Some Cape residents may not get internet for months
Some internet customers in Cape Coral may not get back online for months.
That was the post-Hurricane Ian news Wednesday from Martin Valance, vice president of operations at Luman Technologies near Orlando, who said Century Link sustained a lot of damage from the storm and that the timeline to get everyone back doesn’t look good.
“The last customer is at risk of this restoration going into the first quarter of 2023,” Valance said. “It’s a tremendous amount of damage. I’ve never seen such damage to that extent.”
Valence said they have put up a Wi-Fi access point at 4001 Palm Tree Blvd. and that they are working to get this quality-of-life issue resolved.
Jen Boyett, of External Affairs for Comcast, said about 95 percent of customers are back online despite the heavy damage, especially on the coastline.
“We have crews going from street to street and house to house working to get those customers back online,” Boyett said. “We don’t like to give timelines on when everyone is back, but things are looking not as terrible as they were last week.”
Boyett said they know the customers who are not online. All she can do is ask them to be patient.
“We know they’re frustrated, but we are getting there as quick as we can,” Boyett said. “Our teams are working around the clock.”
Mayor John Gunter was not happy, saying that if a customer knew that he/she would have to wait until possibly March for Wi-Fi, that person would probably look elsewhere for business.
“That was a little surprising. A lot of people depend on internet for working at home and it’s something that some residents can’t do without,” Gunter said. “If I was in that position and told I wouldn’t have internet until the first quarter, I’d start looking somewhere else.”
Meanwhile, there were some kudos for city employees.
Nearly 1,300 of them worked day and night during and after Hurricane Ian — some displaced from their homes — to bring the city back more quickly than similar efforts after Irma in 2017.
Cape Coral City Council and the city manager praised the work of all city staff at all levels.
As for the overall performance of the city throughout the hurricane, City Manager Rob Hernandez and Gunter said the city, especially Fire Chief Ryan Lamb (who led the team throughout the emergency) and utilities director Michael Ilczyszyn, deserved commendation.
Gunter said despite this being a more severe storm, the city was more prepared, especially with debris pickup.
“It took more than a month before we started to pick up debris (after Irma.) We didn’t have a contract that was structured well and contractors were leaving to earn more money from cities around the state,” Gunter said. “This time we made sure we structured the contract better with our provider and it was much better than the last.”
With the time lost by the hurricane, the city had to add a couple meetings to the schedule. A special meeting will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 3 p.m. in conference room 220A, while a workshop is set for Thursday, Oct. 27. at 9 a.m. in council chambers.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com