The Unsung Heroes Who Restore Fiber Network Outages

A Day in the Life of Sertex Telecom Technicians

Keeping networks up and running is job one for Sertex fiber optic experts. When a customer calls with a suspected outage, they jump into action.

Our team knows from experience that rodents are one of the most common causes of fiber network outages. Yes, you read that right. Those pesky little critters have a knack for chewing through cables and causing fiber network outages.

Recently, when the Director of IT of Killingly Public Schools, contacted Sertex to troubleshoot a major issue with their fiber connection, rodents were to blame.

It was reported that all communications and links between Killingly High School, the Killingly Central Office, and the Killingly Town/Bus Garage were lost. Within hours of receiving the call, Sertex technicians were dispatched on-site to begin testing the fiber between the three buildings. At the same time, an additional technician was mobilized from Westfield, Mass., to assist in restoring service.

Restoring Fiber Network Outages

The problem was determined to be two damaged fiber cables located approximately 400 ft from the Killingly High School fiber panel. While the support technician was enroute to Killingly, the on-site team was able to trace out the fiber path and isolate the damage to an underground fiber vault just behind the school.

Once help arrived, the crew moved fiber slack from inside the building to the vault to splice the damaged cables back together. However, due to the cramped space and the limited amount of slack, the repairs had to be completed outside on a table about 3 feet off the ground.

Despite the cold and dark night, the cables were spliced back together under the high-wattage glow of work lights. Once the splicing was completed, they verified that the connections between KHS, the Central Office, and the Town Garage were all back up and running.

It was a job well done by the Sertex team, who worked tirelessly for over six hours to restore the network so that the school could open without disruption.

We often take the technology that connects us for granted, but it's important to remember the hard work and dedication of the people who keep that technology running. So, the next time your network goes down, remember the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes to get essential connections back up and running.