NCDMV offices reopen after widespread internet outage

Most DMV offices were back to normal operations on Wednesday following an internet outage that forced several to close on Tuesday.

Posted 2:46 p.m. Feb 11, 2020 — Updated 2:43 p.m. Feb 12, 2020

Kasey Cunningham

and

Sloane Heffernan, WRAL reporters

BENSON, N.C. — NCDMV offices were back to normal operations on Wednesday following an internet outage that forced several to close on Tuesday.

Crews working in Benson, near the intersection of Interstate 40 and U.S. Highway 70, cut a Windstream fiber line Tuesday, knocking out internet service to customers across the state, including 14 driver's license offices and 14 license plate agencies.

DMV license plate agencies were closed in Fayetteville, Holly Springs, Clinton, Spring Lake, Raeford, Hope Mills, Wallace and Jacksonville.

Dozens of other offices remained open, but without internet access, which left wanna-be drivers tapping the brakes.

Amira Smith pulled up to the Fuquay-Varina office only to find a sign on the door about the outage.

"I want to get my license," she said. "I was excited because I didn’t have the chance to take drivers ed during high school, so I had to wait until I was 18, and I turned 18 two months ago."

On Wednesday, the DMV announced that all offices were back in service.

The DMV website has a section where users can search for their local agency to see whether or not it's experiencing issues.

The DMV also experienced outages last Friday, when they released a message saying a power outage in the Raleigh area was impacting the N.C. Department of Revenue servers, causing an interruption of some services at the NCDMV agencies across the state. Many offices closed Friday as a result.

Officials at NCDOR said the power outage problem was with servers used to process vehicle tax payments, which meant the DMV couldn't provide new license plates or renewals involving a change of address.

The outage Friday also interrupted online services.

Suggest A Correction