Phone problems hit Lincoln offices in Washington, Arkansas

The office of U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., has asked the Arkansas media to inform citizens that Lincoln’s offices in Washington and Arkansas are experiencing phone system problems.
 
“We are aware of the difficulty constituents have faced in trying to reach the offices, and we are working with Senate telecommunications in Washington and AT&T in Arkansas to resolve these problems,” noted a statement from Lincoln press secretary Marni Goldberg.

In Arkansas, AT&T is working to fix problems with Lincoln’s voicemail system.

The statement from Goldberg include the following comments from the Senate Sergeant at Arms regarding the phone systems.
 
The Senate is experiencing issues with call processing  and is receiving reports of busy signals and misdirected calls from offices.  We have been able to determine that this is caused, in part, by a increase in call volume.  Verizon was contacted early in the week when problems first started to appear and has been engaged in trouble shooting since that time.
 
For offices in the Washington, DC, area, the issue lies outside of the Senate communications network and in the Verizon switch that provides call routing.  We are continuing to provide information and data to Verizon as they work toward a resolution.
 
State offices are also experiencing increased call volumes.  Because state offices have a finite number of telephone lines based on the number of staff in the office, callers will receive a busy signal if all the lines are in use.