When Robert tried to come to work on January 5th, this was what his commute looked like
We were out in the storms
From Pacifica to Monterey and all places in between, Cruzio’s tri-bay service area was hit hard by the storms last month. We thought you’d like to see some of the challenges we faced as we tried to reach every part of our network for maintenance and repairs.
Cruzio staff encountered flooded roads, insane potholes and sinkholes, mudslides, blown over redwood trees. We got calls from subscribers with weeks-long power outages, knocked-over utility poles, equipment sitting in muddy puddles.
Every aspect was tough, and required 24/7 attention from our field and technical staffs. Cruzio was on the road every day, first preparing for problems (storms are coming — could be serious!), then braving the deluge once it hit, and finally looking for rainbows and getting to the gnarlier repairs.
Cruzio staff, like so many people, were sometimes stuck in their homes, confronted by unsafe conditions. The folks who could make it in the our headquarters had to carry an even heavier load.
What We Found in the Weather
Our infrastructure faced huge challenges. We had to deal with twisted and crushed fiberoptic cables, radio equipment spun by high winds, and power outages that outlasted our uninterrupted power supplies and required us to haul generators to remote areas in the dark and the rain.
Storms hit at all hours. It jarred us from sleep. One particularly difficult night our pager person was called almost every hour all night long. It was his first week on pager! Thank you Robert G!
How’d We Do?
But wait. Faced with all that, how’d we do?
Remarkably well. Granted we couldn’t always get through to everyone right away, as we had to keep our staff and customers safe above all else. And there are still repairs lingering, and preparations to make for next time. We’ve got a long list!
But we had very few outages, thanks to tremendous preparation and follow-through by CTO Chris Frost and his team. Almost all interruptions were due to power issues, and we’re well-prepared for those, having seen so many in the last few years.
We Heard from You
It meant a lot to us that Cruzio subscribers from all over sent us heartwarming thank-yous. Here are a few:
“I hope this message doesn’t jinx anything, but, as a multi decade Cruzio customer, I am super impressed with how we are getting continuous service even in this extreme weather.”
“So often we take time to complain when things don’t meet with our expectations. I wanted to take a minute to thank you and your company for outstanding service from two incredible employees.”
“There’s two large bags of Oranges/Lemons in the kitchen, courtesy of the Weston customers we helped out earlier this week.”
