Naperville Illinois Residents Without Phone Service

Hundreds of customers in Naperville, Illinois remain without telephone service after crews working on an electrical upgrade project erroneously cut three telephone cables at about Noon this past Thursday. Some will be without telephone service until Monday, according to recent estimates

Naperville, Illinois is the fourth largest city in Illinois - behind Chicago, Aurora, and Rockford. Naperville is partially in DuPage County and partially in Will County. The outage covers an area several square miles in size. The outage area is bordered by 75th Street on the South, Chicago and Maple Avenues on the north, Washington Street on the west and Greene Road on the east.

AT&T telephone company is working around the clock on repairs. Some have had their service restored already though AT&T phone company warns that service could remain intermittent on newly restored lines for the time being.

Cellular telephone service is unaffected by the outage. The Naperville police believe most residents affected by the current outage have access to a cellular telephone - at least through a neighbor's service.

Naperville police are making available to elderly residents a number of wireless telephones. The Naperville Police Department's Elderly Services Team is distributing emergency mobile phones. These phones are only able to dial 9-1-1. The phones are available to be picked up at the front desk of the Naperville Police Building at 1350 Aurora Avenue.

Naperville police are warning cell phone users that they should be prepared to give 9-1-1 operators their precise location immediately. Calls to 9-1-1 using wireless technology cannot be tracked to a precise location as easily as a land line call.

According to the Naperville City Communications Manager, the current telephone outage is the worst since the May 1988 Hinsdale fire that impacted telephone service in the western suburbs for almost a month.

The outage occurred when an unidentified contractor, drilling underneath Wehrli Road in Naperville, accidentally cut a cable around Noon on Thursday. Because the cable is underneath the roadway, traffic lanes have to be closed in order to excavate the area and make the repairs.

The City has yet to address the impact of a loss of telephone service on security systems and home medical monitoring equipment such as fetal monitors that are ordinarily tied into the telephone system. No indication has been given if anyone in the affected area is relying on any such equipment.

Naperville is located 28 miles west of downtown Chicago.