Comcast Mounts Repair Effort In Houston Post-Ike
Power Outages Leave 500,000 Subs Without Cable Service
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 9/16/2008 11:35:00 AM
Comcast has started its mop-up after Hurricane Ike in Houston and Galveston, Texas, where some 500,000, or 67%, of its 750,000 subscribers don’t have cable service in the wake of storm damage and massive local power outages, officials said Tuesday.
“The storm has affected our entire service area,” said Ray Purser, Comcast’s vice president of public relations in Houston. “It’s not just related to Galveston. The wind damage and the flooding in the other areas that we service was also pretty significant.”
It’s far too early for a dollar assessment of the damage, but the situation at the Houston plant is different than that in Galveston. In Houston, there was damage of aerial cables, and drops to homes, from the wind and debris, according to Purser. But Galveston, where the storm surge was as high as 15 feet, felt the full brunt of Ike.
“In Galveston, we do have some damage there from the storm surge,” Purser said. “It’s sort of a completely different animal [from Houston]…Obviously in those areas we’ve got complete devastation and the network’s going to have to be rebuilt there.”
But there is some good news, according to Purser. Comcast’s 2,700 employees in the Houston cluster are alive and accounted for, although impacted by the deadly hurricane this past weekend.
“We do have employees that have had significant damage, everything from their entire home being destroyed to flooding to major roof damage and structural damage to their homes,” Purser said.
“We are contending with that and working with our employees, especially our displaced employees, to find them temporary housing, taking care of their needs,” he said “Really that’s our family and we want to make sure that they’re taken care of.”
Comcast was able to quickly get its primary network in Houston back online. The system’s headquarters is located about 15 miles northwest of downtown Houston, which took a direct hit from Ike.
“We are still on generated power at this office, as well as our call center,” Purser said. “We do not have power, but the damage to our office here was minor. We didn’t really suffer any major structural damage in any of our hub sites. By Saturday evening, we were able to restore our primary network.”
According to Purser, “There was some damage there, but we had many employees come in and volunteer to see what they could do to help. And we dispatched crews out to begin surveying the damage and doing that they could to try to get the primary network up.”
Comcast is undertaking repair work in areas where the cable operator has clearance from the power company to return to neighborhoods.
“Most people do not have our service because they still do not have power,” Purser said. “There are still about 1.6 million homes that do not have power.”
The cable system had 400 technicians from other systems, as well as independent contractors, arrive yesterday to do repairs, with another 100 arriving today.
“That’s what we’re doing yesterday and today,” Purser said. “As the power’s restored, we’re going in, we’re making the repairs. And it’s in the individual neighborhoods.”
Yesterday, 75% of Comcast’s subscribers in the greater Houston area didn’t have cable service. On Tuesday, that number was reduced to 67%, according to Purser.
“So we banged out quite a bit on our first day,” he said. “And we’re going to see that number continue to decline as we just aggressively get out there and make the repairs. I’m pretty proud of what we’ve done in the first 24 hours. Our employees are working dawn to dusk.”
-
I have a 3 man cable crew from Pennsylvania that is is need of work. We have experience in every aspect of the cable business. Staying in houston presently and are ready to work. Anyone with any helpfull info would be appreciated. Thanx
Scott Sweeney - 10/8/2008 12:53:00 PM EDT -
We still have no internet or cable, and we've had power back for almost a week. When I called to report it, they asked if I sure we didn't have power. Um, yes, I'm sure. Cable is something I can live without, but I do a lot of work from home and need internet. I'm tired of having to shuffle from place to place just to get work done.
B - 9/30/2008 11:19:00 AM EDT -
its easy for people to make comments on something they know nothing about. if you don't want the service unsubscribe already. stupid fat civilians complain about everything they can possible complain about without taking any action, its why the whole infrastructure fell apart in the first place. comcast's customer service is pretty terrible, but the grass is always greener on the other side of the buffet table, ain't it? get a life bloggers
juan washington - 9/24/2008 12:46:00 AM EDT -
also very disappointed. no comcast service whatsoever after being told time and time again that someone would show up. my family is going to change to another provider as soon as possible. most likely at&t.
ray - 9/22/2008 2:40:00 AM EDT -
THANKS TO COMCAST AND THEIR EXTREMELY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE , I CANCELED INTERNET AND PHONE SERVICE , AND WENT WITH ATT. NOW AND DURING IKE I NEVER LOST PHONE AND INTERNET . IT SHOWS WHO IS SUPERIOR NOW.DESPITE THE ADS COMCAST PROMOTES . THEIR COMPANY IS A JOKE
RICHARD JORDAN - 9/21/2008 12:57:00 AM EDT
No related content found.
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
