A utility outage caused sporadic internet service for some Aroostook customers Tuesday.
Houlton-based Pioneer Broadband reported service was affected from Monday night until about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
A “chain of unusual events” transpired when local utility Houlton Water Co., conducted a planned outage, Pioneer Broadband reported on social media around 4 p.m. Tuesday. The problem was hard to find because some internet services were working, while others were not.
“Pioneer’s network facilities are protected by battery backup systems and generators. However, rather than a single loss and restoration of power, the electrical service cycled on and off multiple times,” Pioneer wrote. “This unusual sequence caused some of our backup power equipment to shut down and restart portions of our core network.”
When power came back on, one of the internet provider’s routers started incorrectly. As crews worked to fix it, they discovered a problem with a backup program. In the meantime, an older piece of equipment became overloaded and stopped working.
Engineers had to correct things one by one before they could return the entire system to service, Pioneer said.
The company said it is working to restructure backups and replace the older equipment.