Spectrum says would-be copper thieves caused internet outage affecting L.A., Ventura counties

[ad_1] An tried — and unsuccessful — copper theft in Van Nuys triggered a widespread web outage Sunday affecting swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, a Spectrum spokesman confirmed to The Occasions.

“This morning, our strains had been minimize because of vandalism in Van Nuys that additionally affected our companies in different elements of Los Angeles and Ventura,” mentioned spokesperson Dennis Johnson. In an replace on the corporate’s progress in restoring service, Johnson mentioned late Sunday afternoon that “technicians restored companies in Ventura this morning, and companies proceed to be restored this afternoon in Los Angeles.”

The incident Johnson attributed the incident to copper wire thieves — who had been on the lookout for copper in a spot the place there was none.

The corporate mentioned that a number of people minimize a number of fiber strains that had been on the poles, apparently climbing bushes to achieve entry. The strains had been minimize someday after midnight.

Customers reported on social media that their web was out within the pre-dawn hours of Sunday and all through the day — with some voicing frustration over the disruption occurring on Father’s Day.

On X, person @strappyheels wished to know: “Will prospects get credit score on their invoice because the outage has been ongoing since 2am and there's no ETA?”

One other obvious buyer, @5cottFive expressed disbelief on social media at Spectrum’s posted rationalization citing “a felony act of vandalism.”

“There’s no manner a single act of vandalism took out regional web for all of Ventura and Los Angles counties,” the person posted. “This can be a severe outage spanning from Ventura, Ojai, Simi, The Valley, and apparently all the best way right down to Anaheim.”

However the outage was not common or as long-lasting for some. At 4:57 p.m., @Ladybugzz21 posted that her web within the San Fernando Valley was working.

Work to revive some areas was persevering with into the night, the corporate said.

The corporate has needed to make “hundreds” of fiber splices to restore the strains, a course of that's time consuming, even with the assistance of additional crews that had been referred to as in, an organization assertion mentioned: “The fibers should be spliced within the strains to revive companies.”

In its assertion, Spectrum mentioned that the severing of wires has develop into “a difficulty affecting the complete telecommunications trade, not simply Spectrum, largely as a result of enhance within the worth of valuable metals. These acts of vandalism should not solely a criminal offense, but additionally have an effect on our prospects, native companies and doubtlessly emergency companies.”

The assertion famous: “Spectrum’s fiber strains don't embody any copper.”

The corporate mentioned it was working with the Los Angeles Police Division in providing a reward of as much as $25,000 for data resulting in an arrest: “Anybody with data on this act of vandalism can contact Spectrum at (833) 404-TIPS or 8477 or attain out to native regulation enforcement.”