Internet outage lasts 9 hours

Contractor cuts CenturyLink fiber line

For much of the day Wednesday, many businesses, homes and some government offices served by CenturyLink in Central Missouri were without internet connection.

Company officials said around 10:30 a.m., a fiber line between St. Louis and Rolla was cut by a third-party contractor doing work for CenturyLink. Service wasn't fully restored until around 7:30 p.m.

Those affected by the outage included Jefferson City Hall, the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce and the News Tribune, as well as some customers in Fulton, including the Fulton Sun.

"I was doing a presentation, and all of sudden, everything shut down," Jefferson City Fire Department spokesman Jason Turner said. "I didn't know what happened."

Company officials said the way the fiber is laid out, it's designed so if there is a cut it won't take down the entire system.

The service issues Wednesday were at best spotty, with many offices in the downtown area experiencing no internet issues. Those reporting no problems included the state House and Senate offices in the Capitol, the state's Office of Administration, the Transportation department's Central office and the Missouri Boulevard district office, and Lincoln University's campus.

Capital Region Medical Center was affected by the outage, but St. Mary's Hospital and Jefferson City Medical Group were not.

Calvary Lutheran High School Principal Erich Ahlers said a couple of teachers had come to him to express concerns about the internet. But every time he checked it, the service was working.

"We were up and functioning fairly normally today," Ahlers said. He did say though the school get its internet service by CenturyLink.

Almost all of the Jefferson City area schools reported not having any issues with connectivity Wednesday.

The Jefferson City Public Schools District and Blair Oaks R-2 District said they get their internet service through Morenet, and had no issues at any of their schools or offices. Rob. A Benefield, JCPS technology and information systems engineer, said Morenet is a connection with the University of Missouri.

Helias High School, Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph Cathedral, St. Martin, St. Stanislaus and St. Peter Catholic schools did not report any internet issues Wednesday.

The Cole County Courthouse and Annex, the Cole County Ambulance Service and Sheriff's Office use CenturyLink but had service Wednesday.

 

OUTDATED MATERIAL:

A fiberline cut in St. Louis is believed to have caused an interruption in internet service in Jefferson City and surrounding Mid-Missouri towns.

Details about what exactly happened still were being sorted out, but it appeared the outage in the Capital City occurred around 10:30 a.m.

The outage affected Jefferson City's government, including police and fire services.

The News Tribune's and Fulton Sun offices were affected. But many offices in the downtown Jefferson City area experienced no internet issues Wednesday.

Those reporting no problems included the state House and Senate offices in the Capitol, the state's Office of Administration, the Transportation department's Central office and the Missouri Boulevard district office, and Lincoln University's campus.

Capital Region Medical Center was affected by the internet outage, but St. Mary's Hospital and Jefferson City Medical Group were not.

Calvary Lutheran High School Principal Erich Ahlers said a couple of teachers had come to him to express concerns about the internet, but every time he checked it, the service was working. 

"We are up and functioning fairly normally today," Ahlers said. He did say though that the school does get its internet service provided by CenturyLink. 

Almost all of the Jefferson City area schools reported not having any issues with their internet connectivity on Wednesday. 

The Jefferson City Public Schools District and Blair Oaks R-2 District said they get their internet service through Morenet, and so had not had any issues at any of their schools or offices. JCPS Technology and Information Systems Engineer Rob. A Benefield said that Morenet is a connection with the University of Missouri.

Helias Catholic High School and Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph Cathedral, St. Martin, St. Stanislaus and St. Peter Catholic schools did not report any internet issues on Wednesday. 

Both the Cole County Courthouse and Annex did not lose internet service. The Cole County Ambulance Service and Sheriff's Office also had service.