A state highway contractor in Ariz. severed a Qwest fiber cable, ...
A state highway contractor in Ariz. severed a Qwest fiber cable, knocking out all landline and some wireless phone service for thousands of customers and the police and fire departments. of 7 towns in central Ariz. Ironically, the contractor…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
was trying to move the line out of harm’s way when the mishap occurred. Service was out Jan. 13 from roughly lunchtime to dinnertime. The affected towns were Maricopa, Casa Grande, Florence, Queen Creek, Higley, Coolidge and Eloy. With 911 disabled, municipal officials activated backup systems -- including posting employees with radio sets conspicuously at street corners to provide help. The employees had to summon emergency aid in several cases. Officials also arranged for 911 calls coming in from outlying areas not affected by the outage to go directly to police stations. The municipal offices in Queen Creek still had some landline service because they have cable phone connections as well as regular phone lines, officials said.