Service on for FiberNet subscribers: Outage ended for most phone customers by this morning

FiberNet had restored service early this morning to all but about20 customers, company President Dave Armentrout said.

An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 customers lost service early Tuesdaywhen equipment in FiberNet's switching office on Leon Sullivan Wayfailed. The company installed new equipment later that day and beganrestoring service early Wednesday.

Service had been restored to about 99 percent of FiberNet'scustomers by 7 p.m. Wednesday, Armentrout said. "That last onepercent are the tougher ones - they have to spend more time gettingthose circuits back up," he said.

Armentrout said the company will file a report about the outagewith the state Public Service Commission, perhaps as soon as today.

"This was a major issue," he said. "The fact that we were able tobegin restoring service within 24 hours - you won't find any otherdisaster recovery plan that functions any better than this. I knowsome folks may not feel that way but, considering the number ofcustomers and the type of trouble, the plan worked as best it could."

Armentrout said the company will offer customers a compensationpackage that exceeds what is required in its contracts. He saiddetails would be released later today.

The outage affected FiberNet customers all over the state.

Charleston Area Medical Center spokesman Dale Witte said CAMC'sMemorial and General hospitals are served by Verizon and wereunaffected, although CAMC Teays Valley - formerly known as PutnamGeneral Hospital - is served by FiberNet and did lose service.

"They used hand-held radios and cell phones to communicate withpeople on the outside, such as doctors checking on patients, and forsome internal communications," Witte said.

The main computer programs at CAMC Teays Valley that deal withpatients are connected to CAMC's own servers by a Verizon hard wireso they were not interrupted, he said.

However, on Tuesday, during the FiberNet outage, all of CAMC'sphones, Internet and e-mail went out for about 15 minutes because aCAMC server had to be reset, Witte said.

"It coincidentally happened the same day but it was short-livedand it was unrelated to the FiberNet problem," he said.

Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said, "The only problem Verizoncustomers had was trying to call FiberNet customers."

NTelos spokesman Mike Minnis said a small portion of his company'scell phone network runs over FiberNet's network. NTelos receivedabout 150 calls from customers in the Logan area who lost service,apparently because of the FiberNet outage, he said.

Contact writer George Hohmann at business@dailymail.com or 348-4836.