Sorry, Your Connection Has Been Interrupted

On July 18, customers with Union Wireless in the Platte Valley experienced a service outage which lasted approximately two hours. The internet, cellular and phone service outage appears to have impacted some business more than others.

Scott Duke, interim CEO at the North Platte Valley Medical Center, said the service outage did not disrupt the hospital's operations a whole lot.

“The hospital has redundant backup wireless and the backup wireless kicked in so we didn't completely shut down,” said Duke.

He said there were some delays which could have caused problems at the Emergency Room but fortunately there was a backup plan for the hospital's internet.

“What we learned is the bandwidth from the wireless is not the same as the main fiber that went down,” Duke said. “What we found out is television and other internet services ate up all the bandwidth so it caused challenges in the ER in terms of seeing patients and getting reports. I am pleased to report none of our patients were denied care.”

Duke said this was a wake-up call for the hospital to prioritize its bandwidth if this situation were to happen again. He said his staff has learned a lot from this service outage.

“We are looking at a second redundant fiber line to back us up to make it seamless,” said Duke. “So when the line went down we lost service and then the wireless came up which is half the normal bandwidth. But there is a cost for the second wireless to come in. “

Karen Smith, manager at Shively Hardware, said the only thing the Union Wireless outage did was prevent credit card transactions and the ability to receive customers' phone calls.

“We were unable to do credit card processing and our phones were not working for a couple of hours,’ Smith said. “It was not good but we were able to get through once it was over.”

Adam Clarke, owner of Valley Foods, said the shutdown did not have much of an effect on his business.

“These things do happen, it's nothing new," Clarke said. “Curveballs will be thrown at you in business. What we do is store a credit card in a backup system but the only problem is if the credit card does not go through, we would have a tough time getting paid.”

Tami Fager, RNB State Bank branch manager, said the outage did slow things down for a couple of hours. Fager said other RNB branches informed customers on what was going on.

“We were unable to have internet services for a couple of hours so our communication in and out of the bank was virtually zero,” Fager said. “Our other branches jumped on it and sent out notices on social media to inform customers our branch was down. It also turns out residents were having the same issue.”

Fager said she was told a cable up in the mountains was cut according to information she received from other branches and customers.

“We were able to manage well during the shutdown, " Fager said. “We have been told either a cable or wire was cut up in the mountains and it affected the whole community and not just the bank. We were understanding about what happened and there was nothing we could do.”

Megan James, Customer Care Manager at Union Wireless, said Carbon Power and Light had a commercial power outage and Union Wireless was not notified about the power outage being scheduled.

“Carbon Power and Light conducted a planned commercial power outage from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,” James said. “Union Wireless was not properly notified of this scheduled interruption. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this oversight and are taking steps to ensure accurate communication in the future.”

According to Joe Parrie, Director of Member Services at Carbon Power and Light, notifications were sent on social media days before the scheduled power outage. Parrie said the Western Area Power Administration scheduled an outage to work on their substation in Medicine Bow. Parrie also said Carbon Power and Light sent automated phone calls to all members in the affected area on two different days.

“The automated system leaves a message on the member’s phone if they have voice mail,” Parrie said. “If it does not get an answer, it will try again. It will also notify us that there was no answer, or if it left a voicemail or if it was answered.”

Parrie said Union Wireless was called on one number on July 12 at 11:15 a.m. and received a live answer. He said a second number called at 11:24 a.m. did not receive an answer and a third number called at 11:26 a.m. did not receive an answer, either.

“The same numbers were called again on July 16,” Parrie said. “One at 11:17 a.m which was answered, one at 11:26 did not receive an answer and the third phone call at 11:28 a.m also did not get an answer.”

Parrie said Union Wireless did not inform Carbon Power and Light of their phone numbers being changed, which is the reason why they could not reach out to them.

“The numbers we have called are provided by our members,” Parrie said. “We cannot control if they change the number and do not notify us of the change, which is why we ask our members to provide us with accurate information periodically.”

According to Parrie, notifications of the outage were posted on Carbon Power and Light Facebook page on four different occasions. He also said post posters of the outage were on display at local businesses.

“We had our line crew members post posters about the outage at the post offices, senior centers and other locations in the areas that were to be affected,” Parrie said. “It’s interesting that the Western Area Power Administration crew shut off the power at 10 a.m but we did not lose our communications from Union Wireless until around 12:20 and had the communications restored to us at around 2 p.m.”

Parrie said the Western Area Power Administration got power restored on schedule but does not understand how the outage interfered in Union Wireless services.

“The power was restored by the Western Area Power Administration at 4 p.m,” Parrie said. “If their outage was because we had a scheduled outage, how did communications not go down at the same time and stay off till it was restored?”