Internet, phone outage impacts Frontier customers

Landline telephones and internet service for Frontier customers were down in Lincoln County and northern Idaho Tuesday.

A fiber optic line was cut in Idaho according to a sign posted in the Libby office of Frontier Communications. The outage may have prevent ed customers from calling or receiving calls from phone numbers outside of the 293 and 295 areas, according to the sign.

A press release from Javier Mendoza, vice president of corporate communications and external affairs for Frontier, stated that the outage was caused by a logging truck that impacted, dragged and severed a fiber optic cable near Bonners Ferry.

“Frontier crews are working as promptly as safety will allow but there is currently no estimated time of repairs,” the release stated. “We thank our customers and the communities we serve for their patience as our Frontier team works diligently to restore service.”

The release from Mendoza said service was out in northern Idaho and around Bonners Ferry. It did not speak to the Montana outage.

The outage also affected the Yaak area, according to posts on the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.

By 7 p.m., Frontier crews had repaired the damage, according to a followup release from Mendoza.

“Frontier crews have repaired fiber-optic cables and Internet services are restored. Frontier expects to complete all repairs by tonight, with all remaining services in Idaho and Montana fully restored,” read the release.

Montana Sky Networks, which also services the Libby and Troy areas with Internet, said their services for that area were not affected.

Frontier customers are serviced through a fiber optic line coming from Bonners Ferry. Montana Sky has its own fiber optic line that comes from the east into Libby and their service in the Troy area is provided through a wireless relay.