Agenda - 04-14-1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TELEPHONE TECANICAL REVIEW TASK FORCE SPECIAL REPORT TO ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ON LONG DISTANCE FAILURE OF 4/3/86 - 4/11/86 April 14, 1986* PROBLEM Beginning -on- Thursday April 3rd, 1986, subscribers to Centel's . service- out of- Hillsborough- and. subscribers of General Telephone , in-.eastern-Orange- County saw- the beginnings of- what was to become a-major, regional telephone communications failure on the dial network lasting from-Thursday-.4/3/86 through Saturday 4/12/86, a period of 10- days. While long distance service was at best- sporadic during these 10 days, during- the 4 days from Tuesday. 4/8- through Friday 4/11 service was almost non existant. The outage was- widespread. - As best we can determine, most, if not all., of Durham-County--served by- General Telephone, including the- Research- Triangle• Park, and those portions-of Orange County served- by Centel's Hillsborough%office and served by- General Telephone were affected. APPARENT CAUSE Centel .Hillsborough and, General Telephone in Orange County are connected only- to a-. General Telephone toll- office- in Durham, as is- most of Durham- County... .- Long distance network control of that- nurham- toll office is from AT&T- in- Atlanta and, redundantly, from AT&T in- Birmingham - For some reasons,-- not- cable cuts, the Durham to Atlanta path failed. .. The Durham-Birmingham -path- also failed -rather than carry the load,- resulting in no long distance into or out of the- Durham toll office for Orange County- and most of Durham County. TEMPORARY RELIEF On day- 9, 720 channels- were- connected between Durham and Greensboro- to provide another alternate path.to long- distance toll routing. There were only "slight glitches" reported Saturday, 4/12/86. IMPACT Many-businesses in -Orange County have the world- as their market, not- just. Hillsborough,- or- Orange. County, or even the region-. - Since virtually every telephone communication i5 "long distance", ' these- businesses- have been almost totally- shut- down with the economic--lose.- staggering.. - Even. -local businesses couldn't call. thei-z• suppliers. - Residential- telephone users have- come to expect the presence of a working long- distance phone' service Many have situations with family- ox friends- which make telephone communications absolutely- necessary With so many toll areas in Orange County, public health and safety was compromised. 1 .