BT phone lines are down in some areas of Tayside and Fife leading to warnings from local police forces.
Officers have ramped up patrols in some areas where 999 calls are not possible on landlines.
They have told residents to use mobiles if they need to call emergency services until the issues are fixed.
The problems began overnight with outages reported in Dundee, North Fife, Angus and Perth
Police Scotland issued a statement on social media giving advice and reassurance to the public.
A force spokesman said: “BT has advised us of problems affecting some telephone services in the North Fife area, and are working to resolve the issue.
“At this time, the outage only affects landlines, however it does include the 999 service,” a force spokesperson said.
“Anyone requiring emergency services should use a mobile phone. Officers will continue to patrol the local areas and we will give you an update on the situation as soon as we have more information.”
A BT Group spokesperson said: “Following a suspected hardware fault within the Perth exchange early this morning, some phone services in the Perth and surrounding areas were unable to make and receive calls.
"Engineers worked quickly, and services were fully restored by 11am. Broadband and mobile phones were not affected.
"We’re sorry for any inconvenience.”
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