Local Phone Service Interrupted
by John Weckerle
KOBTV reports that internet and phone service have been restored to our area after having been interrupted due to the accidental cutting of a Qwest fiber optic cable in Tijeras. Another crew cut a line south of Soccorro that interrupted service to much of the southern part of the State. KOBTV and other sources suggested that cell phones be used to make emergency contact.
That would have been fine, we suppose, except for those of us whose cell phone service was also affected. As it turns out, we had a medical emergency here at New Mexico Central headquarters shortly after the outage began, and found that our Sprint cell service was also inoperative. Unable to make ANY connections to contact doctors or emergency response people for advice, we made our own run to the ER in Albuquerque and took care of the problem ourselves (everything will be fine).
We would like to know more about this situation: the identity of the contractors, what led to the accidental cutting of the cables, whether any negligence was involved, what corrective actions and/or sanctions are being implemented, and what Qwest may be able to do provide some level of backup service in the event that cables are accidentally cut in the future.
3 Responses “Local Phone Service Interrupted”
I have Verizon and it affected my cell service in addition to home service.
Like you, I’d be interested in knowing more and what might be done to curtail the effects and duration of outages.
Could be worse, I suppose but it doesn’t ease the angst all that much.
It certainly would have been worse if it had happened a couple of days later, in the midst of the snowstorm. Being unable to seek medical advice (or, for that matter, emergency help) during a crisis definitely created a very different perspective. Fortunately, the roads were clear and we were able to drive to an emergency room in Albuquerque with little trouble – something we would have wound up doing anyway. I have to wonder what might have happened to somebody who didn’t have that option.