Update, Sept. 26: Internet service for Berkeley Comcast customers affected by the outage started coming back online at midnight Monday and had been restored for all by around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, a Comcast spokesperson said.
Original story, Sept. 25: Between 5,000 and 6,000 Comcast customers in Berkeley lost internet, TV and other services Sunday night after vandals damaged multiple lines of fiber optic cables. Comcast did not have an estimated time to restore service as of early Monday evening.
“Comcast technicians are on site and have begun working immediately to identify, repair and restore services to customers in the region,” said Jon Koriel, a spokesperson for the internet company. “Our teams are currently working with local authorities to determine the cause of the vandal act and to prevent further acts of vandalism.”
Comcast provides Xfinity internet service to many in Berkeley. Koriel said he couldn’t say exactly where the vandalism occurred for safety reasons.
Berkeley resident Judy Gumbo Albert expressed frustration that the outage started for her around 6 p.m., while she was streaming services for Yom Kippur, the holiest holiday on the Jewish calendar.
“Connectivity at almost 9 a.m. today goes in and out,” she wrote in an email to Berkeleyside. “I’m working on my low power mode from my iPhone. … I am really pissed off!”
This article was updated after publication with additional information.
