Calabasas Loses Internet In Large Spectrum Outage

CALABASAS, CA — A Spectrum cable outage briefly caused many Calabasans and thousands of other residents in Los Angeles and Ventura counties to lose internet Monday evening.

The cable, TV, internet and phone service provider that counts around three million users in Southern California acknowledged that service was down at 6:23 p.m. on their Ask Spectrum Twitter account, writing, "We are aware of an issue affecting services for customers in Los Angeles. Engineers are investigating and are working towards a resolution."

The City of Calabasas also acknowledged the outage: "Large Spectrum outage affecting many communities around Calabasas. Service is being restored slowly in the affected areas" at 7:06 p.m. Monday night.

Spectrum tweeted that the outage had been restored at around 9 p.m., though a company spokesperson told Patch that the outage lasted under an hour.

We are aware of an issue affecting services for customers in Los Angeles. Engineers are investigating and are working towards a resolution.
— Ask Spectrum (@Ask_Spectrum) February 23, 2021

By that point, many angry customers had had enough. Several users on Twitter said that for the price they pay - anywhere from $50 to $100 a month - they should receive some kind of credit or rebate.

Patch reached out to the company to find out if this was possible, but a spokesperson replied only with the following statement: "Our services were restored last night. We’re looking into what caused a brief outage for some of our customers in LA and the surrounding areas. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers who were affected."

Spectrum has refunded customers for outages in the past. When an outage left millions in the Northeast without internet in February 2020, customers were advised to call 855-707-7328 to ask for a credit. The majority of customers told WKTV Newschannel 2 that they received less than $5.

In age where almost everything is done virtually, outages are even more problematic. Monday's outage arrived right as many board and council meetings were set to take place. The Calabasas City Council will not be meeting until Wednesday, but meetings in Malibu and Ventura County were postponed.

Better be getting a nice credit on my next bill. Can’t get work done. This is getting so old.
— Jessica Sheeley (@JSheeley45) February 23, 2021

Lower my bill, I feel like I pay strictly for outages at this point
— Michael G. Nathan (@MichaelGNathan) February 23, 2021

Ask Spectrum replied to some complaints to let customers know they were aware of the problem and addressing it.