Phone/Data Service Repair Update

Here’s an update from the county on the phone and internet outage repair progress…
According to San Juan County’s Department of Emergency Management, All Rock Island Internet DSL traffic is now routed away from CenturyLink’s infrastructure so Rock Island customers on San Juan Island should see much improved connectivity.

Meanwhile, CenturyLink has fixed the problem that was leading to extensive problems with dialing local cell phones. Some tests by DEM seem to confirm this.

A company news release reported today that the outage on Orcas Island, Tuesday, November 12th, that resulted in busy signals and inability to contact 911 emergency service dispatch for more than one-half hour was caused by call volumes exceeding capacity. The company, reports that it has added additional capacity and will continue to monitor the system.

Prior to the outage yesterday, CenturyLink had reported that it believed it had created enough temporary capacity to allow it divert some excess resources from voice lines to reactivate dedicated data lines.

According to the company’s news release, “CenturyLink continues to augment voice and data capacity through alternative communications facilities as fast as they become available in addition to the fiber restoration activities.” It added, “CenturyLink technicians continue to work around the clock in the San Juan Islands to repair the underwater fiber cut.”

Damaged to a section of the cable between Lopez and San Juan Islands caused the near-complete service outage which began November 5. The break has been located and barges and crews are in position to raise and splice in a new section of cable, however there is still no estimate when repairs will be complete.

The company has brought service back up over the past week with temporary radio frequency links and utilizing OPALCO infrastructure. The CenturyLink’s DSL Internet service on San Juan Island continues to function at a low percentage of its former capacity, due to repair equipment blocking a radio data transmission link.

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