Cape Coral residents struggling with lack of internet

Many people are frustrated as they near three and a half weeks without internet.

Hurricane Ian knocked out service for a lot of people and it’s taking a toll as people try to work and study.

Centurylink says the status of connection all depends on where you live especially because of the damage their infrastructure endured

Xfinity says they’re close to returning service, but people are tired of waiting and want their internet back at full strength.

For both CenturyLink and Xfinity internet customers all over Southwest Florida

Bill Halscheid is one of the less than 1500 Cape Coral Xfinity customers without internet.

“As soon as it started the internet and everything went out. They called a couple of times after I called them and said service has been restored but it really hasn’t,” Halscheid said.

When Halscheid’s girlfriend called them today, they gave her a date of February.

CenturyLink customers got a similar shock during Wednesday’s Cape Coral City Council meeting, hearing it may take some in the city until the start of 2023 to get the internet back.

Guy Gunther, a CenturyLink spokesperson said, “Some of these areas where a lot of extensive damage and the equipment we have was exposed to a lot of that wind and rain. We took a lot of water to those boxes and they just have to be replaced.”

Charlotte and Collier County should be fully restored by the end of November, south Lee County by mid-December, and north Lee County is going to take a while.

Tim Slattery, an Xfinity customer said “CenturyLink is probably going to lose a lot of customers. That’s unacceptable.”

A spokesperson told WINK News they’re close to getting everyone restored.

Slattery said his internet has been spotty at best, making it tough to let family in Indiana know they were okay.

“My mom is up in Indiana still I can’t figure out what’s wrong with you guys down there. Sorry,” Slattery said.

Nadine Latronica said she put their Xfinity account on hold because it was too much especially since her husband works from home.

“He was working out of his truck because OnStar, if your car was running gave you one free month of satellite. So he was working out of there for a while,” Latronica said.

WINK News asked CenturyLink if their disaster response plan will be reviewed to prevent these long restoration times.

They said they see the resiliency of their network increase with each disaster and they’re replacing damaged copper in areas with a more durable fiber connection.