2,500 Embarq customers lose phone or Internet service

About 2,500 Embarq customers in Southern Nevada are without phone or Internet service, the result of severed communications lines.

"We can't get any phone calls in or out. We have no access to the Internet," said Bill Newberg, vice president of Grove Madsen Industries, an electrical supply distributor with branches in Las Vegas and Reno.

Embarq spokeswoman Stephanie Meiffe said contractors working near Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard severed the cables around 12:30 a.m. Friday.

Newberg said an Embarq representative told him a conduit for as many as 1,600 T-1 lines was severed in a construction incident.

"We are adapting as best we can," he said.

Workers at the 35-person Las Vegas branch on Russell Road near Valley View are using mobile phones and BlackBerry devices to reach customers.

But Newberg anticipates he'll wind up sending most workers home early.

Meiffe said data service could return this evening, but voice service is unlikely to work before Saturday morning.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.