CenturyLink: Phone service restored in southeast Cedar Rapids

CenturyLink has restored landline phone service for customers in the southeast part of Cedar Rapids after the service went down last week.

A contractor working on the sidewalk of 20th Street SE and Bever Street SE last week cut into the protective covering for CenturyLink's phone lines in the area. Some customers reported their phone service had been out since last Tuesday, Oct. 10.

Nancy Devinay, a CenturyLink spokeswoman, said the damage was significant. Most customers, she said, had their service restored quickly, but a few still were without service as of Monday afternoon.

'We apologize for any inconvenience this has created for our customers,” Devinay said in an email.

CenturyLink crews could be seen Monday working to fix the phone lines. When the covering was punctured, water flooded in and damaged the phone lines, they said. Part had still closed off a portion of the roadway Tuesday morning.

All phone service was restored Monday night, Devinay said Tuesday morning.

Devinay declined to say how many customers were affected by the outage, citing the 'competitive nature of our business.”

She said CenturyLink would investigate damages and hold the contractor responsible for the cable cut liable.

l Comments: (319) 398-8366; matthew.patane@thegazette.com