Airport-area businesses hit by Internet outage

Many businesses at Santa Rosa's Airport Business Park have been without Internet and in some cases telephone service since Wednesday afternoon due to transmission cables being accidentally severed during a construction project.

The outages occurred at around 2 p.m. Wednesday. Local Internet provider Sonic was installing new fiber in the area of Airport and Skylane boulevards when some of its equipment accidentally struck two AT-T copper cables serving businesses in the western portion of the park, said Dane Jasper, Sonic's CEO.

"I regret the inconvenience that our construction activities have caused to both AT-T and their customers in the area," Jasper said.

AT-T, which is repairing the severed lines, said service would restored sometime Friday. Jasper said repairs should be completed before the start of business Friday morning.

For some companies, the outages have been frustrating and damaging to business.

"Business is pretty well shut down for us now," said Diane Cupples, vice president of marketing at Schurter Inc., which is located on Aviation Boulevard. Schurter is part of a Swiss company and responsible for distributing electronic components in North America. Without Internet service, the company has been unable to send or receive emails from customers.

JDH Wealth Management on Concourse Boulevard has also struggled to communicate with clients without phone or email service.

"It's a pretty serious problem, and it looks like we may be down through tomorrow," said Tim Delaney, a managing partner there. "I'm glad we have cellphones and iPads."

Repairing the cables is a complex task, according to AT-T spokesman Alex Carey, which is why it is taking so long to restore service to the area.

"Our engineers are working around the clock," he said, adding that "a considerable amount of people" were on the job.