Published October 15, 2010

Update: Phone service is restored.

Update: BU says two large bundles of fiber optic cables were severed at about 5:30 a.m., affecting “large segments of the Back Bay and South End, including most of the Boston University Charles River Campus and parts of the Medical Campus.”

Update: Verizon says BU phone service will be restored by the end of the day. A spokesman said a private contractor doing road work near the Prudential Center cut the cable that provides landline phone services to the university. The problem is isolated to BU and does not affect customers elsewhere, as previously thought.

From Boston University, 9:14:

The entire University telephone system has a major system failure at this time. It effects our  portion of the city of Boston. We are not able to receive any incoming telephone calls. The BU Police is temporarily unable to receive telephone calls. For Police, Fire, and Medical emergencies dial 9-1-1 until further notice. Verizon is currently working to resolve this problem. Updates will be forthcoming.

Because WBUR is part of the BU phone network, the phones here are useless, and our engineers are rigging up workarounds so listeners can still call in to On Point. (At this moment, they can’t.) Verizon is investigating whether this issue extends beyond BU’s campus.

…Meanwhile, @KseniaL tweets: “What’s a landline?”