Colfax ‘lost in space’ after fiber cut

Colfax residents and businesses were disconnected from rest of the world Friday and Saturday when internet and telephone services went down. Century Link reported Saturday the shutdown was caused by a cut fiber line near Colfax.

Long distance callers and internet users discovered around 9:30 a.m. Friday that service was knocked out. Full service was not restored until about 6 p.m. Saturday according to the Century Link report.

The cut knocked out service to an estimated 300 telephone customers and 1,760 Internet customers.

Among services knocked out was the 911 emergency call number. Calls to 911 were rerouted to the sheriff’s office.

Fuel supplies were hit because gas stations could not sell fuel via a credit card. The Four Star Supply fuel plaza was posted with signs advising customers that fuel could not be sold via credit cards.

Cougar Foodmart also sustained the same shutdown on use of credit cards, and customers had to make purchases in cash.

Complicating the demand for cash was the shutdown in ATM services at the banks. Banks were able to convert checks and cards to cash, but after the banks closed the supply source for cash ended.

Not all links were cut. The credit card system at Corner Chevron remained in operation because their service operates off a satellite. Employees there said they noticed a rush of business when customers learned they still had a link to the credit card system.

Services provided by St. John Cable Co. and Colfax Cable Co. were not knocked out by the cable cut.

The internet cut also hit the courthouse. Court records could not be completed. Voter registration checks were also shut down Friday.

The internet cut knocked out the link to financial markets at the Edward Jones office in Colfax. Time for the outage there was recorded at 9:36 a.m. Friday. With long distance telephone service also down, employees had to rely on cell phone calls to get market information as needed. Cell calls were made to company headquarters in St. Louis, Mo.

The internet shutdown meant the Daily Bulletin could not circulate Friday’s edition to internet subscribers. Friday’s Bulletin was sent out Monday morning at 8:30 a.m.