CenturyLink phone service across the Flathead Valley and Pacific Northwest was returning early Wednesday afternoon after a phone line in Washington was severed, according to CenturyLink spokesman John Bemis.
The phone company was informed of a cut fiberoptic line near Bremerton, Wash., west of Seattle, at about 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. Bemis said that customers making long-distance calls were the most likely to notice the problem and cell-to-cell calls were not naffected. Bemis also noted that no emergency services in Western Montana were affected.
By 3 p.m. CenturyLink technicians had repaired the broken line and Bemis said they were still looking into the cause.
“It’s not uncommon,” he said. “But it is an inconvenience of life.”