Widespread Spectrum Internet Outage Reported (Updated)

April 8, 2020

UPDATE: Many readers reported their internet service returned between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.

NorthEscambia.com has received reports of a widespread Spectrum internet outage.

Readers from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida and Escambia and Baldwin County in Alabama are reporting they lost internet service mid-morning.

The problem is “damage to a network partner’s fiber-optic cable impacted Spectrum services for some customers in the Panhandle. We are working with them to restore services as quickly as possible and we’re sorry for any inconvenience this caused our customers,” Spectrum Senior Director of Regional Communications South  Patti Michel told NorthEscambia.com.

The outage impacted both business and residential customers, including numerous teachers and students taking part in virtual school instruction.

Comments

56 Responses to “Widespread Spectrum Internet Outage Reported (Updated)”

  1. Jakob on April 25th, 2021 9:44 am

    @tforeman @Ask_Spectrum 63385 outage was to be fixed by m now it s 9:m and still no internet. What s going on? Completely unacceptable!

  2. Roberta Badger on June 14th, 2020 10:13 am

    April 8 2020 shortage
    My box showing I am connected but my TV is not working. No picture no sound.
    The morning of the outage I had a picture and sound. Now black screen.
    When I first call the gentleman states nothing wrong, I am connected. I did tell him my problem but he stated a technician would have to check everything. It could be my box or wire.. When will the stores be open? This is my main TV. I do pay my bill on time but still have my main box and TV not working. Thank you.

  3. Dayna on April 14th, 2020 8:25 am

    It is very very slow. For awhile now. Before Coronavirus I’ve had trouble doing school work and now everything is online and not classroom, faster working WiFi is needed even more. Hopefully it can be fixed soon. Stay safe everyone.

  4. Luis Ortiz on April 13th, 2020 12:44 am

    Even before the Corona virus they suck internet is slow in my area and if I call them they want to charge me if they come out. they also have kept going up i wish i could go somewhere else but there is no other option they just dont care about anyone they just want to make money.

  5. Debra Reutzel on April 10th, 2020 8:52 pm

    Spectrum has been a nightmare since they bought btighthouse!! Long before VIRUS!! Or fiberoptic!! Had brighthouse 15 years plus had maybe 3 problems bill lot lower!! Then spectrum came in and one of my cable boxes went out took to local office to get new one and automatically was no longer grandfathered brighthouse customer to spectrum without anyone telling me this would happen!! Get home have no landline had husband w terminal DISEASE and was told I could not get back that same number! Had 6 techs same day 1 spent 2 hours on phone doing everything possible to get it back and everybody from the office on 97 to 10 different corporate personnel passed the buck and finally next few days was told by still then bright house tech that spectrum had it set up if u turned in any equipment that automatically converted you to them w no notice and a yearly contract and sure enough 2 year later get letter rate going up 50$ my contract up for renewal that I never layed eyes on! Since they’ve taken been at least twice monthly outages etc etc etc problems! Yes they suck royally and sadly no other options dishes won’t work too many trees!!

  6. Brad on April 10th, 2020 3:38 pm

    Anyone out there know what cut the fiber optic cable and where the cable is located

  7. Naui Whitewave on April 10th, 2020 10:02 am

    I understand things happen but in my opinion Spectrum sucks. They raise prices all the time and some people have no choice due to no other providers in their area.

  8. Goblue25 on April 10th, 2020 6:03 am

    Wow!! All these complaints about bill increases, outages, slow speeds, etc… As a employee of a telecommunications company it pains me to see very little concern for the technicians(front line essential employees) that must still come out to your homes during this pandemic.

  9. Call center agent on April 9th, 2020 11:43 pm

    I work for Spectrum in an internet and voice repair call center and I would like to say that we are all doing the best we can to keep things moving. Due to the sudden spike in call volume, we have an unusually high hold times. The automated system is put in place to be sure you’re sent to the correct department the first time, as there are millions of customers. You wouldn’t want to just press 0 for a representative and wait for 30+ minutes to find that you now have to be transferred to the correct department and wait another 30+ minutes once you’re in the right queue. We also have policies in place to help of you cannot make payments so please let the billing team know if you’re experiencing hardship. We truly do care about all customers.
    Please, everyone must remember that we are human too. We get sick or we have family members who get sick and need care. We are still going to work everyday and the technicians are still out on the field doing everything to keep Americans connected. I sincerely feel for anyone who has trouble with their service since we know how inconvenient that is, especially in times likes these. We have a support site as well with hundreds of articles and videos that can provide you with some self-help options to troubleshoot at your own leisure.
    I wish everyone the best of health. The light is at the end of the tunnel…we just have to deal with a bit if darkness until then, but we will make it through!

  10. Misty on April 9th, 2020 10:10 pm

    Are wifi keep going in and out and im.getting sick of it

  11. Elosa on April 9th, 2020 8:56 pm

    I have spectrum and I have not had a problem with it. It takes a few more minutes than usual to load my live tv app but thats to be expected. All my children (4) of them have their own place and they have spectrum and haven’t had any problems with it. Now my brother on the other hand he has a different company. I don’t want to put any names out there but his internet goes out everyday about 3:30 pm and doesn’t come back on until about 10:30 pm. It does that Sunday through Saturday. The horrible thing is its probably gotten worse since this pandemic. Cause that was before all this happened. Then people want to complain about prices. If y’all don’t like them go somewhere else. I pay $45 a month for my internet and I love it. Its through spectrum. I had the same internet service my brother had and he pays $149 a month. I have not been able to find another company like spectrum. Y’all also have to understand the employees are under alot of stress right now. Cause whos to say that when they go to a house to do work due to an outage that person could have the covid 19 and not know it. Just cut them a break. I’m pretty sure spectrum will help y’all with any concerns. Right now they’re giving showtime and epix for free to their customers right now. They don’t have to do that but they are. We have more important things to deal with rather than being assholes complaining about cable. I agree with the person that said read a book. Clean your house. Come on people

  12. David Huie Green on April 9th, 2020 5:37 pm

    REGARDING:
    “We need 5G wireless everywhere.”

    5G wireless requires fiber optics. What we most need is more fiber optic lines so signals can be shunted around a break, basically loops like when a water line is cut and you valve off on both sides of the cut and keep water flowing to everybody not between the two valves.

    David with 4G for AT&T
    (just wish they’d put in more towers)

  13. Sharon on April 9th, 2020 5:27 pm

    Pick up a book!

  14. Eloisa Martinez on April 9th, 2020 4:44 pm

    Ella 5G Network !

  15. carol porter on April 9th, 2020 4:28 pm

    All I will say is wh about senior citizen on a fix income that don’t even won’t to help as .do not have any out standing bills with them.only income and that com in my house..we need our for medical .and to reach my doctor..and other condition.i worry because I live alone and all have is my phone and internet to depend on for m safe and my life. Thank you for listening

  16. Joe Wagner on April 9th, 2020 4:07 pm

    The day after I got a new package, my internet was down or very slow. I tried for days calling for help then finally gave up

  17. Cableman81 on April 9th, 2020 3:02 pm

    For all you complaining you need to realize that millions and millions of people use the internet during this crisis is going to put a strain on anyones system. Secondly before complaining maybe think twice about the technicians who are out going home to home during this time what they are going through and your little cough which may be something more that they are putting themselves and their families at risk because your internet is going slow. Time to grow up.

  18. Andrew S Fromm on April 9th, 2020 2:10 pm

    Our download speeds are running less than 2%.
    Disconnects are common. Our granddaughter has online school
    and very problematic.
    Techs came out twice. They & supervisors say Nothing can
    be done to correct at this time.
    Proves .. No Competition in this market . thanks Wall Street.

  19. Frank hartmann on April 9th, 2020 1:25 pm

    Didn’t know it when I signed up that Spectrum is the same kind of rip-off company is Comcast / Xfinity . Playing the price game get you in Jack you up and overcharged you. Scammers

  20. An Agent on April 9th, 2020 11:58 am

    A lot of you sure do a lot of complaining. I work for a spectrum call center, where there are some still having to report to the office. Y’all sit in the comfort of your quarantined homes, watching TV and playing fortnight, to call us to complain about slower service, outages, and prices. I saw a comment that complained about their bill going up $40 during this crisis. Ma’am.. it was going to go up regardless if your promotion was over. Call and get another promotion. Easy. With an exponential amount of people working from home etc… you should expect network congestion and possible outages. With this crisis comes adjustments for us agents. We too were not prepared for this, but we are doing our best to keep up with the intense call volume, rude impatient customers, and the ever changing world. You all really need to humble yourselves and get a grip. If the government ever fully turned off internet service, y’all would go crazy.

  21. Dee on April 9th, 2020 11:41 am

    You do realize that Spectrum cannot control fiber cuts and actions of other contractors who damage lines in any area. You blame Spectrum everytime your services go out. Yes occassional it is maintenace between 12pm and 5 am that affects services, but if the power goes out at a distribution center , car hits a pole with a transformer or the power goes out in a storm that is acceptable. Fyi Spectrum is also affected by those events that are outside of human control. As for pricing understandable, spectrum is the middleman between network providers and the public. They demand more money from us to make sure you get the channels you want and it happens every year. Negotiation sometimes cause lost of those channels and you complain you are taking away my channels when it is the networks demanding a lot more money for the feed. So people who think the service is crap just think about it before you complain. Look at the whole picture 90000 people working 24/7 against all natural, human and unavoidable circumstances that could interupt your Spectrum services and all you do is complain and blame.

  22. Charles Odom on April 9th, 2020 11:06 am

    I just love seeing all the snowflakes complain about the internet services like you are going to die from not having it!

    First, Spectrum provides a very reliable service and prices have actually gone down since the buyout from Bright House.

    Second, There are multiple other internet providers in the area that Spectrum covers, but no one wants to pay for it, so they just complain about the extremely cheap internet Spectrum provides.

    Third, to all the naive people out there making stupid comments about government help us, or my bill during a pandemic, or how they know who owns what….you are just making yourself look even more ignorant, so stop.

    Spectrum is owned by Charter Communications, the 3rd largest provider in the US. The equipment used is currently used by tens of millions of people in the country, and provides some of the most reliable service in the world.

    If you don’t like Spectrum, then use a different provider. I can think of 5 in the area that can service just about every home that Spectrum services. You won’t like their prices though!

  23. Alma mcdaniel on April 9th, 2020 9:26 am

    Thank god I am a person who can survive with out internet.

  24. Lee on April 9th, 2020 9:26 am

    Spectrum is not the only Internet provider in the Molino area.

  25. Di Ann K on April 9th, 2020 8:52 am

    Spectrum is the worst. They are raising my monthly charge in the middle of a national emergency. They said my promotion was over. So when millions are out of work they decided to no longer give existing customers a break. My bill will go up $40 this next bill.

  26. Paige Stovall on April 9th, 2020 7:12 am

    You people have to realize we are in a state of emergency my husband is working very hard and he is subject to still enter houses where u as the customer lie about having a simple cold in this time. It is not the time… masks, what masks… hand sanitizers, what hand sanitizers…. he is in danger everything. so before you rant about a little screening think what would happen if all cable workers did not come in…. life would stop

  27. Whitecotton on April 9th, 2020 6:59 am

    No sooner than I posted it came back on line. Frustrating

  28. Whitecotton on April 9th, 2020 6:51 am

    Spectrum is back off line. Welcome to day 2.

  29. R on April 9th, 2020 6:15 am

    The best part is how it came back on for a few hours. Now is mysteriously back down again. Love having such reliable a company for one of my necessary utilities.

  30. Percy Dovetonsils on April 9th, 2020 3:48 am

    Take solice…cable will go the way of Blockbuster in 10 years or so

  31. Cantonment on April 9th, 2020 3:48 am

    All these constant outages are very annoying, and dealing with spectrum sucks! I kind of miss Brighthouse on that part. As far as the people complaining about spectrum always working on the system, just understand that it is sincerely for the better. Not sure if many of you know, but Brighthouse was running on an analog system and with speed cap around 200 Mbps. Spectrum is upgrading the system to digital which would put speeds up to around 1Gbps. It’s a very needed upgrade and when it’s finally done those who use their internet will be (should be) more satisfied.

  32. Mike O'Farrell on April 8th, 2020 11:44 pm

    Spectrum is part of an industry that is renown for its terrible customer service. They are no exception. Those of us who tried to contact them when the Internet went down found out that they have built a wall to screen customer problems and complaints. We were subjected to robot recordings, apologies for the inconvenience, acknowledgement that there was a problem, but no hint as to what it was and when it would be corrected. No humans were available to speak to us. We have few alternatives in the northern part of Escambia County, Florida. Spectrum may be the best of them all. It is very sad…..

  33. Mike O'Farrell on April 8th, 2020 11:36 pm

    Spectrum is part of an industry that is renown for its terrible customer service. They are not an exception to this. When the Internet went down, the only way to contact them was through an 800 number where you were subjected to robots, recordings, apologies, acknowledging that there was a problem, but offering no hint as to what it was and when it would be corrected. They have built a wall to protect themselves from customer contact and complaints. Alternatives to Spectrum in the North Escambia, Florida area are very limited. Unfortunately for us who live here, Spectrum may be the best alternative. It is a sad reality…..

  34. shawn black on April 8th, 2020 11:23 pm

    Free for me so no complaints

  35. L. B. on April 8th, 2020 9:55 pm

    This Internet service is the worst I have ever had. One of the reasons for this is that they have no competition. Service lousy, employees arrogant, untrained leftovers from Brighthouse Network. Please FCC do something with this company!!!!

  36. New to area on April 8th, 2020 7:56 pm

    Just so you all know I moved from Milwaukee WI. I refused to use spectrum there. The service was always down for one reason or another. When they would work on lines or something they would just cut the service and do what they needed. No notice to businesses or residence’s. So essentially the same issues. But on the positive side in the last 6 months of living here I have only had service issues twice and one was caused by the cut wire over 29 and now this one where it appears a contractor cut a fiber line.

  37. Cantonment again on April 8th, 2020 7:12 pm

    Whoo Hoo!

    Cantonment back up!

  38. Crappy on April 8th, 2020 7:03 pm

    Worst cable system and internet provider on the planet. I sure wish they’d get bought out soon. Some folks missed a whole day of work, some kids missed a whole day of school, no telling how many conference calls etc, were ruined because of this. Maybe if enough customers rally together and do a class-action lawsuit against them things would change. Can’t get much worse for any of their customers.

  39. Tina Stewart on April 8th, 2020 7:01 pm

    My internet and home phone went out about 9:30 this morning and just came back on at 7:00 pm. I agree we need more than 1 service provider here in the Cantonment and Molino area. My internet goes on and off daily and it is making it hard for those who have to work from home and kids trying to do school work.

  40. Mike j. on April 8th, 2020 6:33 pm

    It’s back on now at 6:30pm!

  41. captainfire on April 8th, 2020 6:33 pm

    Internet is back on.

  42. Henry on April 8th, 2020 5:43 pm

    We need 5G wireless everywhere.

  43. Longtime Cantonment Resident on April 8th, 2020 5:19 pm

    In regards to the “Prorated” discount for Brighthouse services, do they prorate by the hour or by the day? Have to call them for this? Thanks for any info!!

  44. Joseph on April 8th, 2020 5:18 pm

    The county needs to force the end of the monopoly and allow cox to come in!!

  45. Jodie on April 8th, 2020 4:25 pm

    Spectrum knows it has a monopoly on internet and tv service in the Northern end of the county. Their people are always working on lines up here in Molino and customer service reads from a script and dones’t care. If Spectrum truly cares about their customers, they’d put in new lines and boxes instead of constantly fixing broken lines. Plus they’d tell us thru media or contacting their customers what happened and when it should be fixed. Not just leave customers hanging. Especially since we’re in this pandemic and most of us are working from home or taking classes on line.

  46. Request credit on April 8th, 2020 4:23 pm

    I have always contacted Bright House/ Spectrum to get a credit for the time that the service was out. They have never told me no.

  47. Molino on April 8th, 2020 3:20 pm

    At 945 am they said it would be on at 2 pm.

    Now it’s a third party fiber optic line and they don’t know when it will be on.

    This large of an area, when people are depending on their internet more than ever, deserve a massive text message to customers or an update either on the web site or as recording when you call.

    I have a grandchild in virtual school and I am in school myself missing classes. (That will now count as an absence because I am not present online).

    Times are hard right now and that is exactly why they should be managing it better. THAT would show they are concerned about us as people and consumers.

  48. Gabe harvell on April 8th, 2020 3:11 pm

    Just received equipment yesterday and still dont have service but yet they want me to pay a 200$ bill on the 24th of this month . I haven’t even got service yet and they already are already sending a bill out hmmmmm.

  49. David on April 8th, 2020 3:09 pm

    We need a second broadband provider in the area.

  50. David Huie Green on April 8th, 2020 2:07 pm

    REGARDING:
    “Spectrum don’t care about the customer”

    Sure they do. Unhappy customers become former customers. Potential customers decide to go with other providers. Money goes elsewhere. They prefer you be happy.

    These are harder times than usual. Even in the best of times, problems arise.

    David for safe, speedy repairs

  51. Joey on April 8th, 2020 1:49 pm

    Thanks North Escambia!!

  52. Scott on April 8th, 2020 1:22 pm

    I understand that these things happen, and I also understand that Spectrum might not be able to provide an accurate time when service will be restored. However, the lack of any information at all other than “Service is down” is very frustrating. Dear Spectrum, please tell us something, either through news outlets who have contacted you or through your own website. Please tell us what the problem is (surely, that must be known by now) and what you are doing to fix it. If it is likely to take a long time, please give us your best guess, so that we can plan our lives around it. That is the professional thing to do.

  53. Cottage Hill on April 8th, 2020 1:00 pm

    Mine went out at 9:43 this morning and is not back on yet. It is 1:00 now. Hoping it comes up for everyone soon.

  54. Derek on April 8th, 2020 12:48 pm

    Spectrum don’t care about the customer they only concern is collecting payment despite the pandemic u have insurance company waving fee landlord are also doing the same but not spectrum people are out work cause of the situation and I’m one those people it would be nice for spectrum cancel one month free

  55. Rafael Lopez on April 8th, 2020 11:34 am

    Thanks northescambia.com because I’ve been on hold for over 24 minutes with them to find out what’s wrong. Their hold music is kinda catchy though. However, No competition is what’s wrong. Since we pay full price for internet, I’m going to ask for a prorated discount on my monthly bill. It’s only fair, because they charge late fees when I’m late with a payment. Let’s take the power back, when they restore it. :)

  56. Cantonment on April 8th, 2020 11:17 am

    Thanks for the update North Escambia!