\n\t\t\t\tMcDonald\u2019s is one of the few establishments on island that is able to accept card transactions using its older, non-online machine. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\u201cThis is going to be a struggle for the day and maybe the next day. I don\u2019t know how long this is going to take,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Sablan said that they are concerned about how the backup system did not work and is hoping that IT&E will fix the problem soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we understood, when the cable goes down there\u2019s supposed to be a microwave system that\u2019s a redundancy right so we\u2019re concern that that redundancy just didn\u2019t kick in,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommerce is going to be at a relative standstill until the backup system and we\u2019re hoping IT&E gets it back up soon,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He also pointed out that the Commonwealth is losing money because of the disruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the tough part. Commerce is down. Government is not making money,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
One of the few food establishments that can still accept cards is McDonald\u2019s because of an old, non-online machine that they have, according to manager Julie Jones.<\/p>\n
Limited bank operations<\/strong><\/p>\nAll automated teller machines are not functioning on island.<\/p>\n
Aside from that, banks are not able to access their customers\u2019 accounts. There is no problem with deposit transactions but withdrawal transactions are hard.<\/p>\n
For Bank of Guam, manager Larry Philip said that withdrawal transactions are on a case-to-case basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are certain things that we are reviewing to make sure that everything is according to our operations,\u201d Philip said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are basing on the knowledge that we have on our customers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Bank of Hawaii did not give an official comment on the network problem but posted on their machines and doors that they are unable to process withdrawal transactions until further notice.<\/p>\n
However, a teller said withdrawal transactions over the counter may still be possible in some cases if you have your account numbers as well as identification cards.<\/p>\n
Some checks may still be encashed.<\/p>\n
Request for help<\/strong><\/p>\nHomeland Security and Emergency Management deputy special assistant Gerald Deleon Guerrero said that they are communicating with Guam and the Joint Region Marianas regarding the network problem in the CNMI and may request support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m leaning forward to make a request data-wise and communication,\u201d Deleon Guerrero said.<\/p>\n
He added that the Joint Region Marianas may have a facility or equipment that could further help CNMI in terms of getting better communication access although because of the typhoon, transporting the equipment may also take a while.<\/p>\n
Deluge of customers<\/strong><\/p>\nIT&E employee Franz Granada said customers have been coming in and out of their office since yesterday morning asking for updates.<\/p>\n
One customer, Nicolas Claxton, who is doing a teaching assistance job in the mainland, was one of those who went by hoping to get a way to call long distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in charge of doing grades and things like that and I can\u2019t do anything because I don\u2019t have online access and since I can\u2019t call out, I can\u2019t even let them know that I can\u2019t do it,\u201d Claxton said, adding that today was supposed to be the deadline for his task.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IT&E\u2019s network outage is expected to exact a big toll on the islands\u2019 economy as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":208788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,5865,51,250],"class_list":["post-208781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-gerald-deleon-guerrero","tag-guam","tag-network"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}