Posted on: Saturday, May 12, 2001

Haha'ione phone service to be out two more days

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Telephone service is being restored slowly to about 3,400 customers in Haha'ione Valley who have been without service since Thursday afternoon.

Verizon Hawai'i spokeswoman Ann Nishida said complete service to the valley won't be restored for at least more two days. That would leave thousands of residents without telephone service on Mother's Day, traditionally one of the busiest days of the year for long-distance calls.

Nishida said yesterday that workers are going through the tedious process of splicing together about 3,500 lines that provide service to the 3,400 customers in the valley.

As each line is reconnected, service to that customer is restored, she said.

"We are restoring service to lines one by one. But it's just that it's a lot of lines to work on," she said.

The problem began at 3 p.m. Thursday when a private contractor severed an underground cable on Hawai'i Kai Drive fronting the post office.

The work had nothing to do with the telephone company, and Nishida cautioned other contractors to check with Verizon before beginning any underground construction.

"All they need to do is check with us before they dig and we can identify the area that we have cables," she said.

To help its customers, Verizon is offering a service that forwards residential calls to cellular telephones.

Four pay phones at the O'ahu Club on Hawai'i Kai Drive also are available for valley residents to make local calls, Nishida said.

Verizon also will allow Internet users to plug their computers in at the former Phone Mart store in the Hawai'i Kai Shopping Center from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow. Nishida said no telephone calls will be allowed at this site.