Saturday copper theft knocked out phone, internet
Fredericton Police Force investigates Saturday morning incident that appears to have disrupted telecommunications services for parts of north side, surrounding areas
Internet and telephone services were down for parts of the north side of Fredericton and adjacent communities, and it appears to have originated from a theft of copper wiring.
Chatter in local social-media circles Saturday indicated internet, television and phone service were spotty or down in parts of the north side of the New Brunswick capital, including the Devon neighbourhood.
The interruption - which affected both Bell Aliant and Rogers customers - extended at least as far as Noonan, several kilometres east of the Fredericton city limit.
Rogers emailed customers Saturday evening advising the disruption was due to physical interference with the telecom lines.
“Our technicians have determined that the interruption to your home services in your area is due to a fibre cut,” stated the email, sent at about 6:40 p.m. Saturday. “We now estimate services will be restored in 8-12 hours.”
People in the area reported their service started coming back online Sunday morning, and for many the outage lasted more than 24 hours.
The Fredericton Police Force confirmed its officers are investigating a theft of copper wiring that appears to coincide with the outage.
“Police were notified shortly after 8 a.m. on Nov. 4, and it was the wiring for the telecoms in the area,” spokesperson Sonya Gilks wrote in an email to the Fredericton Independent on Monday.
The police force didn’t indicate if any arrests had been made in the case, only that the investigation was in its early stages.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.