Restaurants and retail businesses are unable to process credit and debit card payments. One financial institution had to close branches. Local dailies have to overcome technical hurdles to get published.
All because a piece of technology that has become second nature in 21st century Berkshire County was rendered unusable for several hours during a spring snowstorm when a fiber optic cable snapped.
The outage affected customers at Pittsfield and Lee network centers using Charter Communications’ Spectrum high-speed Internet products, shutting down Internet and cable service as well as the Wi-Fi that runs the service.
A line crew works on Churchill Street in Pittsfield on Thursday.
“Our network experienced fiber outages due to physical damage caused during the storm,” Charter Communications spokesperson Lara Pritchard said Wednesday. “Our teams had to wait until downed commercial power lines in the area were removed. Once it is cleared and deemed safe, damage assessment can begin.
That’s only part of the problem, Pritchard said.
“Typically, fiber breaks require very detailed and time-consuming work, splicing hundreds of small fibers to get the network back up and running,” she said.
Service was restored to customers Wednesday night.
In an Eagle Facebook post about the outage, readers reported that Peruvian Dalton, Great Barrington, Stockbridge, Ashley Falls, Richmond, Lee and Lenox services have been interrupted.
But readers in Cheshire, Lanesboro and North Adams said they were served. Adams’ clients also retained service.
Some noted that the region was a throwback to the 1990s, before high-speed Internet service was widely available.
“That a cable smaller than the diameter of a pencil and a shovel can destroy an entire area shows how vulnerable we all are,” Steve Bird wrote in the post.
Parry Williams added: “I pay tribute to those who are working hard to restore services in this weather.”
Meanwhile, businesses and residents reported service outages across the county as wet snow and high winds knocked down power poles and damaged equipment.
Perhaps the most significant impact was Greylock Federal Credit Union, whose customers said on social media that they were unable to use their debit cards to make transactions during the outage.
“Greylock is currently experiencing technical difficulties due to severe weather. We are working to resolve these issues,” the credit union said on its Facebook page at 3:24 p.m. Wednesday.
Things didn’t get better.
The credit union later posted at 3:58 p.m.: “Due to the massive internet and mobile outages caused by the storm, all Greylock locations will be closed immediately.”
Emails and voicemails left Thursday morning to a Greylock spokesman asking about the situation were not returned.
Two boys walked along Main Street in Lenox Thursday with snow shovels.
Other businesses that rely on data lines to record card purchases have encountered similar difficulties. Zinky’s Pub in Dalton said on its Facebook page Wednesday night that it was still providing service but was unable to process card charges. Many restaurants in Great Barrington were closed for the night, and those that remained open were only accepting cash and checks.
One data-intensive workplace that experienced no outage was Berkshire Health Systems, which operates Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.
“Berkshire Health System has extensive systems and processes in place to address any outages to external networks and ensure we can continue to provide care to our patients,” spokesman Mike Leary said. “Our services There will be minimal impact from this latest outage.”
Leary told The Eagle that the hospital maintains patient privacy by maintaining its own servers to comply with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.
Katherine Van Bramer, public information officer for Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti, said there will be no impact on city operations.
Two city buildings — the main building at the Pittsfield Municipal Airport and Fire Station Engine 1 on West Housatonic Street — were spectrum users but lost television and internet service. But Van Bramer said core communications and operations at both locations were unaffected.
“All municipal buildings except those two cities use municipal fiber,” she said.
Also affected was The Berkshire Eagle, which publishes news online seven days a week and relies on online data from online services and wire services.
According to executive editor Kevin Moran, workarounds include improvised copy and photo management reminiscent of 1990s technology, such as using thumb drives to share stories and photos.
“Nearly all the text and photos readers saw in Thursday’s print edition were copied and pasted in place – a tedious task filled with room for error,” Moran said. “When all was said and done, we are proud to say that none of this resulted in any story production or publication corrections.”
“Long story short, The Eagle’s news and production staff successfully published a newspaper on Thursday,” Moran said. “While this feat was successfully accomplished, our carriers were driving through ice and snow to deliver their newspapers to readers.”
“Last night, a staff member asked The Eagle if the paper wasn’t publishing as planned, and the answer was The Eagle always has. Of course, the streak continues, thanks to every effort Wednesday night to keep it going Men and women of momentum,” Moran said.
And there’s another side effect: People who are used to constantly updating social media and email over a Wi-Fi connection suddenly find themselves unable to scroll through their devices.
1Berkshire Executive Director Jonathan Butler and the organization’s economic development director Ben Lamb noted how the outages have changed the dynamic during a meeting Wednesday afternoon.
“In meetings, people often have their mobile devices or computers up and running, and they’re clearly trying to multitask,” Lamb said. [Wednesday] …Everyone I talked to at that time was more present overall. “