A damaged Charter Communications fiber was responsible for temporary losses of telephone, television and internet service that occurred in Cheboygan and Emmet counties Sunday, as well as parts of the Upper Peninsula.

By Shawna Jankoviakshawna@cheboygantribune.com

A damaged Charter Communications fiber was responsible for temporary losses of telephone, television and internet service that occurred in Cheboygan and Emmet counties Sunday, as well as parts of the Upper Peninsula.Charlevoix-Cheboygan-Emmet/9-1-1 Central Dispatch Authority Director Bob Bradley said an overhead cable line providing telephone, television and internet service to Charter Communications customers was damaged unintentionally Sunday afternoon just north of Levering along the boundary between Cheboygan and Emmet counties.Because hairs within the fiber were damaged, service was impacted to Charter customers. But because some cellular companies also utilize Charter fiber as part of their network to connect their towers, some non-Charter customers were also affected. Even some hard line users experienced the outage.“It depended on where you were, what towers you could reach,” Bradley explained. “In these counties in the tip of the mitt there was an isolated pocket that were unable to make phone calls.”Since some residents were without any telephone service, they could not call 9-1-1 in cases of emergencies, Bradley explained. Because some individuals lost cell service or cable service, the standard media notifications to alert the public about phone service being out was more challenging, as some individuals could not receive texts or see a television trailer.“Our 9-1-1 system was working fine, but some people couldn’t call us,” Bradley said.Bradley said radio notifications were also used, and fire departments were paged so volunteers could stand by at their respective halls in case residents showed up with emergency situations.The 9-1-1 dispatch center noticed a lack of calls from that area around 3 p.m. or so. Much of the service was restored by 11 p.m., although the entire system was officially back online in the early morning hours of Monday, Bradley noted.Charter Communications Director Bill Morand told The Evening News of Sault Ste. Marie, on Monday that the cable line damage appeared to be caused by some individuals who were shooting skeet.