Outage Summary: On November 17, 2023, at 01:28 GMT, Lumen discovered a service impact in Orlando, FL. The Network Operations Center (NOC) was engaged, and initial research indicated a suspected site power fault was affecting services. As such, Field Operations was engaged to dispatch and assist with further troubleshooting and isolation efforts. Lumen Field Operations dispatched to a test site in Ocala. The technician transmitted light onto the affected fiber span to measure the distance traveled and back, as well as determine if a fault was present. Results indicated a fault approximately 16 miles away from the test site. By 12:35 GMT, the provider engaged a team to dispatch to the site. Additional fiber measurements were taken from Silver Springs, and the provider confirmed approximately 17.5 miles of damaged fiber was located below the river. A splice team was engaged and dispatched to the area. It was found that OPGW (optical fiber composite wire), which is a type of cable used for overhead power and telecommunications was severed on the ground about 20 miles away from the test site. There was no possible alternative route around the damage. It was advised 8,000 feet of fiber would need to be replaced and the provider worked to gather the needed materials to begin repair efforts. A helicopter was needed to replace the cable as the damaged area was in a swamp and splicing trucks cannot traverse the area. On November 28, the provider advised repair efforts were underway and anticipated construction would take two to three days to complete. The fiber was placed and on November 30, by 18:00, the fiber was prepared for splicing. Splicing was completed on fibers carrying Lumen traffic at 20:13 GMT, and the provider crews were fully hands-off by 23:00 GMT.
This service impact has concluded. There may be additional analysis and discovery that occurs as the incident is reviewed by NOC management. Due to the nature of this outage, it may be necessary to reset your services locally at your equipment. If a service issue prevails after that action has been performed, please contact the technical service department.