UPDATE (10-19-05) is below.
For the past two nights, I have had great trouble calling numbers in the 832 area code. Nearly every time, I get a message saying “all circuits are busy.” I get this same message regardless if I use my Sam’s Club calling card (a bargain, by the way), my home phone (long distance), or my Sprint PCS cell phone.
Both of the numbers I am trying to call are also Sprint PCS phones. I though that Sprint-to-Sprint calls would be routed directly through the Sprint network and not go through the POTS, but I am apparently mistaken.
UPDATE (10-19-05): Two informed sources told me that there are call routing problems in the Houston area because of Hurricane Katrina. A lot of the telephone networks in New Orleans are broken, so calls are instead being routed through other networks such as the ones in Houston. Phone networks only have limited capacity, and the load in Houston is apparently overwhelming some parts of the network.