Storm knocks out Internet, phones, cable TV

By RICK GREEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

BELMONT — Angry customers of MetroCast, which provides digital telephone, Internet and cable television services, gathered in its regional office Wednesday to ask not only why their service was out but why they couldn't report the outage.

They were told that Tuesday's storm disrupted the services MetroCast provides and knocked out its own ability to take trouble calls.

Andy Walton, a spokesman for Pennsylvania-based Harron Communications, MetroCast's parent, said that by Wednesday evening the call system had been repaired.

He also said service has been restored in Bridgewater, Alexandria, Bristol, Center Harbor, Franklin, Hebron, Laconia, Gilford, Meredith, New Hampton, Sanbornton, Northfield, Tilton and portions of Belmont.

Service was still out in Deerfield, Barnstead, portions of Belmont, Epsom, Gilmanton (including Gilmanton Iron Works), Northwood, Pittsfield, Alton, Alton Bay, New Durham, Wolfeboro and a portion of Strafford.

He said services in these areas will be restored gradually.

Some customers wanted to know if they could get credit on their bills for the time period they were without service.

"Billing issues are handled on a customer-by-customer basis, as impact can vary by customer and location, and our customer service representatives stand ready to assist if a customer has a billing concern," Walton said.

"We know that our customers rely on our services and we have been working around the clock under adverse conditions to restore services as expeditiously as possible."

He also explained why service went out.

"Multiple uprooted trees pulled down poles and cut our fiber facilities on Middle Route, off State Route 107," he said.

"A second incident occurred when a fire in a manhole damaged a third-party's facilities which connect MetroCast to a Boston Internet peering center."

He said repair efforts involved multiple parties and work could not be performed until crews had safe access.