Published: November 29, 2007 09:54 pm      

‘Cut’ in fiber optic line leaves Net surfers stranded

BLUEFIELD — For thousands of Internet-users of southern West Virginia, when they tried to log on Thursday morning, the cupboard was bare in terms of access to the worldwide web and all of its related gizmos, gadgets, bells and whistles.

“It makes you wonder what people did before there was an Internet,” Ray Glover of Tazewell, Va., said.

There was a “cut” in Citinet’s fiber optic line somewhere between Glen Lyn, Va., and Bluefield, according to Mike Swatts of Frontier Communication’s Bluefield office. “Citinet carries traffic from point to point,” Swatts said. He added that the cut in the service eliminated the “backbone fiber” that enables the company to provide service to customers.

“It’s not just a local problem,” Swatts said. “It effects Mercer, McDowell, Wayne, Clay, Webster Springs and Rupert — basically all of our customers in West Virginia.” Swatts did not speculate as to the number of customers who were without service.

The “cut” had an impact on more than just on-line communications. Some people contacted the newspaper to report problems with making cell phone connections, and some residential telephone customers experienced trouble as well.

“We haven’t been able to make any long distance telephone calls today,” Marc Meachum, president and CEO of the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce said. “I was trying to return a call to the governor, but was unable to make a connection. We were able to get to our server and work with our members. It was just an inconvenience for us.”

Deb Griffith, vice president of communications at Princeton Community Hospital said the hospital’s Internet was down through the day, but said that it made no difference in terms of patient care. “It was just a minor inconvenience,” she said.

Becky Ritter, communications and marketing director of Bluefield Regional Medical Center said that the hospital is served through an “AT&T filtered network,” and did not experience any loss of service. Likewise, a spokesperson for the First Community Bank Corporate office in Bluefield, Va., said that the department was notified about problems at the Mercer Mall and Princeton, but the corporate center didn’t experience problems.

Service was restored at the Bluefield Daily Telegraph at 8:15 p.m. Thursday evening.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com