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MARCO ISLAND — It was a mild-weathered afternoon Tuesday leaving many to wonder why there was a simultaneous loss to cell phone, land line phone, internet and cable services at about 4 p.m.

Services on Marco Island were restored shortly after 5 p.m., however Marco Island police and fire officials as well as the Collier County Emergency Center were not immediately aware of the cause of the outage.

Police Captain Dave Baer reported on Wednesday that a cut Embarq cable seemed to be the cause of the problem, which left at least 19,000 people without service.

A spokesperson from Embarq reported on Thursday that multiple cuts were made between Naples and Marco Island as well as between Golden Gate and Immokalee.

It is not very common for land line, cell phone and cable to be lost all at one time, however 80 to 90 percent of wireless phone calls are made over the land line network, said Tom Matthews, a spokesman for Embarq.

“It’s rare for people to even be aware of these cuts. There are many self-healing rings. It’s often rerouted in a blink of an eye,” he added.

Officials believe the cause was a large construction project which entailed digging along the side of the road.

Many island land line Embarq customers were able to make local calls, but not able to call off-island, Matthews said.

A Comcast spokesperson reported their service was not interrupted. Marco Cable did lose service and many cellular phones had no service at all.

Fire Chief Mike Murphy was in contact with the Florida Division of Emergency Management via satellite Tuesday and learned there was a communication breakdown in several locations throughout the state, but later learned the incidents were likely unrelated.

Matthews recommended “whether installing a mailbox or a fence” people dial toll free, nationwide 811 to report where they plan to dig, ideally a couple days in advance of the project. It’s particularly important to do this he added in an area such as Marco Island where there are underground electric wires.