CenturyLink, Comcast internet in SWFL expected to be mostly restored in time for the holidays

CenturyLink and Comcast are looking to have internet predominately restored in Southwest Florida in time for the holidays, according to company representatives.

Other customers might still be without internet until early 2023.

"By Christmas holidays, we are substantially restored," said Martin Valence, vice president of Lumen Technologies. "If there's something that goes beyond the holidays, it's likely customers aren't calling in and telling us their services were not restored."

CenturyLink's internet restoration timetable

Charlotte:

• Known internet outages are 570

• Full restoration by end of November

Collier:

• Known internet outage is 640

• Full restoration by end of November

Lee - North of Caloosahatchee (Cape Coral, North Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, Pine Island):

• Known internet outage is 2,700

• Full restoration by end of February

Lee – South of Caloosahatchee (Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Iona, Estero):

• Known internet outages are 910

• Full restoration by mid-December

Lumen Technologies, of which CenturyLink is a part, is 99% recovered but the company is only seeing up to 75% of the usual customers using their services based on usage data.

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Valence said the company knows what's going on with about half of the 25% of customers based on damages to remote terminals and lines, but the rest are unaccounted for either because of modem damage, power fluctuation, or inside wiring damage, or the customers just turned their services off.

The city of Cape Coral and town of Fort Myers Beach were described as the hardest impacted with the latter requiring laying down new fiber throughout the entire island.

The storm surge caused the most damage to lines and remote terminals, and Valence said Cape Coral was the one community with the most customers not using their services.

Pine Island and Sanibel are expected to recover quickly, according to Valence.

"The issue was getting access to Sanibel and Pine Island because it was restricted for the longest time," Valence said. "Now that we've got access, I don't anticipate long duration from either one."

Hurricane Ian caused significant damage to electrical boxes and remote terminals throughout the area, which Valence described as " the last point of the network before it goes into the home."

The terminals deliver internet to an average of 100 to 150 customers each, and there are hundreds located throughout neighborhoods and major roads.

For remote terminals, it could take a day or two to replace and restore the electrical parts, but Valence said the real challenge delaying restoration is finding and assessing what repairs are needed to these boxes.

"You get levels of impact you have to assess. Are they gonna have to replace it or repairing it? And there's a lot of work behind that," Valence said.

He recommends residents and businesses go to one of the 10 public Wi-Fi locations for free internet if needed.

• Captiva Fire Department Station 181, Public Access from the main and overflow parking lots for 15001 Captiva Drive, Captiva (Lee County)

• CenturyLink branded building, 3445 Sanibel Captiva Rd., Sanibel (Lee County)

• CenturyLink branded building, 906 Country Club Blvd., Cape Coral (Lee County)

• CenturyLink branded building, 4001 Palm Tree Blvd, Cape Coral (Lee County)

• CenturyLink branded building, 10546 Tipton Dr., Bokeelia (Lee County)

• CenturyLink branded building, 4195 Kings Hwy, Port Charlotte (Charlotte County)

• CenturyLink branded building, 15361 Stringfellow Rd, Bokeelia (Lee County)

• Residential Home, CenturyLink facilities located adjacent to 30358 NW 41* Ave, Cape Coral (Lee County)

• Empty Residential Lot, CenturyLink facilities located adjacent to 603 Burnt Store Road, Cape Coral (Lee County)

• Residential Home, CenturyLink facilities located adjacent to 1928 NW 24th Ave, Cape Coral (Lee County)

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Comcast's efforts

Comcast spokeswoman said its services are almost fully restored, and the company is working on restoring the internet to the barrier islands.

"We are currently working on the locations where we are in the process of rebuilding our network, including Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island, and some of the other hardest hit barrier islands where the infrastructure of the community needs to be rebuilt," Mindy Kramer, vice president of public relations with Comcast, wrote in an email.

Fort Myers Beach is expected to be predominantly restored by Nov. 15, Pine Island by Nov. 23, and Sanibel by Dec.16.

Currently, Xfinity Wi-Fi vans are stationed at:

• Ft. Myers Beach: Walmart Supercenter at 17105 San Carlos Blvd., which is located close to entry onto both Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Causeway.

• Pine Island: Publix at 5100 Pine Island Rd., in Bokeelia

Customers without service should call 800-Xfinity, but they should expect a long wait time. Online forms at www.Xfinity.com/customer-requests can be filled out to let the provider know about downed lines or services.

Luis Zambrano is a Watchdog/Cape Coral reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. You can reach Luis at Lzambrano@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Lz2official.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Ian: CenturyLink, Comcast could get most SW FL internet up by holidays