South Carolina Faces Connectivity Challenges After Tropical Storm Helene’s Aftermath

South Carolina Wakes up to Connectivity Issues Post Tropical Storm Helene

Life in South Carolina is gradually trying to get back to normal after the havoc caused by Tropical Storm Helene. But the ride has been anything but smooth! The storm left the state grappling with power outages and internet connectivity issues that are only gradually being restored. Amidst the widespread dissatisfaction, Spectrum, the trade name of Charter Communications and a chief provider of internet services, has finally shared its plans for full connectivity restoration.

Spectrum Comes with Some Promises… and Data

After facing criticism over its lack of communication on the timeline for restoration, Spectrum came forth to announce that it expects full service restoration “to all accessible locations with power” by Wednesday, Oct. 16.

According to their statement, over the peak of the storm there were a mammoth 395,000 customers in South Carolina who were offline. Spectrum’s technical crew is pulling all stops to restore the services, and have managed to restore about 80% of services as of Oct. 11. But a concerning number of 82,000 customers in South Carolina have still reported no service. And that’s not just it!

Unknown to many, pressing issues in Greenville and Spartanburg counties have resulted in roughly three-quarters of Spectrum customers without internet. Unbelievable, but true!

But Spectrum’s not the only one fighting the connectivity issues. AT&T, a competitor, also confirmed an outage in downtown Greenville due to “third-party fiber damage.”

Local Sentiments Run High

As you can imagine, the continued outages have caused dissatisfaction among the residents and government officials alike. Greenville City Councilwoman, Dorothy Dowe, has not seen light of the reasons behind this prolonged inconvenience, stating these services are critical infrastructure.

In a similar vein, the Greer Commission of Public Works has discounted Spectrum’s claim blaming power outages as the reason for this massive snafu. The utility states on its Facebook post that “the restoration of internet services by Spectrum is independent of our power restoration efforts” and that all its customers had their power restored as early as Oct. 4.

The Impact on Local Businesses

With numerous businesses across the city operating on cash only owing to the internet outage, the business scene has taken a hit. From not being able to print shipping labels at a UPS Store to other small businesses being impacted, this situation is simply “unacceptable in 2024.” And I can’t agree more!

Residents and businesses are struggling to stay afloat amidst these challenges. Worse still, there seems to be a lack of transparency about the widespread damage and restoration timelines from the company’s end, thus adding to the state’s crisis.

While Spectrum are the only ones not providing the public with a map of current outages in South Carolina, AT&T has reported its own slew of outages across downtown Greenville and Spartanburg as recently as Oct. 10.

The common sentiment, as expressed by everyone from small businesses to county councilman David Britt is, “It’s time to get the show back on the road.” The wait continues…