Woman couldn't reach 911 with cellphone or landline

A woman in Arizona says she has a cellphone for one reason and that's just in case she ever has an emergency she can dial 911. However, when she had an emergency, she couldn't get through to 911.

"I couldn't believe it, I was running around like a crazy person," Lori Rodriguez said. "I was hollering at my mother-in-law, 'Call them. Call them!'"

Rodriguez said she endured one of the scariest times in her life. Her son had gone into a severe seizure and stopped breathing. "He started acting all nervous like he was getting sick, and he does have a history of seizures, and he just stopped breathing and he was turning blue!" Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said she immediately called 911.

"I dialed 911 and I received a recording that said, 'You've reached the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 911,'" Rodriguez said.

But, this was an emergency and she did dial 911. In fact, Rodriguez says she dialed 911 not only from her cellphone but also her landline. Both lines are provided by T-Mobile.

"Before I even signed the papers for it I said to them, 'I have a disabled son that has seizures. I've had to call 911 on several occasions,'" Rodriguez said. "And they assured me there would not be an issue, 911 does work with their service."

But Rodriguez claims she just couldn't get through during her emergency so she had to run to get help from a neighbor. "I tried to go in their house, but it was locked so I was pounding on the door," she said.

Fortunately, things turned out OK for her son, but she still wanted to know why her two T-Mobile lines couldn't get through to 911.

So, she called T-Mobile. "For three days I was on the phone with them," Rodriguez said. "I spoke to 10 different people and nobody would help me." "He could have died!" Rodriguez said. "I mean, they had to give him oxygen."

In a written statement, T-Mobile said, "We regret the difficulties experienced by the Rodriguez family. T-Mobile is communicating directly with her and with public safety representatives to determine what occurred and what steps can be taken by all parties to address this issue in the future." (info from Arizona Family)