Mediacom Communications Senior Director Phyllis Peters says parts of Boone, Bureau, Henry, LaSalle, Livingston, McHenry, and Mercer counties were affected by the internet outage when a crew setting utility poles accidentally cut into Mediacom fiberoptic lines two miles south of Sibley, Illinois midday Tuesday. High speed internet and telephone service offered through Mediacom was affected. In some areas, it affected television.
Mediacom had excavation and splicer crews on site to restore services. Internet was on again in Ottawa at 6:30pm. Peters says Mediacom was not doing the work that caused the disruption.
Story from 6:45pm
Mediacom internet is on again in Ottawa as of 6:30pm. Outage detection web sites reported about one third as many Mediacom internet troubles at 6pm as were reported at noon shortly after the problem began.
Some local businesses managed to put messages on social media alerting customers that their internet based telephones weren’t working today. They provided alternate contact information to reach employees.
Earlier story – 3pm
Mediacom is having a major internet outage affecting customers in northern Illinois. It started at about 11:45am today when a contractor setting big poles in the ground cut into a buried conduit with 180 fiber optic strands inside. Company spokeswoman Phyllis Peters is getting more information to relay to the public. When we spoke to her, she wasn’t sure exactly where the cut happened or how long it may take to fully restore service. Mediacom TV is unaffected in our area. People’s wifi routers may be able to connect to Mediacom but unable to connect to an internet server.