BEND, OR -- CenturyLink customers across the country struggled with internet and phone outages throughout Thursday morning. Several Central Oregon customers report calls to customer service are met with a message that wait times hover around 800 hours. 

The outage is impacting landline phones at St. Charles hospitals and clinics. St. Charles Health System reports phones are intermittently inoperable, and they encourage patients and visitors to use cell phones rather than room phones.