Widespread telephone, Internet service interruptions
by Peter Jakey-Managing Editor
Authorities say phone service and 9-1-1 lines were down Wednesday in at least six counties across northern Michigan.
The outage affected emergency service centers in Presque Isle, Alcona, Montmorency, Oscoda and Otsego.
Presque Isle County Sheriff Bob Paschke was told a fiber optic cable was cut or damaged somewhere near or south of Roscommon shortly after 3 p.m. The problem wasn’t fixed until late Wednesday night.
Paschke said there is a protocol for when 9-1-1 lines go down.
“We put people out into the fire halls and ambulance barns,” said Paschke. “People can go there and call.” That would include the nearest police station to request help. The stations will be manned until the phone problems have been fixed.
“Everything was down,” said Paschke. He was told that there were spotty calls coming through.
Cheboygan County, which is part of the Central Dispatch Authority (CDA) and includes Charlevoix and Emmet County, reported no issues.
CDA director Bob Bradley said the reason they did not have any reported problems was because their provider is AT & T.
The affected areas were on the Frontier lines.
Bradley said there could have been some issues in Tower, but nothing was confirmed.
With Internet services being down some businesses were forced to not accept the use of credit, debit and bridge cards as payment for goods.