HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Days after millions of people in southeast Texas got their power back after Hurricane Beryl, some areas are still without internet and phone service. Viewers who contacted ABC13 said it was affecting their ability to work from home or serve customers at their businesses.
Nina Fragale, general manager of Pipeline Grill in Baytown, said power was restored to the restaurant Friday, but Xfinity internet and landline phone service were still out.
As a result, the business was unable to answer calls from customers wanting to know if they were back open, and some customers were turning away because they couldn’t accept credit card payments.
“It’s very painful. We’re a small business, and we rely on daily sales to make money,” Fragale said. “A lot of customers are leaving. On the first day, 35 tables left. On the second day, 47 tables left. On the third day, 58 tables left. It’s probably going to take us three to four months to recover from that.”
Sharon Mayes lives in southeast Houston and experienced a similar situation. Her power came back on Friday, but her AT&T’s internet connection is still down. He told ABC13 it’s affecting his work since he works from home.
“I work remotely for a marketing agency, and I have a lot of client meetings during the week. It hinders my ability to communicate with them and get my work done. I have to work in multiple locations, which is inconsistent. It’s very frustrating,” Mayes said.
ABC13 brought Fragale and Mayes’ concerns to their service provider after they said they couldn’t get answers about what caused the ongoing outage and when they would be back online.
A spokesperson for Comcast, which owns Xfinity, explained that The network relies on different fiber nodes that are spread across the city and are powered by electricity. If one of those nodes remains offline due to a power outage, it could impact internet and landline service for those who rely on the fiber cables connected to it.
Damaged fiber cables, which are usually a priority after major storms, could also cause ongoing Comcast/Xfinity outages. However, repairs could be delayed if trees or debris are still blocking the cables or if CenterPoint needs to repair its power poles first.
Comcast expects full service to be restored to its customers by the end of Friday, except for those whose networks are still severely damaged.
In a statement to ABC13, an A.TA&T representative wrote, “Some customers may still experience disruptions to home phone and internet service due to ongoing power outages and storm damage to our utility poles and lines. (…) In most cases, we are unable to begin repairs to damaged antenna equipment until commercial power repairs are complete.”
ON&T said it has restored service to 96 percent of customers where it knew it was impacted. It was unclear when it expects all affected neighborhoods to be back online.
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