to call 951-776-1078.
- Oct 22, 2026As of 7 a.m., Indio police had no estimate for when 911 service would be restored.
- Oct 21, 2026At about 8:30 p.m., Oakland police dispatch system froze and 911 calls were transferred to the Alameda County Sheriff Office.
- Oct 22, 2026Santa Barbara police told residents who cannot reach 911 to call dispatch directly, and AT&T blamed damage to another provider fiber for routing problems in the Los Angeles area.