Verizon cell phone users, along with carriers who use the company’s towers, lost service for nine hours Monday, July 23, after a CenturyLink fiber optic line serving the Sweet Home area was cut.
“A connectivity issue is causing a service interruption in some areas east of Corvallis, Oregon,” said Heidi Flato, a spokeswoman for Verizon, Monday evening in response to queries from The New Era. “Our engineers are aware of this issue and are working with our vendor partners to resolve this issue quickly.”
According to a local man knowledgable of the situation, the problem occurred along the freeway.
“A main fiber that runs up I-5, going from Eugene to Salem, somewhere around Albany, the fiber (optic line) was struck,” said John Fassler of Sweet Home, a technician with CenturyLink. He said that affected Verizon service at the Marks Ridge tower.
Cell service was available heading southwest on Highway 228 at about Valley View Drive, Fassler said. A reporter for The New Era got a faint signal just west of The Narrows and had full service at Santiam Terrace on Highway 20 earlier Monday evening.
Based on information Fassler had Monday evening, he said, he expected the line to be repaired between 10 p.m. and midnight, noting that fiber optic line takes longer to splice than copper. Cell phones at The New Era woke up right at 9:40 p.m.