NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Nine days after 10 On Your Side’s initial report on chronic internet outages in the Villa Heights section of Norfolk near the zoo, neighbors continue to be plagued by unreliable service despite the efforts of repair crews.
“I can’t blow my top because there’s nothing I can do. I don’t have any options,” said April Jones, a Cox customer who looked into service with other providers and discovered they weren’t available.
We first reported on the ongoing troubles for Jones and her neighbors March 10. The very next day, Cox sent out several trucks to troubleshoot.
“It was very exciting to see them react, and I know they only reacted because of WAVY 10,” Jones said.
The way to the web had improved, but not for long.
“That following Monday [all of] my services went out. Not just internet, the TV and the phone,” Jones said.
Her phone and television service are back, and the internet outages are shorter. They had been lasting several hours at a time. But they keep happening in the neighborhood about three times a day.
“It just went back downhill,” said James Terra, Jones’s next door neighbor. “We saw outages every single day [since the repairs last week].”
A Cox spokeswoman responded Friday afternoon:
“We know how important a reliable internet connection is, especially during these times, and we’ve been working closely with Ms. Jones to determine the cause of her connectivity issues,” the spokeswoman said.
She continued: “We’ve already deployed a number of techniques to address the matter but it appears this is a unique situation which requires further efforts. We’ll continue to work with her until we identify a resolution to ensure the excellent experience we strive for with all of our customers.”
Meanwhile, a bad connection puts Jones behind as a defense contracts administrator and her daughter behind as a student at Coleman Place elementary.
“I have to catch up on my work and then I also have to get her caught up on school.”
“You would have thought that there would have been some sort of improvement by now,” Terra said.
Both Terra and Jones pay for the highest speed available from Cox, Gigablast. Jones bundles her internet with TV and a landline phone.
“$300 a month, that’s a big bill,” Jones said.
