Rogers service has been restored after the fiber optic cable was cut

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Internet and phone coverage has been fully restored in Rogers (formerly Shaw), north of Calgary, after a service outage that lasted several hours this morning as a result of a severed fiber line.

Company spokesman Cam Gordon said the outage was resolved at 4:50 p.m., about 12 hours after several communities in north Calgary were without internet and phone service. The outage came after vandals cut the fiber line early Tuesday morning in what the communications provider described as a suspected theft of copper wire – the second such incident in less than a month.

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According to an earlier statement by Rogers, the outages included Internet, business Internet, telephone, business telephone, television and more. About 5,000 customers across multiple services were affected.

Rogers' service outage page says affected customers were in the Balmoral, Brentwood, Bridgeland Riverside, Capitol Hill, Charleswood, Collingwood, Crescent Heights, Hillhurst, Mayfair, Mountview, Mount Pleasant, North Haven, Renfrew, Rosemont, Sunnyside and Tuxedo Park areas. . .

The outages were due to fiber optic cuts caused by vandalism and theft of copper wire, Rogers said in an emailed statement to Postmedia.

“We have contacted local authorities and there are technical teams working to restore services as quickly as possible,” said the telecommunications corporation, which merged with Shaw last year to become its parent company.

“Vandalism-related outages can take 3 to 4 times longer to repair than any other type of outage, depending on the extent of damage and associated repairs,” Rogers said.

Rogers said it could take eight to 12 hours to repair a damaged fiber line. The first outage was reported at 5:20 a.m. Tuesday.

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In an emailed statement, CPS said they responded to reports of vandalism to fiber optic cables around 6 a.m. Tuesday and the investigation is ongoing.

Are you Rogers, a customer affected by Tuesday's outage with Shaw? Let us know how it affects you by contacting us at [email protected].

Outages due to vandalism are increasing

Tuesday's incident follows a separate outage on May 6, also linked to an attempted copper theft, and caused widespread disruption for thousands of Calgarians.

Vandalism-related outages are increasing at a rapid rate year over year, read Rogers' email. The company has experienced a four- to five-fold increase in outages due to vandalism since 2022.

As of Tuesday, CPS said no charges had been filed in connection with the May 6 incident and that the investigation was ongoing.

According to a May 13 call to action by the Canadian Telecommunications Security Advisory Committee (CSTAC), vandalism and copper theft are a problem across the telecommunications industry.

The organization says access to reliable telecommunications services is critical to Canadians.

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“As part of Canada's critical infrastructure, telecommunications networks are critical to the health, safety, security and economic well-being of the public,” said CSTAC.

“These actions are not victimless crimes and can have a serious impact on public health and safety. They disrupt 9-1-1 and fire services and adversely affect hospitals, schools and businesses,” the statement said.

In 2023, Telus cable damage in Calgary by thieves left 2,000 people without access to voice, Internet or television services for several days, CSTAC said.

According to CSTAC, in the first months of 2024, Telus suffered nine incidents of cable theft and vandalism. “January saw a 100 percent year-over-year increase in incidents and a 49 percent increase in downtime.”

It takes an average of 10-12 hours for telecom providers to fully restore services to their customers after an incident, although in some cases it takes significantly longer for major repairs, especially in hard-to-reach areas, the committee said.

“There have been cases where entire communities have been without phone, wireless and internet service for extended periods of time until repairs are completed.”

CSTAC encourages Canadians to report crimes or suspicious activity targeting telecommunications infrastructure to law enforcement.

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