Apparent vandalism of fiber optic cables leads to internet service outages in east valley

Spectrum internet and phone service customers in the eastern Coachella Valley experienced service interruptions Friday after fiber optic lines were cut in what Indio police believe was vandalism. Spectrum said all of its affected lines had been repaired by the evening.

Indio Police spokesperson Ben Guitron said staff from Frontier Communications notified the department at around 4:45 a.m. Friday that they had discovered fiber optic cables had been cut while investigating a service outage. The lines were located in the 81200 block of Highway 111 in the city, between Madison and Clinton streets. Guitron said Frontier staff reported their data suggested the lines had been vandalized at around 4 a.m.

Guitron confirmed police are investigating the cut lines as vandalism. Guitron said Friday that while he had been told the call had come from Frontier Communications, customers of multiple utility providers in La Quinta and Coachella were also being impacted. However, he said he did not have specific information about which companies use the cut lines, what customers were impacted or if there were other lines that had been cut outside Indio.

A spokesperson for Frontier Communications told The Desert Sun on Monday that the company did not experience any service outages or cut lines in the Coachella Valley and does not believe that any report of cut lines was made by its employees. However, when asked Monday, Guitron said he had been told by dispatchers that the call had come from a Frontier staffer.

But a spokesperson for Spectrum Communications told The Desert Sun at just before 5 p.m. on Friday that the company had repaired and reconnected fiber lines that had been cut in vandalism in the area and that all Spectrum services had been restored. He added that the company had repaired more than 400 fiber strands that were cut or damaged.

Update: This story was updated after initial publication with comments from Frontier Communication spokesperson Hayley Hoefer.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Vandalism of fiber optic cables leads to Indio internet outage