Millions of Americans rely on their internet service not just on a day to day basis, but even minute to minute. In a poll conducted last October 78% of people feel most frustrated during internet outages that last even just a few minutes. One county in Florida is about to deal with an outage that could last 2 full weeks. Cable and Internet provider Spectrum announced today that emergency maintenance is required at a server facility in Pasco County, Florida. The facility powers internet connections for over 3 million residents of Pasco county and almost all of them are expected to lose internet during maintenance. We reached out to Spectrum CEO Brandon Jackson and he says without this maintenance the county could see a total system failure that would take months to fix.
“We have done everything possible to avoid this day, but unfortunately it has become a reality.” Said Jackson in an emailed response. “ “Our engineers have determined this is 100% necessary. We are at risk of a system failure that would be catastrophic to us and our customers and a total system failure could take 6-12 months to restore.” He added.
Another Spectrum representative did say there will be emergency internet stations set up around the county for those that must have access. More details on where they will be and how to register a time slot will be released in the coming days.
The outage is expected to begin around 4am on April 17th and could last until May 1st.
Stay tuned to Channel 53 News for more details on this story as they become available.