SYLACAUGA, Ala. – Charter Spectrum’s cable, internet, and telephone services failed in Sylacauga, Childersburg, Chelsea, and Talladega on Tuesday afternoon, disrupting thousands of residences and businesses for several hours.
The issue was reportedly due to a fiber line cut on Alabama State Route 119, severing the company’s link to its distribution facility in Leeds. That connection seems to constitute a single point of failure for customers in the affected areas and has already been down several times this year alone. Calls to Spectrum requesting additional information were not returned.
Several businesses and food service establishments in the Sylacauga-Childersburg area were affected, and some closed, due to lack of telephone and internet connections needed for credit card payment processing or online ordering. The City of Childersburg’s Water Works, Sewer, and Gas Board’s phones were among business services affected according to a social media post.
Spectrum’s services were restored in Sylacauga at approximately 6:34 p.m.
According to its website, Charter Communications Inc. is a leading broadband connectivity company and cable operator serving more than 31 million customers in 41 states through its Spectrum brand.
Sylacauga and Childersburg have few other options for dedicated high-speed internet access.
The Sylacauga Utilities Board offers competitively priced fiber optic network connections to most of the city’s homes and offices including all city schools and the City of Sylacauga, with residential speeds of 100Mbps and commercial speeds ranging from 150Mbps to 1Gbps. Unlike cable technology, the fiber speed is not shared with other neighboring customers so not subject to delays, and both upload and download bandwidth is the same.
AT&T provides service in limited areas.
Many residences in Sylacauga evaluating options may not know they are able to receive dozens of free over-the-air digital television channels from Birmingham, Talladega, Mt. Cheaha, and even Anniston using inexpensive outdoor antennas. Sites such as AntennaWeb.org and ChannelMaster.com may be used to predict available broadcast television coverage based on specific addresses. Most premium channels are only available via cable and satellite, yet some offer streaming subscriptions or are available on streaming platforms.
