Longview-Kilgore Cable Internet Service Restored After Nearly Two-Day Outage

SATURDAY UPDATE: Longview-Kilgore Cable says internet service has been restored for customers in East Texas after an outage that began Thursday afternoon.

“If your internet connection is not active, you can restart the modem (unplug the modem from power) to reset it,” according to a Facebook post. “If you are still not online, email [email protected] and a technician will be dispatched.

“Account credits do not need to be requested due to the long outage, but an announcement will be made on Monday regarding credits.”

5:04 p.m. UPDATE: The estimated time to restore internet service for Longview-Cable customers increased to 9 p.m. Friday. However, general manager Don Deem said he hoped it would be sooner.

4:02 p.m. UPDATE: The estimated time for restoration of internet service for Longview-Kilgore Cable customers is 6 p.m. Friday, chief executive Don Deem said Friday afternoon.

PREVIOUS STORY: Longview-Kilgore Cable hopes internet service will be restored for Cablelynx subscribers today, after a ‘tiered carrier outage’ interrupted service from Thursday afternoon.

The loss of service occurred after other companies’ fiber lines were cut in the Dallas area. Longview-Kilgore Cable provides Internet service to the Longview, Kilgore and Hallsville areas. Chief executive Don Deem said the outage affected equipment from one of its suppliers and also affected “many other businesses”.

“Our lines and facilities are undamaged. There is no work we can do locally to restore service,” a letter from the cable company to customers said Friday. “We lease their circuits to provide our broadband services and we have three carriers for redundancy to ensure that our customers are not impacted if either fails. Having a failure of all three carriers at the same time is just not typical. It is important to note that this tiered carrier failure has impacted many other communities and providers with customers like you beyond our service area, including including parts of Texas and Arkansas, so there are many people working to restore as quickly as possible.

The company’s eMTA phone services were also affected.

Longview-Kilgore Cable is working with the three affected carriers to offer support and provide up-to-date information to customers, the letter says. Windstream said it had identified the outage in its system and planned to begin repairs around noon today. Level 3 (Lumen) had also located its cut fiber and started repairs. ATT also located where its fiber cut and said it would begin repairs around 4 p.m. The company was unable to provide a catering time.

“To say that we understand the impact of losing your Internet service would be an understatement,” the Longview-Kiilgore cable letter read. “We realize that our subscribers use the Internet for more than entertainment and rely on our services for medical needs, business operations, employment, and educational programs. Many people request account credits and can assure you that we agree that our subscribers should be compensated on their bill for the days they were unable to use the service At the moment the focus is on restoring the service and once this is complete we will respond to questions regarding credits on the account.

Customers do not need to report that their service is interrupted, the letter from Longview-Kilgore Cable states.

“If you can follow us on Facebook at Longview Cable TV, our updates are posted there. As we have important new updates, we will also send you an email. If you need a letter for your employer or school, please email this request to [email protected]”

The outage began Thursday afternoon.

“The circuits are not restored. We don’t have an ETR (estimated time to restore),” the company said in a 7:30 a.m. update on its Facebook page on Friday. “This remains the priority of both our suppliers to whom we lease circuits and our company’s engineers. Phone lines and chats will be busy again with long wait times.

The company first reported the outage around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, saying the “service outage” had been impacting customers for about 20 minutes.

In updates since, the company has reported that its lines and equipment are good.

“We have no damage in our service area. We are like other providers who lease circuits to provide business Internet service and we use Tier 3, ATT and Windstream. We lease these circuits for redundancy purposes. Level 3 signals a fiber cut in Dallas. Windstream is reporting “a major event” and their circuit is down and ATT has yet to respond as to why they are down. We are working with Level 3 to route to a data center in Houston and are awaiting confirmation. Further updates will be provided as they become available,” the company said at 7 p.m. Thursday.