Most AT customers on Bluebonnet regain service after a week without

Wednesday’s traffic quagmire was bad business for everybody, but an untold number of businesses and residents on Bluebonnet Boulevard between Perkins and Highland roads have suffered nearly this whole work week without simple lines of communication: phone and Internet service. AT&T customers were dealt a deafening blow on Sunday when a contractor in the corridor nipped a service cable while hammering in an anchor for a utility pole, the company says. The cable had a capacity of 3,600 phone lines and was totally shorted out by rain that day, AT&T spokeswoman Sue Sperry says. “It’s hard to say how many [customers] were affected,” Sperry says, “because we’re not on a grid like Entergy.” Lack of a similar cable in local supply further complicated matters, Sperry says, and AT&T wasn’t able to deliver a replacement until Thursday. Barrett Benton, owner of Benton, Benton & Associates, says for four days his law firm worked with just one phone line and no Internet. “You just can’t survive without the Internet anymore,” Benton says. The broken cable can be forgiven, Benton says, but waiting days for a replacement is maddening. “I canceled my contract with AT&T, and I’m going with Cox this morning,” Benton says. Many customers regained service this morning. But not everyone will get service until every individual copper pair of wires—of the 3,600—are spliced back together. “We’re shooting for Sunday for everybody to get fixed,” Sperry says. —Adam Pearson