A rock slide near Kamloops, BC damaged a critical fibre optic line Saturday, February 1st.  The damage caused substantially reduced performance for our cable internet subscribers since then, as the internet traffic is being re-routed onto backup circuits. This event also affected other internet providers, cell phone providers, VOIP subscribers, and even some Telus land line customers in the local area according to this CBC article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-phone-disruptions-1.5449473

We’ve been in contact with upstream partners and have been monitoring the situation over the weekend.

• 3 pm Tuesday, February 4th: At this time, teams are still awaiting the approval to proceed with repairs from CP Rail. CP continues to repair damaged tracks required for access. The proposed plan is to prep two splicing structures on either side of the damaged area and run a temporary fibre between these structures to splice into existing cables. Initial estimates for repair is February 9. We do not anticipate another update until tomorrow morning.
• 11 pm Monday, February 3rd: Cleanup efforts are still ongoing but in parallel CP Rail is also looking to repair their damaged tracks. Significant progress has been made these last few days and enough rubble has been cleared to give our technicians the chance to physically assess additional fiber breaks. Technicians will gain access to more break locations as the cleanup efforts continue, but due to the remoteness of certain fiber break locations they’re still facing some access challenges to all areas of the fiber. Repair work is still dependent on all rubble being cleared and the train tracks being fixed, but we should have a clearer plan of action once all the damage has been assessed.
• 8:45 am Monday, February 3rd: we’ve learned that crews have begun to clear the rock and debris. Fibre repair crews will start work on splicing the connection as soon as they have access. This will hopefully start this afternoon and may be completed later this evening.

Network teams have also been working to increase capacity and manage traffic through alternate connections, which has improved service for some customers Sunday night and this morning.

Thank you for your continued patience. We will share more information as we get it.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 3rd, 2020 at 9:30 am and is filed under Announcements. Both comments and pings are currently closed.