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Coos Bay wrote on Aug 17, 2007 7:46 PM:
Break Silences fiber optic line calls to faraway?---What? Do you read your own headlines?
Break silences fiber-optic line calls to faraway
By Elise Hamner, City Editor
Friday, August 17, 2007 | 2 comment(s)
Blame it on a post-hole digger.
A fiber-optic line was cut around 7:30 a.m. Thursday west of Roseburg and left all of Verizon's South Coast customers without long distance phone service and some without Internet connections.
“The information you have is correct that the principal fiber-optic cable routing long-distance and DSL service was cut in the Qwest operating area about 18 miles west of Roseburg,” said Kevin Laverty, manager of Verizon Media Relations.
Qwest technicians were sent to the scene to repair a section of cable within that company's jurisdiction. Lines were working again at 3:25 p.m.
Some cell phone providers also lost long distance calling. And the outage kept police dispatchers scrambling.
“We are currently in a situation called ‘community isolation,'” the Coos County Sheriff's Office said in a press release Thursday afternoon.
No long distance services worked, but all 911 test calls from Coos County prefixes indicated residents were able to get through, the Sheriff's Office said.
The outage affected all Verizon South Coast customers from Reedsport to Brookings about 40,000 customer lines, Laverty said. In all, Verizon recorded more than 300,000 blocked calls throughout the day from people trying to call out of the area.
This line is the sole route for Verizon fiber-optic communications in and out of the South Coast.
“The only information I have on the cause is that someone using a post-hole digger cut the cable,” Laverty added.
He did not know whether it was tied into a road crew operation or someone working on a project on his own property.
Bob Gravely, Oregon spokesman for Qwest Communications International Inc., confirmed someone tore through the company's fiber-optic line near Camas Valley while using a post hole digger at about 7:30 a.m. He said excavation crews and technicians responded as quickly as they could to repair the problem. Repairs typically include digging around the area of the break and splicing the line back together.
“We think it was just somebody (who) was digging a hole and didn't know there was a fiber line where they were digging,” Gravely said.
Laverty said there's a “Call Before You Dig” law on the books and most contractors abide by it. Still, breaks happen. And, those responsible likely will get the bill.
“The reality is, there's a law on the books to the extent that there is the ability to indicate who did it and who caused the problem,” he said.
There's no guarantee outages won't happen again. This is the only fiber-optic line for the company, leading to the South Coast. As to why ... ?
“I think you can imagine the answer to that. If you think about what the costs and the price point are - there you are,” Laverty said.
- Staff Writer Jessica Musicar contributed to this story.
A fiber-optic line was cut around 7:30 a.m. Thursday west of Roseburg and left all of Verizon's South Coast customers without long distance phone service and some without Internet connections.
“The information you have is correct that the principal fiber-optic cable routing long-distance and DSL service was cut in the Qwest operating area about 18 miles west of Roseburg,” said Kevin Laverty, manager of Verizon Media Relations.
Qwest technicians were sent to the scene to repair a section of cable within that company's jurisdiction. Lines were working again at 3:25 p.m.
Some cell phone providers also lost long distance calling. And the outage kept police dispatchers scrambling.
“We are currently in a situation called ‘community isolation,'” the Coos County Sheriff's Office said in a press release Thursday afternoon.
No long distance services worked, but all 911 test calls from Coos County prefixes indicated residents were able to get through, the Sheriff's Office said.
The outage affected all Verizon South Coast customers from Reedsport to Brookings about 40,000 customer lines, Laverty said. In all, Verizon recorded more than 300,000 blocked calls throughout the day from people trying to call out of the area.
This line is the sole route for Verizon fiber-optic communications in and out of the South Coast.
“The only information I have on the cause is that someone using a post-hole digger cut the cable,” Laverty added.
He did not know whether it was tied into a road crew operation or someone working on a project on his own property.
Bob Gravely, Oregon spokesman for Qwest Communications International Inc., confirmed someone tore through the company's fiber-optic line near Camas Valley while using a post hole digger at about 7:30 a.m. He said excavation crews and technicians responded as quickly as they could to repair the problem. Repairs typically include digging around the area of the break and splicing the line back together.
“We think it was just somebody (who) was digging a hole and didn't know there was a fiber line where they were digging,” Gravely said.
Laverty said there's a “Call Before You Dig” law on the books and most contractors abide by it. Still, breaks happen. And, those responsible likely will get the bill.
“The reality is, there's a law on the books to the extent that there is the ability to indicate who did it and who caused the problem,” he said.
There's no guarantee outages won't happen again. This is the only fiber-optic line for the company, leading to the South Coast. As to why ... ?
“I think you can imagine the answer to that. If you think about what the costs and the price point are - there you are,” Laverty said.
- Staff Writer Jessica Musicar contributed to this story.
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