Speedy Repairs Put Cable Back On Line

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Category: News

Created on Monday, 17 March 2025 14:50

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SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

GCI wrapped up emergency maintenance on the undersea fiberoptic cable to Sitka early today, reporting that all internet and communications services have been moved back onto the cable.

The four-day outage started Thursday morning, and ended at 6 a.m. today, well ahead of the up to nine days the company had told customers they might expect.

“It was hard to give a super exact timeline until we actually pulled up the fiber and saw what we were working with,” said Josh Edge, corporate communications manager. The work was held up by weather that delayed the arrival of the repair ship Cable Innovator at the trouble site, about 10 miles from Angoon.

“The ship got on site (late Thursday), and the crews worked over the weekend and were able to get everything moving back onto the fiber. All services and traffic were moved back onto the fiber by 6 o’clock this morning,” Edge told the Sentinel today.

He said the repair work consisted mostly of reinforcing a small section of damaged fiber. The damage was not affecting internet service when the problem was flagged, but the maintenance was conducted in order to prevent a break similar to the one that lasted 17 days last August and September.

During this outage, customers were able to receive some internet and cell phone service through alternate technologies, including satellite and microwave.

The need for maintenance work was identified when GCI technical teams monitoring the network drew attention to an issue indicating some damage within the cable.

The company is giving customers a full month of plan fees for services that were affected (cell phone, text messaging, internet, FastPhone). Customers should notice credit applied to their accounts automatically, Edge said today.

“If customers have any questions, or are still experiencing service issues, please call us at 1-800-800-4800, or chat with us at GCI.com,” the company said, in today's announcement.