CenturyLink outage cripples Internet, cellphone service in northern Arizona

People across northern Arizona are without Internet and cellphone access because of an outage involving service provider CenturyLink.

CenturyLink spokesman Alex Juarez says the outage was first reported around noon Wednesday and is affecting people in an area from just north of Phoenix up to Flagstaff, about 100 miles away.

Juarez says the company believes a cut fiber-optic line is the cause, but that hasn't been confirmed. The line supports various cellphone and Internet providers that serve northern Arizona.

Juarez says he can't estimate how many people are affected.

He says technicians are going through a long, tedious process of inspecting the line "mile by mile."

Juarez says the company is working as fast as possible but can't estimate when service will be restored.