A cut fiber cable leads to internet outages in Bellingham on Thursday
Bellingham and parts of Western Washington were dealing with internet outages on Thursday morning, Jan. 28.
The internet website Downdetector reported CenturyLink was dealing with outages across Whatcom County including Bellingham. According to the website, Comcast was not experiencing an internet outage as of 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 28.
Kerry Zimmer, a senior communications manager for Lumen Technologies, said technicians were working to repair a fiber cut by an unrelated contractor that is affecting internet services for some customers in Bellingham. Lumen Technologies is part of CenturyLink.
In an update email sent at 5 p.m., Zimmer said workers repaired the fiber cable and customers had services restored Thursday evening.
The Bellingham School District sent out an email at 9 a.m. saying the entire school district was dealing with technical issues with its Internet Service Provider and AT&T services. That means a major disruption for classes today, as most of the students in the school district are learning remotely as the community tries to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“All schools and district sites do not have internet right now, which is impacting some of our remote learning,” said the email from school district officials, adding that teachers are looking for ways to reconnect with students, including going to other places or home to set up an internet connection.
In an email sent out at 4:30 p.m., the school district announced that internet service was restored to all school and district sites.
The outages appear to have started around 8:13 a.m., said Luke Deryckx, chief technology officer for Ookla, which runs the Downdetector website. Deryckx lives in Bellingham.
Deryckx said they’ve noticed a few high-profile outages impacting residential internet providers this week and last, but there hasn’t been a widespread shift in outage trends.
The Bellingham Police Department noted on Twitter that there have been intermittent phone outages for AT&T subscribers. If you can’t reach 911 for an emergency, call 360-676-6911.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 10:21 AM.
