from Suzanne Olson
OPALCO redundant microwave radio link
OPALCO crews have been working around the clock to provide a temporary solution for our co-op members impacted by the CenturyLink outage. OPALCO’s data communications system is now carrying the phone and data traffic for San Juan Island, and providing 911 and phone solutions for the rest of San Juan County until CenturyLink can repair or replace their failed submarine cable.
OPALCO has a robust data communications system in place to serve our electric distribution system, which includes redundancy for emergency back-up. We were able to quickly redirect CenturyLink’s San Juan Island traffic to a redundant link in our system, committing the staff, expertise and infrastructure resources necessary to help our fellow utility and get basic service to our membership in the interim. We are utilizing our back-up capacity (redundancy) on our co-op fiber and microwave radio links to route traffic between the islands and to the mainland.
OPALCO Communication Technician David Harold splicing fiber in the field
Our technology team and field crews have been cooperating closely with CenturyLink to establish solutions and quickly deploy them. OPALCO has dedicated more than 300 staff hours to this effort since work began on Tuesday afternoon—our line crew working through the night to install equipment and technology, our technology team configuring and testing connections and OPALCO leadership coordinating the joint efforts. Amidst it all, no one has been working harder than OPALCO’s fiber splicer, David Harold.
“Splicing fiber is a meticulous and skillful task and requires a detailed understanding of the system,” says Rick Lysen of OPALCO’s Island Network, who has been coordinating the technical side of this effort. “David has been out in the field since Tuesday, working intensively to make emergency splices for this solution, reconnecting us with the outside world.”
As always, our island communities are coming together to help each other out. On Orcas, volunteers flocked to the Eastsound fire station on Wednesday night to participate in “Operation Meet your Neighbor,” knocking on doors to make sure everyone was okay. Those without Internet connections lined up at public libraries to take advantage of OPALCO’s fiber (Island Network) connections.
Island Network delivers data communications capacity to public institutions as well as some commercial entities. There is currently a moratorium on new connections through Island Network as the Co-op goes through a comprehensive infrastructure design and review process.
For the latest information, go to OPALCO’s website: www.opalco.com, Facebook (Orcas Power & Light Cooperative) and Twitter (@orcaspower).
OPALCO is our member-owned cooperative electric utility, powering more than 11,000 members on 20 islands in San Juan County. OPALCO provides electricity that is 95% greenhouse-gas free and is generated predominantly by hydroelectric plants. OPALCO was founded in 1937.
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God bless OPALCO! Thanks for all the long hard hours you all have put in this week and the ingenuity to come up with this solution. My income depends on having long distance phone service and thanks to you I don’t have to go live on the mainland until CenturyTel can get their act together. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are part of what makes this a great community.
Opalco we appreciate what you are doing for us, not only at this crucial time, but through all the years.
Thank you,
George and Ingrid
We find it interesting that OPALCO has a backup cable, to bring us electricity if something happens to interrupt the main line, while CenturyLink has evidently neither the foresight nor the good management practice to have its own backup in place.
Once again, OPALCO saves the day! CenturyLink should learn a lesson from this.
My observations of the OPALCO folks during this event, while I was helping out with Orcas Fire/Rescue and the San Juan County Amateur Radio Society has left me completely impressed with their skills, ability to think creatively, and community spirit.
They are rock stars!
It probably goes without saying, but I’ll say it: May this emergency-provoked incident of meaningful cooperation lead to negotiations between CenturyLink and OPALCO which allow the former to add both speed and reliability to its current internet services, which lack both, and which allow the latter to generate some revenue from its investment in infrastructure.
AT&T update:
I spoke with a customer service agent and supervisor at AT&T just now and they “didn’t know there was an outage in your area.” I literally had to have them Google “San Juan County State of Emergency” so they could read up on the issues.
I asked why, after a week, AT&T has not been able to update their subscribers or provide us with any information about possible reconnection. The supervisor told me that I should have called when the service first went down! I explained the issues behind that process.
On the positive side, they offered to credit me 1 month on my bill. On the negative side, that is not nearly enough and doesn’t offer anything to help the problem. I understand that the original interruption is not their fault, but the lack of outreach and general failure to be proactive with their customer base is.
I encourage all AT&T wireless customers to call 1-800-331-0500 and demand that AT&T start updating it’s customers and become proactive in this process, rather than waiting for for Centurylink.
Thank you Justin for this information