Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 21.2
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
Construction in the area severed a line that provided all communications; radar data and NAS connectivity to the facility leaving the facility with only 4 radio frequencies and no means of communication with the outside world.  The CIC at the time the event occurred determined the only way to communicate the status of the facility was via the use of personal cell phone.  A call was placed to the TRACON and the FLM was notified.  By the time the FLM arrived in the cab the decision was made; with coordination with the TRACON Supervisor that all coordination between the TRACON and Tower would be accomplished by personal cell phones and appropriate numbers were exchanged.  After a lengthy discussion the FLM finally decided to call an ATC ALERT and did so via his personal cell phone.  This condition continued for the next 14 hours; involving 10 employees; 4 personal cell phones and one FLM.  After 6 hours of searching the cut line was located and phone company was notified.  Phone company advised at approximately XA30L that the line would be repaired by XD30L.  Full service was not restored until [a day later].  During all this operations continued with little to no delay to the flying community.The next day an informal discussion among those involved came up with some ideas as to how to handle this situation in the future.  The item that has been banned from the operations is what helped both the IFR facility and us continue normal operations was a cell phone.  Granted the policy of not having cell phones in the operations is a good thing and events like this are very rare; we believe each facility should be assigned a cell phone and a wireless device that connects to the FAA network as an emergency means of communication (the FAA has the means and the capability). This could also be part of the facility evacuation plan in the event ATC service are relocated on the airport.  I think it would be a good idea for each VFR Tower to evaluate their procedures to see if they cover a total loss of NAS connectivity.
Tower Controller describes a situation where a line is cut that provides all data from adjacent facilities.  Use of cell phones were used to coordinate and move traffic.  The scenario lasted for 14 hours.