911, Phone And Internet Outage Repaired

August 4, 2014

Phone and internet service has been restored for thousands of Frontier Communications customers in the Walnut Hill, Bratt, Davisville and Molino areas.

The afternoon outage left phone customers in the in the 327 exchange — including Walnut Hill, Bratt and Davisville — are unable to call 911. Other Frontier customers in the 327 and 587 exchanges lost the ability to call Pensacola, their dial tone altogether and/or their high speed internet services.

The outages were the result of a private contractor cutting a fiber optic cable at the Ernest Ward Middle School construction site in Walnut Hill.

Pictured: Technicians work to repair a cut fiber optic cable at on Highway 99-A at Ernest Ward Middle School Monday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to  enlarge.

Comments

12 Responses to “911, Phone And Internet Outage Repaired”

  1. Still waiting, hoping, praying . . . on August 7th, 2014 8:52 pm

    I fully understand accidents happening and appreciate the efforts of those that try to correct them in a timely manner.

    My issue is with the company and it’s management. Is there any chance ANYONE will come into this area and provide reliable phone and internet service at a reasonable price? Paying $100 a month for noisy phone lines and slow DSL service is ridiculous. You can’t even change services without paying a hefty termination fee just to change a service. Many of us are paying $40 a month for Internet yet getting the same speeds as those paying less. If only there was another option with unlimited data available. They have little to no upgrade plans, haven’t improved the service unless forced too but you can see they spend millions on Frank the Buffalo and letting us know we are talking to someone in the US, who’s probably getting much cheaper and better service than we are, when we call to report an outage.

  2. Kevin on August 5th, 2014 8:34 pm

    I have worked in the construction business my entire career, and have found that very few times the operator is at fault. Usually the cable, water, or gas line is mislocated, or the depth is reported incorrectly. These days we love to point fingers at people on mere assumptions, especially if we have been inconvienced a bit. These folks are out there trying to make a living like the rest of us, and you can bet your last dollar that it was an accident. No one wants the expense of reparing a fiber cable, not to mention that it completely shuts down their jobsite while the repair is made. So please folks lets not be so quick to judge, and have a little compassion and understanding for our brothers and sisters out there in the elements trying to make a living, and build a new school for our children. Thank You all for allowing me to voice my opinion.Kevin

  3. bama54 on August 5th, 2014 7:47 am

    RON: you must know a little about phone lines!! It is the contractors responsibility to pot hole the cables after it has been located by the phone company. If it is 3 feet to 3 inches, the contractor should have done what he is required by law to do, then the cable shouldn’t have been cut. On the other hand if the contractor has a careless operator, then the operator should be let go!! I see this all the time, the operator is the best in the world, never cuts anything, this is his first time cutting a cable etc…I have heard it all, but the fact is he was careless!!!

  4. Ron on August 4th, 2014 11:38 pm

    Simple question, why isn’t the 911 traffic being sent on a redundant fiber ring? All carriers should be held accountable for not having redundancy built into their networks.

  5. Construction Worker on August 4th, 2014 8:54 pm

    And nobody’s perfect. This was this companies first accident with a cable being cut so again don’t be so quick to judge.

  6. Sam on August 4th, 2014 7:14 pm

    There are toll free #s in all phone books to call for locates. If you cut em and dont get em located. You better have good insurance.

  7. Ron on August 4th, 2014 7:05 pm

    Call before you dig. And it seems that the phone and cable companies think that if they bury their cables 2 inches deep with out it being even in conduit it will be ok

  8. my thoughts on August 4th, 2014 6:20 pm

    I’m not quick to judge. This has been a constant and ongoing thing. If I kept making the same mistakes on my job, over and over, somebody would say something to me too. There are signs around that say “call before you dig”. It won’t hurt for people to be more careful in the future.

  9. Construction Worker on August 4th, 2014 5:49 pm

    Keep in mind while you people are quick to judge accidents do happen! These cables are not always visible with the blind eye. Most are covered and buried like they should be. When on a bulldozer moving dirt things like this do happen!!! Remember we are all human and before you judge someone that is out there making a living and not depending on the state for help these things do Happen!!!!

  10. puddin on August 4th, 2014 3:18 pm

    I was thinking the same thing. Seems that there are an awful lot of careless workers out there. I love that Frontier offers me a rebate every time, yet I never see a refund on my bill. Ah well, what can ya do?

  11. my thoughts on August 4th, 2014 1:31 pm

    How many fiber optic cables can be cut? It happens all the time. It would seem that there are some very careless workers out in the field to be cutting cables all the time. Maybe they need better training, more patience, and to slow down and think about what they are doing and how many lives they are messing with.

  12. BT on August 4th, 2014 1:20 pm

    Man with shovel > High-tech fiber optic cable.

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