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Title: Vandals Cut Fiber-Optic Lines, Causing Outage For Spectrum Internet
Subscribers

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/06/16/2125...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Subscribers in
Southern California of Spectrum's Internet service experienced outages over
the weekend following what company officials said was an attempted theft of
copper lines located in Van Nuys, a suburb located 20 miles from downtown Los
Angeles. The people behind the incident thought they were targeting copper
lines, the officials wrote in a statement Sunday. Instead, they cut into
fiber optic cables. The cuts caused service disruptions for subscribers in
Van Nuys and surrounding areas. Spectrum has since restored service and is
offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the
people responsible. Spectrum will also credit affected customers one day of
service on their next bill. "Criminal acts of network vandalism have become
an issue affecting the entire telecommunications industry, not just Spectrum,
largely due to the increase in the price of precious metals," the officials
wrote in a statement issued Sunday. "These acts of vandalism are not only a
crime, but also affect our customers, local businesses and potentially
emergency services. Spectrum's fiber lines do not include any copper." Outage
information service Downdetector showed that thousands of subscribers in and
around Van Nuys reported outages starting a little before noon on Sunday.
Within about 12 hours, the complaint levels returned to normal. Spectrum
officials told the Los Angeles Times that personnel had to splice thousands
of fiber lines to restore service to affected subscribers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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