Internet outages pepper Grant and Douglas counties Wednesday

COLUMBIA BASIN — A Douglas County Public Utility District work crew accidentally cut a fiber optic line feeding into Grant County on Wednesday, causing problems for Internet and cell phone service for some customers across Grant County. “A main fiber line that feeds into Grant County was cut in Douglas County,” wrote Grant County Public Utility District Ryan Holterhoff in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. “Douglas County PUD’s fiber crews are on-site actively working to repair the issue.” “They will need to fix the conduit and pull and splice new fiber to restore service,” Holterhoff added. Holterhoff said the work should be completed and full Internet and cell phone service restored by 1 a.m. Thursday. The outages were patchy and sporadic, Holterhoff said, affecting some service providers but not others, and some areas of Grant County and not others.