LOCAL NEWS — All Internet is connected. The source of your family’s WiFi snakes across the U.S. like a giant spider web — one major hub connecting to another either through cabling in the ground or through the air. So, when a major data center and switching station like the AT&T one located in Nashville gets damaged, the trickle down can be significant.
On Christmas Day around 6:30 a.m., a bomb exploded in front of AT&T main office located at 166 Second Avenue in historic, downtown Nashville. It claimed at least one life, injured others, damaged over 40 businesses, and shut down cell and Internet services for thousands in Tennessee including much of the state’s 9-1-1 system.
According to AT&T, the explosion shut down power to the building. At the time, they switched to natural gas powered back up generators to keep services hobbled but live. Several hours later, emergency crews working in the area discovered a gas leak and shut down all incoming natural gas as a safety precaution. Data centers can’t run without power and all AT&T fed Internet providers across the state have experienced an outage since, including Lynchburg’s Monster Broadband.
“It’s really unfortunate and frustrating, especially on Christmas Day,” said Monster Broadband co-owner Charles Johnston. “We’ve been monitoring the situation around the clock since it happened and many of our communications folks stepped away from their families to provide as much information to our customers as possible.”
According to AT&T’s update at 8:30 a.m., the focus of the restoration continues to be getting power to the equipment in a safe and secure way. Challenges remain, including a fire which reignited overnight and led to the evacuation of the building.
The company says teams are on site working with safety and structural engineers. They have drilled access holes into the building and are attempting to reconnect power to critical equipment.
Johnston’s says he’s hopeful AT&T can re-route Internet traffic soon to restore local services. •
This is an ongoing story and will be updated as more details become available.
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