Some residents must face almost 1 week with no phone

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A big mess-up by construction workers gives Frontier Communications – not to mention thousands of residents – big headaches lasting almost a week.

Last Friday, local construction crews were working on a new roundabout at Cumberland Avenue and Yeager Road in West Lafayette. Crews somehow dug up roughly 200 feet of cable fibers, making cuts to not only those fibers, but also making about 1,600 cuts to copper wires.

These cuts meant thousands of residents were without Internet, phone lines and even their cell phones, as the accident knocked out a few Greater Lafayette AT&T cell towers as well.

Frontier Communications General Manager Dave Sorg assures News 18 his crews have been working around the clock to fix the problem caused by the road crews.

Sorg says, as of Monday, some homes had seen restored service, but many may still have yet to be connected back to the 21st century.

Most homes located in the following places in West Lafayette had their Internet and landline service restored by 3 a.m. Monday. The areas contain roughly 500 customers. Keep in mind wiring varies in each home, so not all homes in these areas will have restored service, but Sorg says most will.

- Cumberland School, surrounding area
- 600 block of Legrange Street
- Soldiers Home Road / Overlook Drive
- 2000 block of Salisbury Street

The bad news, Sorg says, is many homes will have to be individually re-connected to their fibers. The areas we just mentioned are on what Sorg calls “bundled” circuits, meaning when one wire is fixed, many homes have restored service at once.

But as for roughly 1,000 other homes? Sorg says Frontier technicians will have to go to each one of these homes individually to restore service.

All service for homes is expected to be restored by Wednesday or Thursday.

As we mentioned, Frontier crews are working 24 hours a day to restore service. Sorg says if you see a crew driving through your neighborhood at odd hours, don’t be alarmed. All employees will be wearing badges and identification.

If you have an immediate need for landline service to be restored (i.e., for medical reasons), contact Dave Sorg via email with your name, phone number and address.

Stick with News 18 all week for coverage, and WLFI.com for updates on the outage.