Phone line mix ups?

Question

This afternoon , everyone I know that was trying to make a call from landline or cell was not able to reach the person they were calling but instead got a different person each time they would try the same number. I'm hearing a lot of people were getting government offices, hospitals etc. Another thing reported was that they would hear a recording that the customer was unavailable but the Phone company name they would give in the recording would be wrong. What's the deal? Anyone know? How does such a thing happen?

Answer 1

Such a thing happens when someone who works in the provisioning department enters the wrong phone number into the switchboard, and the call gets routed wrong.

A simple typo can cause this.