8:21pm 9-2-2011

Our equipment in the Plymouth area is now back online and operational.  While there is still a lot of work to be done on putting in permanent fixes, and repairing individual/localized troubles, all of our key systems are now back online.  We want to thank everyone for their continued support and patience as we have worked through all of these major problems as a result of Irene.

12:04pm 9-2-2011

Our equipment in the Saltash equipment is reconnected and loading software, which takes approximately 20 minutes.  There are lingering issues on the circuits feeding that location, which may affect voice quality, but it should be usable.  We will continue to work on the voice quality issues.

9:15am 9-2-2011

Another fiber cable has been damaged in the Killington area.  At this time it is not impacting service as the redundant path is online and operational.  Crews are dispatched to locate the trouble and repair.  Work is starting on restoration of cut copper cables in the Route 100A area.

9:28pm 9-1-2011

Circuits providing service to the Plymouth/Saltash area have been repaired, and now the electronic equipment needs to be brought back online.  We expect to find more equipment that was damaged by the water, but are going to try and get the equipment up and running again.  Below is a picture of one of the electronic boards that we had damaged by water -- you can see the level of the water by the dried mud left on the card!

3:19pm 9-1-2011

Service to the Mount Holly and Cuttingsville area has been restored.  Efforts are continuing to restore service to the Plymouth/Saltash area where water actually flowed through VTel electronic equipment.

1:26pm 9-1-2011

The team worked all night to restore services to the majority of the affected areas.  At this time there are still issues in the Mount Holly and Cuttingsville area with dialing long distance and with Internet access.

6:59pm 8-31-2011

This afternoon's connectivity issues in Killington were resolved; however our fiber has now been damaged in the Danby area.  With much of our voice and DSL network still running in an unprotected state due to other fiber breaks, this event has isolated several of our exchanges, including Killington, Mount Holly, Danby, Pawlet, and Middletown Springs.  We have crews dispatched to locate the problem and repair it.  In good news we have restored partial service in the Jenneville Road area of Hartland, and technicians are continuing to work to complete this restoration.

2:32pm 8-31-2011

New connectivity problems have arisen in the Killington area.  Most customers should have connectivity, but a small subset may not be able to make calls.  The good news is that two of our remotes (one in Plymouth, and one in Hartland) may not have as much water damage as previously thought, and we are trying to bring them back online this afternoon/evening.

4:21pm 8-30-2011

Another fiber break has been located in the Killington area.  This is affecting service to a subset of customers in the Killington and Bridgewater area.  The break is very close to power cables and we are attempting to determine if the line is energized or if it is safe to work on.

3:19pm 8-30-2011

Fiber break near intersection of Route 4 and Route 100 is repaired.  This should restore service to most of the Killington area.

11:35am 8-30-2011

An over-zealous excavator operator accidentally took out the repair we made near the intersection of Route 4 and Route 100.  This is causing outages for customers in the Killington area.  We have technicians onsite and are trying to quickly repair the damage.

8:50am 8-30-2011

Last night at approximately 11pm a fiber break between Wallingford and Rutland was repaired, which marked the complete restoration of VTel's regional network to Boston and New York.  Separately at approximately 12:20am this morning a fiber break near the intersection of Route 4 and Route 100 was repaired, thus restoring telephone and Internet service to much of the Killington area.

3:59pm 8-29-2011

One side of a fiber ring has been restored to Hartland and Bridgewater.  Customers in these areas should have voice and Internet access back online.

12:59pm 8-29-2011

We are actively splicing a fiber cable causing connectivity problems between Springfield, Wallingford, and Hartland areas.  We hope to have this restored in the next 3-4 hours.  A separate fiber break on Route 4 & Route 100 in Killington remains unreachable by construction crews.  The state has advised us it may be quite some time before road access is restored to Route 4, so we are looking for an alternate route that we can hand-carry materials into the Killington area.

6:52am 8-29-2011

Fiber connectivity to Boston has been restored.  Work continues on keeping generators running, and working to get access to the areas where we have fiber breaks.

12:04am 8-29-2011

Technicians continue to fuel and rotate generators to keep reachable offices operating.  The earlier fiber breaks have not been able to be reached -- water and missing roads has blocked the way.  Additional fiber breaks have occured that have made connectivity to Rutland impossible, and caused limited connectivity to Boston -- impacting Internet access.  As waters recede throughout the early morning we will continue to try and get crews access to the damaged areas.

4:17pm 8-28-2011

We have narrowed down one of the fiber breaks to an inter-exchange link connecting Springfield and Hartland together.  Technicians are trying to find a passable road to get to the location; however many of the roads are washed out, or otherwise closed.

2:27pm 8-28-2011

We have experienced multiple fiber breaks.  This is causing problems for customers in the areas of Hartland, Bridgewater, and Killington, and is affecting both voice and Internet communications.  Multiple road closings and flooding is hindering efforts to determine the extent of the problems.  We are working hard to gain access to the damaged areas and restore services as soon as possible.