Cingular Users Couldn’t Call MTA Reporting Line
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

“If You See Something, Say Something,” is the motto of the MTA’s safety campaign. But not if you’re a Cingular cell phone user.
For more than a week, Cingular cell phones were unable to connect to the anti-terrorism hotline, 1-888-NYCSAFE, advertised on New York City subways and buses. When The New York Sun reported the problem to Cingular and to the New York City Police Department yesterday evening, they acknowledged the problem and fixed it.
John Kelly, a DCPI public information specialist, said glitches such as this are “just something that happens with cellular communication. It’s not a perfect science.” He said that the problem was on Cingular’s end.
“It remains sort of a mystery,” Cingular spokeswoman Ellen Webner said. “I don’t know where the source of the problem was. But it’s been resolved.”