Comcast customers across the United States were slowly coming back online late Friday afternoon after a massive outage left them without internet, cable TV, and telephone service.
The outage started Friday morning and quickly spread to several cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, Denver and Chicago, according to Downdetector.com, a site that monitors service outages. Complaints peaked early in the day, but Comcast (CCZ) service problems continued popping up well into the afternoon. In some cases the outage last most of the afternoon, but Comcast said in a tweet Friday evening that it had started restoring service.
The company was trying to determine just what went wrong, but said in a statement that "one of Comcast's large backbone network partners had a fiber cut that we believe is also impacting other providers."
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The company could not say how many people were affected by outage, which it called "nationwide."
Fiber optic cables are used for long distance high-speed data transmission.
One of Comcast's large backbone network partners had a fiber cut that we believe is also impacting other providers. It is currently affecting our business and residential internet, video and voice customers. We apologize & are working to get services restored as soon as possible — ComcastCares (@comcastcares) June 29, 2018
Customers took to their cellphones and mobile devices to complain vociferously on Twitter. Some reported difficulty getting through to Comcast customer service. The company took to Twitter to provide updates and urged customers not to call 911.
The internet and phone provider Comcast has confirmed it has suffered a huge service outage – with reports of problems stretching from coast to coast.
The Philadelphia-based company, said to be the the second largest broadcasting and cable television firm in the world, told users it was working to restore service as soon as possible.
“Hello, we apologise for the inconvenience,” it said to one customer asking for information. “Use this link to send a DM to our Digital Care Team for assistance.”
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Reuters 47/50 15 May 2018 Palestinians run away from tear gas shot at them by Israeli forces during a protest in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank AFP/Getty 48/50 14 May 2018 A Palestinian demonstrator runs during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba at the Israel-Gaza border. REUTERS 49/50 13 May 2018 A bullet hole on the window of a cafe in Paris, the day after a knifeman killed one man and wounded four other people before being shot dead by police AFP/Getty 50/50 12 May 2018 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel looks on after receiving the 'Lamp of Peace, the "Nobel" Catholic award for "her work of conciliation for the peaceful cohabitation of peoples" at The Basilica Superiore of St Francis of Assisi in Italy. AFP/Getty 1/50 29 June 2018 Mount Agung's crater glows red from the lava as it spews volcanic smoke on Bali Island. The Indonesian tourist island closed its international airport, stranding thousands of travelers, as the Mount Agung volcano gushed a 2,500-meter (8,200-feet) column of ash and smoke. AP 2/50 28 June 2018 The remains of market stalls smoulder after a fire swept through a marketplace in Nairobi, Kenya. Several people have died in the fire and about 70 are receiving hospital treatment, with rescue teams left searching through the scene. AP 3/50 27 June 2018 Smoke rises in the rebel-held town of Nawa in southern Syria during airstrikes by Syrian regime forces. Syria's army launched an assault on the flashpoint southern city of Daraa state media said, after a week of deadly bombardment on the nearby countryside caused mass displacement. Government forces have set their sights on retaking the south of the country, a strategic area that borders Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. AFP/Getty 4/50 26 June 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron greets Pope Francis at the end of a private audience at the Vatican. AFP/Getty Images 5/50 25 June 2018 The frame of an abandoned Peugeot 404 rests in Niger's Tenere desert region of the south central Sahara on Sunday, June 3, 2018. Once a well-worn roadway for overlander tourists, the highway 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) are a favored path for migrants heading north in hopes of a better life and more recently thousands who are being expelled south from Algeria. AP 6/50 24 June 2018 Saudi women celebrate after they drove their cars in Al Khobar after the law allowing women to drive took effect. Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive from June 24, ending the world's only ban on female motorists. REUTERS 7/50 23 June 2018 People gather as the injured are helped by medics at the scene of an explosion during a rally to support the country's new reformist prime minister Abiy Ahmed in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Reports say the blast occurred shortly after he addressed thousands of his supporters. He then spoke to the crowd afterwards, saying a people had been killed. EPA 8/50 22 June 2018 Participants of the Dark Mofo Nude Solstice Swim are seen in the River Derwent at dawn, in Hobart, Australia, Reuters 9/50 21 June 2018 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates in a mass yoga session along with other practitioners to mark International Yoga Day at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun. Tens of thousands of yoga practitioners worldwide on June 21 are expected to celebrate the fourth annual International Yoga Day, first proposed by the Indian PM in 2014 to the UN General Assembly and adopted unanimously. AFP/Getty 10/50 20 June 2018 A woman and child are told they will have to wait before crossing the US border as confusion sets in following the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration Getty 11/50 19 June 2018 People wave a banner with a picture of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a gathering of supporters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul, Turkey,. Turkish President Erdogan announced on 18 April that Turkey will hold snap presidential and parliamentary elections on 24 June 2018, after elections were scheduled to be held in November 2019. EPA 12/50 18 June 2018 Residents pass by a temple gate collapsed by an earthquake in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan. The earthquake, which struck western Japan, killed three people and injured more than 50. EPA 13/50 17 June 2018 Juan Carlos Osorio, manager of Mexico's national football team, celebrates their World Cup victory against Germany Getty 14/50 16 June 2018 Kashmiri youths through stones during clashes between protestors and Indian government forces in Srinagar AFP/Getty Images 15/50 16 June 2018 People are silhouetted on the flybridge of a yacht as fireworks illuminates the sky over the Yas Viceroy luxury hotel on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr at the Marina on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi EPA 16/50 15 June 2018 Somali Muslims take part in Eid al-Fitr prayer which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan at the football pitch of the Jamacadaha stadium in Mogadishu. AFP/Getty Images 17/50 14 June 2018 Artists perform during the opening ceremony of the 2018 World Cup in Russia ahead of the group A match between Russia and Saudi Arabia at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Getty 18/50 13 June 2018 Pope Francis arrives to lead the Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican Reuters 19/50 12 June 2018 US President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their historic meeting at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore. Reuters 20/50 11 June 2018 US President Donald Trump looking at a cake being brought for him during a working lunch with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his visit to The Istana, the official residence of the prime minister, in Singapore. Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump will meet on June 12 for an unprecedented summit, with the US President calling it a "one time shot" at peace. AFP/Getty 21/50 10 June 2018 Muharrem Ince, presidential candidate of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), delivers a speech from the roof of a bus during a campaign meeting in Istanbul. AFP/Getty 22/50 9 June 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaking to US Presidend Donald Trump during the second day of the G7 meeting in Charlevoix, Canada. Looking on is US National Security Advisor John Bolton. EPA 23/50 8 June 2018 Former South African President Jacob Zuma sings and dances on stage after delivering a speech during a rally in his support outside the High Court, in Durban. AFP/Getty 24/50 7 June 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to a question during his annual call-in show in Moscow. Putin hosts call-in shows every year, which typically provide a platform for ordinary Russians to appeal to the president on issues ranging from foreign policy to housing and utilities. AP 25/50 6 June 2018 Protesters wave flags and shout slogans during a demonstration against the use of the term "Macedonia" in any solution to a dispute between Athens and Skopje over the former Yugoslav republic's name, in the northern town of Pella, Greece. Reuters 26/50 5 June 2018 Police officers salute as the caskets of policewomen Soraya Belkacemi, 44, and Lucile Garcia, 54, arrive during their funeral in Liege. The two officers, and one bystander were killed in Liege on Tuesday by a gunman. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting. AP 27/50 4 June 2018 A rescue worker carries a child covered with ash after a volcano erupted violently in El Rodeo, Guatemala. Volcan de Fuego, whose name means "Volcano of Fire", spewed an 8km (5-mile) stream of red hot lava and belched a thick plume of black smoke and ash that rained onto the capital and other regions. Dozens were killed across three villages. Reuters 28/50 3 June 2018 A recycler drags a huge bag of paper sorted for recycling past a heap of non-recyclable material at Richmond sanitary landfill site in the industrial city of Bulawayo. Plastic waste remains a challenging waste management issue due to its non-biodegrable nature, if not managed properly plastic ends up as litter polluting water ways, wetlands and storm drains causing flash flooding around Zimbabwe's cities and towns. Urban and rural areas are fighting the continuous battle against a scourge of plastic litter. On June 5, 2018 the United Nations mark the World Environment Day which plastic pollution is the main theme this year. AFP/Getty 29/50 2 June 2018 Palestinian mourners carry the body of 21-year-old medical volunteer Razan al-Najjar during her funeral after she was shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border fence on June 1, in another day of protests and violence. She was shot near Khan Yunis in the south of the territory, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, bringing the toll of Gazans killed by Israeli fire since the end of March to 123. AFP/Getty 30/50 1 June 2018 Spain's new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez poses after a vote on a no-confidence motion at the Spanish Parliament in Madrid. Spain's parliament ousted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote sparked by fury over his party's corruption woes, with his Socialist arch-rival Pedro Sanchez automatically taking over. AFP/Getty 31/50 31 May 2018 Zinedine Zidane looks on after a press conference to announce his resignation as manager from Real Madrid. He confirmed he was leaving the Spanish giants, just days after winning the Champions League for the third year in a row. AFP/Getty 32/50 30 May 2018 A worker cleans up the Millenaire migrants makeshift camp along the Canal de Saint-Denis near Porte de la Villette, northern Paris, following its evacuation on May 30. More than a thousand migrants and refugees were evacuated early in the morning from the camp that had been set up for several weeks along the Canal. AFP/Getty 33/50 29 May 2018 Police and ambulances are seen at the site where a gunman shot dead three people, two of them policemen, before being killed by elite officers, in the eastern Belgian city of Liege. AFP/Getty 34/50 28 May 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron meets with Mamoudou Gassama, 22, from Mali, at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris. Gassama living illegally in France is being honored by Macron for scaling an apartment building over the weekend to save a 4-year-old child dangling from a fifth-floor balcony. AP 35/50 27 May 2018 Migrants wait to disembark from the ship Aquarius in the Sicilian harbour of Catania, Italy Reuters 36/50 26 May 2018 Ireland awaits the official result of a referendum that could end the country’s ban on abortion. Co-Director of Together For Yes Ailbhe Smyth speaks to the media after exit polls suggested victory for the Yes campaign. PA Wire/PA Images 37/50 25 May 2018 Film producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at the 1st Precinct in Manhattan where he turned himself in to New York police for sexual misconduct charges. Reuters 38/50 24 May 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Konstantin Palace in Strelna, outside Saint Petersburg, on May 24, 2018 Getty Images 39/50 23 May 2018 People protest outisde the Tamil Nadu House after at least 10 people were killed when police fired on protesters seeking closure of plant on environmental grounds in town of Thoothukudi in southern state of Tamil Nadu, in New Delhi. ANI via Reuters 40/50 22 May 2018 People demonstrate in Paris during a nationwide day protest by French public sector employees and public servants against the overhauls proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron, calling them an "attack" by the centrist leader against civil services as well as their economic security. AFP/Getty 41/50 21 May 2018 Newly appointed Catalan president Quim Torra arrives to visit jailed Catalan separatist politicians at the Estremera jail near Madrid. AFP/Getty 42/50 20 May 2018 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro casts his vote during the presidential elections in Caracas. Maduro was seeking a second term in power. AFP/Getty 43/50 19 May 2018 Channelized lava emerges on Kilauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on Hawaii. The USGS said on its website that "a fast-moving pahoehoe lava flow that emerged from fissure 20... continues to flow southeast," with the quickest of three "lobes" progressing at 230 yards (210 meters) per hour. AFP/US Geological Survey 44/50 18 May 2018 Santa Fe High School student Dakota Shrader is comforted by her mother Susan Davidson following a shooting at the school in Texas. Shrader said her friend was shot in the incident. Multiple people have been killed. Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily News via AP 45/50 17 May 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meeting during the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria. Reuters 46/50 16 May 2018 People hold flags with the state coat of arms of Russia as they drive along a bridge, which was constructed to connect the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula across the Kerch Strait. Reuters 47/50 15 May 2018 Palestinians run away from tear gas shot at them by Israeli forces during a protest in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank AFP/Getty 48/50 14 May 2018 A Palestinian demonstrator runs during a protest against the US embassy move to Jerusalem and ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba at the Israel-Gaza border. REUTERS 49/50 13 May 2018 A bullet hole on the window of a cafe in Paris, the day after a knifeman killed one man and wounded four other people before being shot dead by police AFP/Getty 50/50 12 May 2018 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel looks on after receiving the 'Lamp of Peace, the "Nobel" Catholic award for "her work of conciliation for the peaceful cohabitation of peoples" at The Basilica Superiore of St Francis of Assisi in Italy. AFP/Getty
Reports suggest the outage is primarily affecting the company’s cable service, but telephone and internet services were apparently also affected in some areas.
The company did not immediately respond to enquiries after the breakout at 2pm EST on Friday
Comcast, which was founded in 1963, is said to have 23.3 million internet subscribers and 11.5m phone customers.
The company later said the interruption of its internet, video and voice services, was related to a cut fibre at one of the company’s partners.
“One of Comcast’s large backbone network partners had a fibre cut that we believe is also impacting other providers,” it said in a statement.
“It is currently affecting our business and residential internet, video and voice customers.
“We apologise and are working to get services restored as soon as possible.”
There was no immediate information on how soon the company expected services to be restored.
Comcast said Friday that the hours-long interruption of its internet, video and voice services, was caused two separate and unrelated fiber cuts to the company's large network providers. The company is working to restore services.
“We identified two, separate and unrelated fiber cuts to our network backbone providers. Our engineers worked to address the issue immediately and services are now being restored to business and residential internet, video and voice customers. We again apologize to anyone who was impacted.”
The company did not specify which providers were impacted.
A source told CNBC that one of the cuts occurred in CenturyLink's network.
CenturyLink said its network is operating normally, but said there were fiber cuts in its network Friday.
“While the CenturyLink network continues to operate normally, on June 29, we experienced two isolated fiber cuts in North Carolina affecting some customers that by themselves did not cause the issues experienced by other providers. At this time, our technicians are working to restore the services,” the company said in a statement.
Comcast reported last quarter it serves 29.6 million total business and residential customers. It is the second largest U.S. pay TV provider, behind AT&T, since its DirecTV acquisition,.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com.
Photo: Joe Raedle (Getty)
If you’re a Comcast customer, you might have already realized your internet is borked today. That wave of sadness and despair you’re presumably experiencing seems to be the result of a few cut fiber cables, according to a tweet from Comcast. If it makes you feel any better, the company says it’s trying to fix it.
Earlier today, various internet services seemingly went down, reflected in a spike of outage reports on sites like Down Detector. A tweet from Newsday reporter Joan Gralla stated the source of the disruption was actually a series of fiber line cuts, one cut between New York and Chicago, the other between Ashburn and South Carolina.
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The issue also seems to have shut down Comcast’s Xfinity Service Status page.
Comcast confirmed the severed fiber in a tweet, stating that one of its “large backbone network partners had a fiber cut that we believe is also impacting other providers. It is currently affecting our business and residential internet, video and voice customers. We apologize & are working to get services restored as soon as possible.”
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Gizmodo has reached out to Comcast to learn more about how, exactly, one goes about crippling Internet connectivity throughout the country, and will update this story accordingly. Until then, enjoy the sunshine before we fuck that up, too.
