Telecom outage disrupts internet access, temporarily knocks out 911 service in Juneau

JUNEAU — Technical problems with Alaska Communications services temporarily knocked out 911 service in Alaska’s capital city Thursday afternoon and continued to disrupt internet service into the evening.

Company spokeswoman Heather Cavanaugh said the company “identified that the outage is tied to an issue with one of our two subsea fiber optic cables. We are working to reroute traffic as quickly as possible, isolate the issue and restore service. We have crews mobilized and will work around the clock until service is restored.”

The Juneau Police Department posted a message on social media Thursday afternoon saying that its phone lines were down because of the problem and anyone with an emergency should call an alternate number instead of 911. The City and Borough of Juneau said shortly before 2:30 p.m. that 911 service had been restored.

Local schools were affected, with phones and internet out across the district.

At the Alaska State Capitol, lawmakers and staff were unable to access information online, causing several committees to cancel afternoon meetings. The Legislature’s website was knocked offline for much of the afternoon and had not been restored by 8 p.m.

The House Finance Committee, considering the state operating budget, was briefly delayed before resuming work at 2:20 p.m. Lawmakers there continued to work into the evening.

GCI spokeswoman Heather Handyside said that company’s services were mostly unaffected. About 1,000 cellphone customers with older devices may have problems, she said.

GCI and Alaska Communications formerly operated a joint cellphone network, and those customers use equipment from that legacy.