Our area of the country is well-known for many reasons - not the least of which are our hospitality, our friendly faces, and such Southern favorites as sweet tea and peach pie. Unfortunately, our area also has become infamous in the last few years for our weather, which can change from bright and welcoming to dark and stormy faster than you can say “Weather Channel.”
We've found that many of the telephone service outages that are reported during or after storms are the result of problems with electrical wires, not telephone lines. So, to help us continue to assist you in rebounding from weather-related problems with your telephone service, please consider the following before calling to report problems or outages.
- Is your telephone line plugged securely into the wall jack?
Your telephone cord may have been jarred loose from the jack, resulting in a loss of telephone service. - Have you disconnected your computer modem?
- Are you using a cordless telephone?
If so, try plugging a regular corded telephone into the wall jack to determine whether your telephone line has indeed been affected. You should always have a corded telephone on hand for use during power outages. Cordless telephones will not operate without power for their bases. - Are you experiencing a power outage?
As noted above, in many reports of telephone service interruption, electrical wires and/or a power outage are to blame.
Lightning Protection
Lightning is dangerous, especially during the summer. But there are simple things you can do to protect yourself, your home, and your electronics from devastating strikes.
Quick Facts:
- Heat from lightning strikes regularly exceeds 50,000°F. That's 3 times hotter than the sun!
- Lightning is the second leading cause of weather related deaths
- It is estimated that Earth as a whole is struck by an average of more than a hundred lightning bolts every second.
- The rapid expansion of heated air from lightning is what causes thunder - the two go hand in hand.
What to do when a storm is near...
If you're outside, do not stand near flag poles, fences, light poles, isolated trees or open fields. Do not seek shelter in golf carts, picnic pavilions, or bus stops as these will not protect you from a strike. Choose a substantial building or enclosed metal vehicle instead. After the last lightning flash or thunder clap, it is best to stay in your protected building for another half hour.
If you're already indoors, stay away from water & plumbing, windows & doors, and corded phones.
To protect your electronics, unplug your appliances, TVs, computers, routers, cable boxes, etc. Surge protectors are a great investment in those times where you are not home to unplug your electronics.
To protect your pets, bring them inside. Never leave an animal chained or assume a doghouse will protect them in a storm.
Safety First!
Chesnee Communications strives to provide the highest quality telecommunications services to our customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When storms cause problems with Chesnee’s lines and equipment, we do our best to restore service as quickly as possible. But we also are concerned for the safety of our employees. We will not send out our repair crews at any time when they may be at risk (for example, if live electrical wires have not been stabilized). As soon as dangerous situations have been resolved and it is safe for our staff to be out, we will commence repair work immediately.
We hope you understand and share our concern for everyone's safety and will keep in that in mind the next time severe weather affects all of us in Spartanburg and Cherokee counties.