According to Qwest spokesperson Mary Healy, an excavating company cut the cable with a backhoe while digging a trench for a power line. The company had called as required by law to locate underground cables, Healy said.

Somehow, the private locating company, Locating, Inc. provided bad information, Healy said.

The cut knocked out long-distance service to Qwest customers in Sisters and throughout Central Oregon. For much of the day, people in Sisters could not call out of the area on a land line. Businesses found their credit card readers inoperable. Travel agents could not access their scheduling system.

Cell phone traffic surged and many callers were unable to get service because the system was overloaded.

The outage was reported at 8 a.m. and was repaired five hours later.

"This, fortunately, was a very clean cut," Healy said.

"The (excavating) company used a backhoe and just cut right through it."