Spectrum internet in Redding back online after second act of vandalism in 3 months (Redding, CA)

October 11, 2024

An outage of Spectrum-Charter Communication in Shasta County disrupted internet service for much of Friday before it was fully restored.

Spectrum spokesman Dennis Johnson said most businesses and residential customers had their service back early Friday evening. Service for everyone was restored by 8 p.m. Friday, he said.

Spectrum crews worked since early Friday morning to restore 850 strands of fiber lines that were cut in an apparent act of vandalism.

Spectrum declined to say where in Redding the damage to the lines occurred, and law enforcement is investigating the incident.

It's the second time in three months there has been a Spectrum outage, and like the outage in late June, vandals were the culprit, Johnson said.

Friday's outage was reported just before 7 a.m., according to text messages some customers received from the company.

The outage also affected video and phone service, according to Spectrum.

In late June, vandals cut lines at Highway 273 and Canyon Road early in the morning, wiping out internet service for Spectrum-Charter and Verizon 4G customers in Shasta County.

The outage lasted for more than 10 hours before service was fully restored.

 

Spectrum internet down in Shasta County due to sabotaged lines

June 25, 2024

Spectrum-Charter Communications and Verizon 4g internet customers in Shasta County awoke to a widespread outage on Tuesday morning after someone cut the internet providers' cable lines in south Redding.

Outages affected customers in Redding, Shasta Lake, Palo Cedro and Anderson, according to Shasta County Sheriff's spokesman Tim Mapes and residents on social media.

Vandals cut lines at Highway 273 and Canyon Road before 4:35 a.m. according to the Sheriff's office. Those lines "supply Charter Spectrum internet and Verizon 4g internet for all communities in the Redding area basin," Mapes said.

Spectrum customers on social media reported the internet company sent them notices around 3 a.m. their service was down.

As of 3 p.m., crews had repaired most of the delicate fibers in the cut cables, but the last lines are the most difficult to fix, Spectrum spokesman Dennis Johnson said.

When vandals cut the more than 650 strands of fiber line in the south Redding area, they knocked out service to customers in Redding and surrounding communities, said Johnson.

Crews started repairing the fibers early Tuesday morning. By 10 a.m., Spectrum tripled the number of crews on the job, Johnson said.

Downtown Redding business owners lost sales to customers carrying no cash or checks on Tuesday.

With the internet still out, she was turning credit and debit card-only paying customers away all day, said Cris Hillman, owner of Janine's Jewelry. "Absolutely it impacted business," she said. "We cannot take credit or debit cards. I can't order products" or show customers merchandise online, said Hillman.

Hillman said she tried using her cell phone to order products, but doing so meant she had to leave her store and go out "in the street." She said her shop's internet was still down as of 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

Customers without cash were turned away until internet was restored at the Taste and See Creamery ice cream parlor, staff reported. The restoration didn't happen until 3 p.m.

Found on Mainstream News