HOUSTON – As power is restored to homes and businesses across our area many of you say you still don’t have internet. AT&T and Comcast Xfinity customer service are difficult to reach and when you do get a human on the phone, they don’t have any answers. Investigative reporter Amy Davis is answering your questions about what’s causing internet outages and what you can do about them.
Comcast Xfinity says immediately after Hurricane Beryl on Monday about 975,000 customers lost their cable and internet service. Most cases were because they also lost power. That is understandable but once power is restored.
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Customers want to know: Why does it take days or up to a week longer to get internet service going again?
Comcast says if you live in an area where electric lines were damaged and they are not buried then there’s a good chance cable and fiber lines were also damaged. CenterPoint may have restored your power but now Xfinity crews have to fix the fiber lines. They say not all of their fiber lines are buried. If your electric lines are on a pole they say the cable or fiber line is usually hanging under that on the same utility pole.
How many people are without internet service in the Houston area?
Xfinity says they have restored service to about 355,000 customers but there are about 620,000 customers that still don’t have service. They say they have about 700 technicians in the field making repairs.
AT&T wouldn’t tell us how many customers don’t have service but they say they are working to get it restored as quickly as possible.
Ask Amy: Will I get a credit for the time I don’t have internet service?
Amy says these cable and internet companies don’t want to issue a wholesale credit for everyone who lost service but after you get your service back you can request a credit for the days that you did not have service.
Amy tried this yesterday online for the days she didn’t have Xfinity service back in May- after the Derecho. She got a $9.68 credit approved within minutes. You can do the same for this storm once your service is restored.
You can request credits from companies for the time you had no service
Also if your cell phone service is down call those companies and request credits. We’ve seen cases where people have gotten $40 credits for the hours with no service.
AT&T has also opened a mobile connectivity center where you can go for free wifi. They also have seven stores in our area where customers can charge their phones.
Verizon is waiving all call, data, and texting for customers in Beryl-impacted counties from July 8th through July 17th.
Do you have a question for Amy Davis? Email her at AskAmy@kprc.com.
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