(Smith County Insider Press) CARTHAGE, Tenn. – For those in and around Carthage with cellular phone service through Verizon, this past week has brought folks back in time a couple of decades – at least to the part where making a phone call required access to a telephone connected to a copper landline.
Since at least Sunday, August 18, Verizon’s lone tower atop the ‘bluff’ overlooking the Cumberland River and Cordell Hull Bridge has been out of commission – fooling customers with false 3G and LTE signals, or ‘bars’, without any useable data to connect to.
Those in town wishing to make a simple phone call or send a text message have been forced to seek alternate options, such as connecting to wifi or traveling south to Gordonsville, where service picks back up near the TNT Market.
Posts filled with complaints, questions and even memes poking fun at the situation have filled social media in recent days as residents speculate about what is going on.
This has also led to the spread of misinformation, especially as Verizon has provided very little info about the issue. Speculation for the outage cause has ranged from an upgrade to 5G – which Verizon hasn’t announced yet for the Nashville area, the eventual ‘sunset’ or shutdown of Verizon’s 3G network due at the end of this year, to Verizon ending their Carthage lease.
None of these reasons are actually behind the outage.
When users contact Verizon either over the phone or through social media, most have been met with the following vague message:
(from Verizon’s Facebook) “Verizon is currently experiencing a wireless network issue in your area. Our technicians are aware of this issue and are working quickly to resolve it.”
This same message can be found repeatedly on one resident’s post to Verizon’s page – a post that has gone viral with many local customers complaining in the comments.
As for the exact cause of the outage, it is due to a cut in the fiber cable running to the tower.
Per the new message being given by Verizon representatives, “A fiber cut experienced by a vendor partner is causing a service disruption in Carthage. Our engineers are aware of this issue and are working with the vendor to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”
While this explains the issue at hand, no timetable has been given for when the tower will be back in normal operation, despite the process of fixing a broken fiber line not being all that arduous.
One Facebook user commented, “My work splices fiber… It does not take over a week or week and a half to splice it back.”
For some, the wait has been long enough, with people threatening to pull their service from Verizon and switch to a different carrier, such as T-Mobile or AT&T.
Residents with cell phone service through a ‘MVNO’ or ‘mobile virtual network operator’ such as Straight Talk and MetroPCS are also dealing with the outage, as some of those companies rely on Verizon’s network for coverage.
Some have reported that T-Mobile and other carriers have been affected, as well.
The lack of service has also impacted access to emergency services, as Verizon users without a landline may not be able to call 911.
Smith County EMS Director Jeff Crocket took to Facebook today, stating he has been in contact with the State Emergency Communications Board, “in hopes they can make contact with somebody that will get the problem resolved as soon as possible.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Crockett provided the following update via Facebook:
“The State Emergency Communications Board continues to work with me to escalate the priority of the repair. I have also been able to make contact with a Sr. Level Executive with Verizon in Nashville who was more than happy to update me on the situation and was very professional to speak with.
The problem has been identified as damage in the fiber network. That fiber network is the AT&T network and Verizon is working with them to get the repair made. The current Strike that is going on with AT&T is causing difficulty in getting the repair made. AT&T still have technicians working making repairs but those repairs are being prioritized and being made by the priority. I made it clear that with the situation at hand in Smith County, this repair should be a top priority. The person I spoke with at Verizon 100% agreed with me and assured me that they would be pushing for this repair to be moved up the list and done as soon as possible. After having this conversation this morning, I fully believe that Verizon is and has been doing everything they can over the last week to rectify this situation. I also believe that when we are moved to a top priority, that AT&T will do what they need to do to rectify this situation.”
With the outage entering its second week and no timeline given for when service will be restored, frustration is sure to mount.
The Russell Cellular Verizon store in Carthage has advised customers to call and report the outage to 1-800-922-0204, stating on door postings “The more people that report, the quicker it will get fixed.”
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