Time Warner Outage: Internet Problems Impact Los Angeles, San Diego, Other Southern California Cities

A large Time Warner outage is impacting internet users throughout California.

Thousands of subscribers have taken to twitter to express their frustration. Many are indicating that the problem is affecting Los Angeles, San Diego, and the Inland Empire. As of 7:30 p.m., no related terms have made the site's list of trending topics for Los Angeles, though the outage appears to have started around 6 p.m.

NBCLA contacted a Time Warner Cable customer service representative who said the service interruption is affecting "almost everyone from California."

There is no indication that this problem is impacting television service.

UPDATE [8:00 p.m. PT] - More confirmation but no sign of relief from the LA Times:

In an online chat session with The Times, a company support analyst said shortly after 7 p.m. that the outage had lasted about two hours. He said the outages were reported from Northern California to San Diego.

A few people claiming to live in Los Angeles and in Central California have sent tweets saying that they have Time Warner and are able to get online, but they're clearly in the minority.

The Associated Press is reporting that the outage is in Southern California, but that the cause remains unknown. They note that "Time Warner Cable is the second-largest cable operator in the United States with more than 14 million subscribers who have one or more of its video, high-speed data and voice services."

UPDATE [9:30 p.m. PT] - According to KTLA and the LA Times, service has been restored for most -- but not all -- customers. Many are still complaining on Twitter.

Comments

[sillyswin]

02:39 AM on 12/10/2010

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[Miketou]

12:49 PM on 12/05/2010

Time Warner sucks worse than Linda Lovelace! From cable television to phone service--nothing but problems. Customer service is extremely poor. I'm in the process of switching to Direct TV!

[boblauer]

01:35 PM on 12/04/2010

When I lived in Beaumont, CA the Time Warner internet would go out when it rained.
Don't forget to ask them for a credit.

[RCoA]

03:46 AM on 12/31/2010

That's a very good tip. I think I shall do that.

[studioh!]

07:17 PM on 12/03/2010

when I called to inquire as to why internet and mail were not working, a recording said they were aware of the problem and to try later. later it was on. when you can't connect, there is no good way to find out why you can't!
at least it kept me off this site for an evening...

[RodgzK]

03:54 PM on 12/03/2010

If you have access to Verizon FIOS you might want to consider a change. I've had this service for almost two years (San Bernardino County) and and during that time it has gone down once for about two hours.

[Lost Angeles]

07:11 PM on 12/03/2010

Fios is pretty pricey though, no?

[RodgzK]

03:13 PM on 12/04/2010

Yes, it is but I think the service is worth the price. FIOS tech support is also excellent.

[Upside]

07:42 PM on 12/03/2010

I've been waiting years for FIOS to become available. Tell 'em to hurry up.

[sillyswin]

02:26 PM on 12/03/2010

I live in Carmel Valley, north San Diego by the coast, and our internet, cell phones, and internet on the iphones did not work from 7 p.m. Thursday night until 8:45 a.m. Friday morning. This is the 4th time in 2 months that this has happened. Time Warner disconnected their phones last night because millions of angry customers were calling them again!

[studioh!]

07:21 PM on 12/03/2010

that's when a smartphone helps-you can get internet service and email, and don't need TWs non-existent customer service.

[CindyinEncinitas]

12:11 PM on 12/03/2010

I'm in Encinitas, which is northern coastal San Diego county, and it was out here for several hours, until about 9:30, I think.

[truegrift]

11:40 AM on 12/03/2010

Im in San Diego, and this is the longest it has ever been out for ... going on 15 hrs now (5pm thursday dec. 2 to 8am friday dec. 3)

[propitiousmoment]

11:35 AM on 12/03/2010

How in the world is this even news? Their service goes out regularly, often for hours at a time. A couple of weeks ago, it was out for 36 hours. I hate them, and if it wasn't that my roommate owns the account and makes the internet provider decisions for this apt, I would definitely use some other option. Why do these cable companies (and health insurers) get a break from the anti-trust laws anyway? Never mind, I know the answer - it's because they buy Washington. This is sickening.

[RhiannonRings]

11:21 AM on 12/03/2010

I wish we had more choices in my city, we don't even have Verizon FIOS as an option....

[CTDFalconer]

10:28 AM on 12/03/2010

It must be pretty bad when it makes the news. Over the past few years, their internet service has had numerous outages, and I have called not so much to report the outage but to request a credit on my bill. I encourage everyone affected to do this. The more credit they have to give, the stronger their incentive to give better service. They know we don't have many options for high speed internet so we have to do what we can to hold their feet to the fire when they overchage us for substandard service.

[Callyson]

04:27 PM on 12/03/2010

If you *got* the credit, good for you. I've had several outages and only managed to get credit a couple of times because they always come up with an excuse (apparently, you have to call in right when the service goes out, call again every day it is out, they won't pay up if it is out less than 24 hours...yadda yadda yadda.)
Time Warner Cable sucks.

[CTDFalconer]

05:34 PM on 12/03/2010

Got that right. I've gotten credit a few times. It wasn't ever more than a buck or two, and I always had to argue with them for it.

[Tumunzahar]

04:07 AM on 12/03/2010

It went down from around 6 to 8, then up again. But it was out again from about 10PM to 1230 AM, at least here in Palm Springs.

[Luke Hornblower]

02:13 AM on 12/03/2010

If you are fed up with Time Warner Cable internet outages, use OpenDNS to change your DNS settings. Print this article out, and then print directions on how to change DNS settings from OpenDNS website. I got online immediately when I did this.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/12/lose-your-time.html

[whomod]

03:19 AM on 12/03/2010

Thanks!

Great resource there. I saved the OpenDNS instruction page in case I'm ever actually home when service goes out. I'll make the switch as frustration warrants.

[RhiannonRings]

11:09 AM on 12/03/2010

Thank you, I'm going to look into this today, unless the internet is down again. I am so sick of TW and their outages. I'm in S. Pasadena and we are always having problems, at least in my building.

[simplemee]

01:03 AM on 12/03/2010

In SD, the outage started somewhere about 5 and when I tried to contact TWC, the line was off the hook.

[jazzofcourse08]

12:54 AM on 12/03/2010

Yeah, I know. I called TWC and they disconnected my call twice.