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Phone mix-up leaves doctor disconnected, worried about patients

Dr. Michael Tyler: 'They can't talk to me, they can't get any medication'

SAN ANTONIO – For about 30 years, Dr. Michael Tyler's patients have reached him at the same phone number.

But not this week.

Instead, people who called the main number to Tyler's family practice got a message that the number was "disconnected or is no longer in service" -- the byproduct of a weeks-long struggle to switch to a different phone and Internet provider for his office's new Voice over Internet Protocol system.

Tyler said he has no way of knowing how many patients couldn't get through to his office.

"With all the mold in the air from the hurricane, people are getting sick all the time. They can't talk to me. They can't get any medication. There's nowhere to go unless they come in," Tyler said.

The doctor said he has had problems for about a month when he tried to switch from AT&T to Spectrum, including another occasion of the line being disconnected.

Cory Murray, operations manager for SCI Networks, Tyler's new VoIP system, has been trying to help the doctor get the number switched. However, he said answers were hard to come by with AT&T, which he says still controlled the number.

"I don't know what's going on with their internal system, and their internal communications, when one representative says one thing and another representative says a totally different thing," Murray said.

After KSAT 12 News contacted AT&T for the story, Tyler said his number was restored, although it still needs to be transferred to Spectrum.

In the meantime, Tyler recommends that his patients reach his office at 210-469-9110.


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