Internet connections and cell phone services were disrupted this morning when a repair on a Telus line went wrong east of Hazleton.
Shawn Hall from Telus explained that 1,000 high speed internet users and a wireless site for mobile service were affected in the Terrace, Hazelton and Smithers areas.
At 11:30 this morning, a Telus worker was repairing the casing on a fibre optic cable, which had been damaged in a fire some months ago.
The fire occurred when a tree fell on a Telus line and knocked it onto a Hydro line.
Hall says what could have happened is that while the technician was repairing the outer casing on the cable, some of the glass inside had become brittle from the fire and was further disrupted during the repair and caused the outage.
He says repairs like this happen all the time and do not disrupt service.
“This is the first time that anyone can remember a repair of this nature causing an outage,” Hall said.
“Usually the damage is pretty moderate, and we're just able to replace the casing.”
Currently, Hall says there are two crews working on different angles to restore service.
There is a crew from Terrace on its way out to replace the cable as well as a crew working on rerouting service through an alternate route.
Hall says in the worst case scenario, service will be restored some time tonight.