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Telecom insists the 111 system can be relied upon despite desperate calls for help from a Southland family failing to reach emergency services.
Gail Palmer believes Telecom has been dodging responsibility after neither she nor her sister, using separate phone lines, could raise help for an ill relative last week.
But Telecom, which passes the public's calls on to emergency services, said people need not be concerned, and it was investigating.
"It is very rare for any 111 call to fail and we are carrying out an investigation into what caused the problem in this case ... to ensure it doesn't happen again," said Telecom spokesman Nick Brown.
"We appreciate it would have been a distressing situation for the customers involved."
Mrs Palmer told the Herald she was at home last week when a relative staying with her collapsed in a chair. She dialled 111 but got nothing on the end of the line.
"I thought maybe I hadn't dialled the number correctly or something. So I dialled again very precisely and I still got a dead line. I started to get quite panicky then."
Mrs Palmer rang her sister, who lives in the same rural town of Tuatapere, but she was unable to get through to the emergency operator either. Her sister called a local ambulance officer and help soon arrived at Mrs Palmer's home.
Mrs Palmer said her relative was now fine, but she dreaded to think what could have happened.
"Telecom are saying the calls were logged [at the southern communications centre] but they only got static on the end of the line. My question is why didn't they call back the number if they knew we had been calling about an emergency?
"Fortunately enough it turned out to be okay this time. And nine times out of 10 it probably does. But I'm concerned. We want the system to be there and a lot of people live on their own and rely on it being there."
Mr Brown said he understood there were no ongoing problems in the area.
