September 2007

Cable cut in Albany, OR affects many telephone companies surrounding Portland and Salem

At approximately 11:30AM on Thursday, Sept. 13th a fiber optic cable that is owned by Qwest was cut near Albany, OR. This cable cut affected telephone service for thousands of people whose service is provided by the many telephone companies surrounding the Portland and Salem areas. The services affected were different in each area, but mostly consisted of the inability to call into or out of each local calling area. One of the services affected was 911 service. Molalla Communications rerouted 911 service, so that it continued to reach the Clackamas County 911 center. All services were restored by around 11:30pm.

The cable that was cut carried SS7 signaling for the affected companies. SS7 signaling is the system that is used for call identification in the telephone network. This signaling directs the network on how to handle and route calls that are placed across telephone exchanges. SS7 signaling provides the information on items like where calls are coming from, where to route the calls to and what long distance carrier to utilize. Without access to the SS7 network, calls outside of our telephone exchange area are unable to be completed.

Molalla Communications Company