Inland Cellular outage stretches into fourth day

Roughly 36,000 Inland Cellular customers and 10,000 roaming users from different providers have been without cellular service since Friday evening following a power outage.

Inland Cellular Executive Vice President Chip Damato said Monday crews were working around the clock to repair damaged equipment, but he expected customers would be without voice or text services until at least Monday evening.

An update posted on the carrier's website at 10:09 p.m. Monday said heavy smoke delayed flights carrying some of the equipment necessary to make repairs, but network technicians would continue working through the night toward a partial restoration of voice services.

Avista Regional Business Manager Paul Kimmel said the outage originated at a substation between Genesee and Colton-Uniontown around 11 p.m. Friday night and was not related to a fire sparked near the top of the Lewiston grade earlier that night.

"(The outage) was animal-caused, but we were back up and running within about seven hours," Kimmel said.

Damato said when the power outage struck Inland Cellular's central office in Uniontown, it caused the facility's backup batteries and generator to come online.

"When it got to that point, there were power spikes that basically caused the batteries and the generator to blow, and once those went, it affected our equipment," Damato said.

Damato said one of the pieces of equipment that was damaged houses the programming and information that allows users to place and connect calls. Workers had to meticulously comb through drives and software piece by piece in order to identify the damaged components. He said those components will be looked over by the manufacturer to see if they can be repaired and the network can be restored.

"That could take days, so in the meantime, we're working on building links to reroute our voice traffic and host it somewhere else," Damato said.

Damato said the company's data services were undamaged, so customers have been able to browse the web and use third-party call and messaging apps to communicate.

The outage hasn't just affected Inland Cellular customers. Damato said his company's network is also used by Verizon and Sprint customers in surrounding rural areas.

Affected customers are also without 911 services.

While the network is down, Damato estimates the outage could be costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars per day.

Scott Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to sjackson@dnews.com.