SAN FRANCISCO, 9 APRIL 2009 - Forget Twitter downtime. This is serious: Around 2 A.M. local time on Thursday, a fiber optic cable running ten feet beneath a Silicon Valley roadway was damaged, possibly as deliberate sabotage. A surprising number of services ranging from broadband Internet to mobile phones, were knocked out. Repairs are still in progress, with no schedule for completion.
The cable is owned by AT&T but leased to Verizon.
The San Jose Mercury News reports:
It appears somebody opened a manhole in South San Jose, climbed down 8 to 10 feet and cut four or five fiber-optic cables.
The outage is affecting cell phones, land lines and Internet access for Verizon customers in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin and Santa Cruz County.
"Verizon is completely down; other carriers are intermittent at best," said a spokesman for Santa Clara County. There is no timetable for the service to return.
Service is also affected in South San Jose around Monterey Road and Bailey Avenue.
ATM machines may also be affected.
Police say they believe the line was deliberately cut, as were several other cables in the area.
Why would someone sabotage a vital telecommunications link? The Merc alludes to a union contract with AT&T that expired last weekend, but no formal accusations have been made.
