Astound Broadband customers in the Seattle area were left without internet over the weekend after the company said power pole damage impacted its fiber network.
In a statement published to X, the company said it began restoring fiber on Sunday following an incident on Saturday involving a car hitting a power pole.
By Monday morning, some customers said they had connection again, but others still did not have service.
One customer said on Facebook that the card reader on their laundry machines would not work due to the outage.
Many users complained about the lack of customer service and communication.
We’ve reached out to the company for more details about the outage.
Astound Broadband is the nation’s sixth-largest telecommunications provider, serving more than one million customers across nine states, and eight of the top ten metro markets in the U.S. It offers internet, TV, and phone products, as well as a mobile service that launched last year.
The company unified its regional brands under its current name in January 2022. Astound Broadband’s West Coast operations, which trace their roots to the founding of Wave Broadband in the Seattle area nearly two decades ago, became known as “Astound Broadband powered by Wave.” Wave Business became “Astound Business Solutions.”
Update: Here’s a statement from an Astound spokesperson:
“On Saturday, a car crashed into a utility pole in South Seattle, extensively damaging both power and fiber lines, while also releasing hazardous materials to the site. The damaged fiber affected service to certain Astound customers in the Seattle area over the weekend. Astound immediately dispatched crews to the site, where they were required to standby until both hazardous materials and power company crews completed their work and repairs early Sunday morning. Working throughout the rest of the weekend and Sunday night, Astound technicians restored service to a substantial majority of those affected by Sunday afternoon, ultimately restoring full connectivity to area customers at approximately 4:00 a.m. Monday local time. Some of those affected may need to power cycle their modems (turn them off, then back on) to restore service. If any customers are experiencing modem issues, they can contact Astound directly at 1-800-427-8686. Astound is applying automatic credits to all whom were affected by this incident, as we truly appreciate the patience of our customers, as well as the work of our technicians to restore service.”
