AT&T San Francisco cable cuts vandalism

Parties unknown cut AT&T fiber optic cable lines at two locations early on Thursday morning, disabling phone and communications services to thousands of customers around Silicon Valley and in the San Francisco Bay area. AT&T is offering a $100,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.  

Four AT&T fiber optic cables in a San Jose underground vault were severed around 1:30 a.m. Four more underground cables, at least two of which belong to AT&T, were cut about two hours later in San Carlos, authorities said. 

The cuts were intentional, with someone knowing exactly what they were doing in gaining access to and severing the cables; equipment would be required to move the manhole covers, and "heavy-duty" cutting equipment would be needed to slice through the outer protective coating of the fiber.

Service to landline, cell phones, and the Internet were all affected. Verizon, dependent upon AT&T fiber in the South Bay area, was also affected. Sprint and Verizon Wireless were also affected, since they use AT&T fiber for backhaul; one of Sprint's cables was also cut in the vandalism, say reports.

For more:
- San Francisco Chronicle covers the latest, including detailed local impact. Article

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