Fiber line down after truck crash repaired after more than 24 hours of internet outage

(Update: Added video, comments from TDS telecommunications, Bend business)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Nearly 22,000 people in Bend, Sunriver, La Pine and La Center Washington were without internet from late Wednesday afternoon until early Thursday evening.

Kit Beyer, director of external affairs and communications for TDS telecommunications, said at around 3 p.m. on Wednesday that a commercial dump truck accidentally ripped off a fiber-optic cable on Boyd Acres Highway.

Thousands of homes were left without Internet access, as were some businesses.

Chris Morse, an employee of the 27th U.S. Market, said the store lost internet services around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and was unable to use its credit card system.

“It’s frustrating, but I understand it,” Morse said. “A lot of people pay by direct debit these days.

He said paying in cash only turned away some customers.

“Yeah, I’ve seen a few people walk around in frustration and get angry, but honestly there’s nothing we can do about it,” Morse said. “I wish we could but unfortunately we can’t.”

Late Wednesday evening, BendBroadBand posted a tweet saying crews were “splicing damaged fiber optic cable” and expected services to be restored by early morning.

At 12:23 p.m. Thursday, Beyer sent an email stating:

“BendBroadband became aware of the outage at around 3pm yesterday. It is believed that a commercial dump truck with an extended bucket accidentally tore a 72 and 144 aerial fiber cable. Unfortunately, this affected nearly 22,000 customers. in La Pine, Sunriver, and Bend, Oregon and LaCenter, Wash. BendBroadband crews worked through the night to repair major damage and responded to hundreds of customer inquiries. BendBroadband has actively provided updates on our restoration work on our social media channels as soon as we get updated information from the field. BendBroadband understands how important our services are to our customers and appreciates their patience. the service is about to be fully restored. Several communities are already restored and back in service. Coming soon. “

Morse said an internet outage was something he had faced before, but the longer it was, the greater the impact.

“Oh yeah, I started working here over two and a half years ago, we had internet outages every now and then,” Morse said. Unfortunately the one we had at the time only lasted about half a day. This one has been going on for a day now, so it’s getting a little frustrating. “

He said that until everything is restored, they will have to adjust and hope that people remain understanding.

“Keep taking the money, that’s all we can do, unfortunately,” Morse said.

At 6 p.m., BendBroadBand announced that the outage was resolved.