Updated
Updated · Hollister Free Lance · Aug 22
Charter Restores South Valley Internet After 4 a.m. Fiber Cut Hit 150,000 Area Residents
Updated
Updated · Hollister Free Lance · Aug 22

Charter Restores South Valley Internet After 4 a.m. Fiber Cut Hit 150,000 Area Residents

2 articles · Updated · Hollister Free Lance · Aug 22

Summary

  • 4:45 p.m. updates showed service returning in Gilroy and parts of Morgan Hill after a Spectrum outage that began around 4 a.m. disrupted homes, businesses and government offices across the South Valley.
  • Charter said third-party construction accidentally damaged a fiber-optic line, knocking out internet service in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin and Hollister.
  • Morgan Hill said City Hall phone lines went down during the outage, though emergency calls continued to work.
  • Charter did not disclose how many customers were affected, but the outage appeared widespread across communities with a combined population of about 150,000.

Insights

A single construction mistake plunged entire California counties into digital darkness; why is our critical internet infrastructure so fragile?
Who is truly to blame when a severed cable cuts off emergency connectivity, and why wasn't a backup system in place?