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Xfinity internet outage affects thousands in Albuquerque

Xfinity issued WiFi router offline.
Mia Casas
/
KUNM
Xfinity issued WiFi router offline.

Over 4,000 homes in Albuquerque’s University and Nob Hill areas have been without WiFi since Monday afternoon due to a widespread outage with Xfinity.

Moraiji McKain works remotely in Albuquerque and is also studying for her real estate license online. She is just one of many currently without internet in her home.

“It means I’m missing out on, sometimes, money. I did miss an important webinar yesterday that I was supposed to be on for credit towards my classes. It’s a very stressful situation,” McKain said.

Approximately 10% of Albuquerque is in a similar spot because Xfinity, one of the city’s largest providers, has been out since 4 p.m. Monday afternoon.

Since the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020, millions of people have moved from an office to working remotely. This gives folks who have issues like illness or trouble finding childcare a way to work without putting themselves at risk, but one key necessity in this hybrid work style is a strong WiFi connection.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened for McKain.

“I would say that at least once every three months I’m having problems. I did not have these problems with Century Link,” McKain said.

Century Link is the second largest internet provider in Albuquerque. McKain said these outages are only getting more frequent, and she’s considering switching providers.

In a statement, Xfinity said they are “aware of an outage caused by damage to one of our fiber lines by a third-party utility, impacting some customer services in Southeast Albuquerque. Our local technicians are on-site working to restore services as quickly as possible.”

In June, the City of Albuquerque fined Xfinity’s parent company, Comcast, $500 a day for leaving exposed internet cables in neighborhoods around the city for months, calling it a safety risk.

You can check if the outage is still active here.

Mia Casas graduated from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor of Arts in English with minors in Journalism and Theatre. She came to KUNM through an internship with the New Mexico Local News Fund and stayed on as a student reporter as of fall 2023. She is now in a full-time reporting position with the station, as well as heading the newsroom's social media.
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