Impact of Fiber Optic Cut - Travel Recommendations
June 23, 2023
Are you traveling to Northern Alaska? It’s been a little over a week since Quintillion's fiber-optic line was severed by ice. This major outage is affecting all broadband services in about a half dozen communities in Northern Alaska. Many are still without internet and cell service. It may be early August before communications can be restored. Here’s what you should know.
The communities directly affected are:
- Nome
- Kotzebue
- Point Hope
- Wainwright
- Utqiagvik
- Atqasuk
- Nuiqsut
In addition, as alternate Internet access methods have become saturated, communities as far south as Bethel and Dillingham have experienced some service disruptions.
The potential impacts of traveling to these communities are:
- May not have cell service
- May not have internet access
- May not be able to utilize your university-issued travel card
- May be required to bring cash to pay for most things
If you are traveling to this area of Alaska, connect with your travel coordinator. As payment processing may be down, ask your travel coordinator about the procedure for cash advances and reimbursements. If you are unable to bring cash or are already in the field, save all receipts.
This outage may be affecting many facets of university communication, such as classroom communication and research collaboration. Please stay informed, as workarounds such as Starlink come into play.
More info
Travel expense reimbursement process: https://www.alaska.edu/uatravel/rules/expense-report.php
Up-to-date news and resource page from Quintillion: https://www.quintillionglobal.com/service-outage/