Design of the Metronet helps it to overcome a momentary outage

The Iowa League of Cities has presented Decorah with an award for creating the Metronet (Decorah School District officials Kurt DeVore and Ron Fadness show the award with Decorah Mayor Don Arnedt)(decorahnews.com file photo)

Some fiber cable that's part of the Metronet that connects governmental offices in Decorah may have to be replaced, but officials say the problem actually shows the wisdom in having built the network the way it was built.

A few strands in the overhead cables strung at the intersection of Vernon Street and Winnebago Street failed on Sunday of the last  weekend in January, cutting off service to the West Side School.

However, workers were quickly able to hook up West Side School using other fiber strands in the cable.  Because Metronet designers decided to purchase 144-strand fiber cables instead of the smaller 72-strand cables, they had plenty of other fiber strands they could use.

Decorah MetroNet Committee co-chairman Jon Lubke says another facet of the Metronet also came into play.  The high-speed Internet network was designed so that some of the cable was above ground and some of it was below ground.  Lubke says even though overhead cable is susceptible to problems caused by high winds, having other cable underground prevents the entire system from being damaged in a large storm, for example.  And having some of the fiber cable overhead prevents the entire system from being damaged during a flood when water might cause problems underground.

Lubke says workers have been inspecting overhead fiber cables elsewhere in Decorah, but don't think there are issues anywhere else in the city.  He also points out that the previous problem was fixed in plenty of time for when West Side School opened its doors on that Monday.

Metronet officials are now trying to figure out what caused the previous outage.  Excess tension on the fiber cable or an incorrect piece of hardware are among several possibilities being investigated.