Internet Cable Out For Thousands

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 03:56 PM

Prince George,B.C. - About 13 thousand customers with Shaw Cable, have lost their internet service and won't likely have it back until midnight tonight.

Shaw Regional Manager for Northern B.C., Terry Shepherd, says the loss of signal is because of vandalism. "Someone was stripping copper from the ground near the Sintich railerpark and came upon the fibre optic line. They assumed there was copper in the line and cut it, knocking 13 thousand internet and all digital cable customers off the air."

Cable telvision is not impacted because the programs are received by satellite.

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Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 03:56 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Free Enterprise on February 19 2008 4:20 PM

Is that all it takes to take out business operations for hundreds? Ouch...

Posted by: jonnypg on February 19 2008 5:22 PM

Yes, and give them 5 years in jail.

Posted by: Moses on February 19 2008 8:09 PM

That's why the Internets are so powerful.

Not only do they have built-in redundancies, they also have other ways of getting around a broken fibre line.

Posted by: Chester on February 19 2008 8:22 PM

Shame on the cable company, running a fibre optic line through a trailer court that affects 13,000 customers. I would really like to understand how safe and protected our lines of communication are, if they can be taken out by a simple copper thief. How embarrassing. Chester

Posted by: lunarbase on February 19 2008 9:01 PM

If you only knew how fragile our communications systems are, not just the internet.

Same with hydro, it is very reliable but amazing what a small issue can take out a huge swath of people for extended periods.

Posted by: lou on February 19 2008 9:46 PM

My cable is/was out.
Did not have TV all day
Anyone else ?

Posted by: bohemian on February 19 2008 11:02 PM

Internet was back at about 10:50 pm for me. We heard from sources to expect it between 10 and 11, so they made it.

I just wish they had better info (what to expect) on the TV, not just say "as soon as possible."

Posted by: Norm1 on February 20 2008 6:21 AM

Not only was internet access out, several banks were also affected by either this or another communication difficulty.

A visit to BMO on tuesday, resulted in no real service being available. All BMO atms were down, and no real service...account balance etc was available at the tellers due to a "telus system failure". They were allowing customers to withdraw very limited funds manually at a teller.

BMO said that all banks in Prince George were expriencing the same situation.

A call to RBC confirmed the same situation with RBC in Prince George. Scotiabank was not effected.

Communication circuits control our lives.

Posted by: Wileycoyote on February 20 2008 6:48 AM

Bell Mobility also was having serious problems yesterday too.

Posted by: lostfaith on February 20 2008 7:30 AM

Well thats all fine and dandy but enquiring minds want to know, Did they catch the crackhead?

Posted by: Foo738 on February 20 2008 7:49 AM

I, too, wish they had better communication. I tend to think it is my set-up and spend time tryig to start restart check cable plug in's and finally cotton on that it is Shaw again. It would help if they could communicate quicker with the public seeing that they are in the communication business. Bet Bill Gates would figure that one out!

Posted by: lou on February 20 2008 9:39 AM

My Cable back on.
Found out my local cable box outside had been hit by plow.
Just happen at same time as this.

Posted by: DPJ on February 20 2008 11:07 AM

I wonder how much this vandalism cost the local economy. Should get the guy to pay for it!!!