Cox Communications is starting to restore phone services to many of its business customers across the nation whose phones went down early Tuesday in a blackout, according to a spokesperson.

The blackout is only impacting customers using Cox's Business VoiceManager services. Internet service and residential customers are not affected by the disruption of service.

According to Dana Nolfe of Cox Communications, it is unclear what caused the outage and how many customers were affected. According to the Providence Journal, customers across New England and others in Cleveland, Omaha, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City and the state of Arkansas are also experiencing problems.

Among those impacted customers are many businesses in the area as well as the Town of North Kingstown's offices and the North Kingstown School Department – including the administration building and all schools. (Click here for an email contact list for the schools.) Emergency lines (i.e. 911) are still operational and not affected by the outage.

Cox's technical team is working on the issue. There is no estimated time for restoration of services. 

If you own a business impacted by the blackout and have alternative contact information, please feel free to post it below.

Did you lose service in Tiverton or Little Compton? Tell us in the comments below.