MONROE - An outage that threw much of southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois and points throughout the country into a connectivity blackhole was caused by a construction company not affiliated with the utility company, a senior Charter Communications representative said.
Customers throughout the area lost connectivity at roughly 10 a.m. Friday. Charter Senior Communications Manager Kimberly Noetzel said a fiber line was severed near Janesville by an unidentified construction crew not in relation to Charter. Service was restored in Monroe at about 9:30 p.m.
"We are working diligently to correct the problem," Noetzel said during the outage. "Customers should see a gradual restoration of their service."
However, she could not say which areas should see their services get turned back on or if there was a geographical order for when which specific areas will experience service again. She said she was unsure how many individual people the outage has affected.
While some area institutions fared fine, others were affected throughout the day Friday as businesses attempted to circumvent the need for utility services. School District of Monroe Superintendent Rick Waski said the district building had not experienced an outage, nor was he informed by technology services that any school building was dealing with one, per customary protocol. He added in an email that while the district utilizes Charter as its internet provider, it has its "own dedicated pipe."
City of Monroe Administrative Secretary Arianna Voegeli said the city ran smoothly throughout the day, noting that her office in the westside fire department had both phone and internet connections.
Some businesses were not as lucky. Baumgartner Cheese Store and Tavern posted on Facebook around 10 a.m. that phone lines were down, interrupting cheese shipping orders.
Just off the downtown Square to the east, Buggyworks Restaurant and Pub adapted to having no phone, television, internet or streaming music, which are all facets of its daily operation. Owner Jeff Ewald said the disruption caused some scrambling since he came in to find no connection around 10 a.m.
The radio was eventually played through the speakers while televisions kept telling viewers to wait a moment for a picture. Ewald said he had been problem-solving throughout the morning, first leaving a voicemail on the business phone explaining to contact him via his cell phone and then downloading an app on that phone to ensure customers could continue to pay with a debit or credit card.
"I've basically been running the entire business through my phone today," Ewald said. "It's disappointing and frustrating, but we've just kind of got to roll with the punches. It forces a contingency plan."
Ewald said the outage "definitely" affected the business, which he noted does a lot of business involving carryout orders. He noted he was hopeful service would be turned back on for Saturday operation, but would continue regardless.
Customers throughout the area lost connectivity at roughly 10 a.m. Friday. Charter Senior Communications Manager Kimberly Noetzel said a fiber line was severed near Janesville by an unidentified construction crew not in relation to Charter. Service was restored in Monroe at about 9:30 p.m.
"We are working diligently to correct the problem," Noetzel said during the outage. "Customers should see a gradual restoration of their service."
However, she could not say which areas should see their services get turned back on or if there was a geographical order for when which specific areas will experience service again. She said she was unsure how many individual people the outage has affected.
While some area institutions fared fine, others were affected throughout the day Friday as businesses attempted to circumvent the need for utility services. School District of Monroe Superintendent Rick Waski said the district building had not experienced an outage, nor was he informed by technology services that any school building was dealing with one, per customary protocol. He added in an email that while the district utilizes Charter as its internet provider, it has its "own dedicated pipe."
City of Monroe Administrative Secretary Arianna Voegeli said the city ran smoothly throughout the day, noting that her office in the westside fire department had both phone and internet connections.
Some businesses were not as lucky. Baumgartner Cheese Store and Tavern posted on Facebook around 10 a.m. that phone lines were down, interrupting cheese shipping orders.
Just off the downtown Square to the east, Buggyworks Restaurant and Pub adapted to having no phone, television, internet or streaming music, which are all facets of its daily operation. Owner Jeff Ewald said the disruption caused some scrambling since he came in to find no connection around 10 a.m.
The radio was eventually played through the speakers while televisions kept telling viewers to wait a moment for a picture. Ewald said he had been problem-solving throughout the morning, first leaving a voicemail on the business phone explaining to contact him via his cell phone and then downloading an app on that phone to ensure customers could continue to pay with a debit or credit card.
"I've basically been running the entire business through my phone today," Ewald said. "It's disappointing and frustrating, but we've just kind of got to roll with the punches. It forces a contingency plan."
Ewald said the outage "definitely" affected the business, which he noted does a lot of business involving carryout orders. He noted he was hopeful service would be turned back on for Saturday operation, but would continue regardless.