Internet Outage in Astatula Sparks Public Safety Worries

ASTATULA, Fla. – Mayor Zane Teeters of Astatula revealed that the town grappled with significant challenges in addressing essential services due to a four-day internet outage, which persisted until Friday evening.

During an exclusive conversation with News 6, Mayor Teeters detailed the disruption that began on Tuesday and continued through Friday evening, leaving the town offline and hampering critical operations.

Astatula relies on internet services from Fiber Now, which utilizes underground conduit lines for connectivity. This recent outage significantly disrupted operations at the Astatula Town Hall.

The internet blackout affected various services housed within the Town Hall, including the Mayor’s Office, the Town Clerk, and the local police department.

Within the building is the Mayor’s Office, the Town Clerk and the city’s police department.

During the four days the internet was down, there were concerns that included how the Astatula Police Department would conduct background checks ahead of conducting traffic stops.

Having no internet to run background checks, the police were forced to approach vehicles, though they knew not what to expect when approaching, putting the lives of the officers at risk.

The mayor says that due to the phones at Town Hall also being down, some residents in the town with a population of 1,800 would call the mayor on his personal cell in an effort to get their problem or problems resolved.

The mayor says that at times, “Using my own personal hot spot to do some limited work I can do on my laptop to get action” was his best solution, but even that process was said to be “spotty.”

The mayor says he made repeated attempts to call Fiber Now to restore the internet service.

At one point, he said he waited for an hour on the phone to speak to a representative, and at that point was still not given a solution.

Friday, News 6 reached out to Fiber Now to learn whether a solution was in place, and if so, when.

Fiber Now responded to News 6, saying that as of Friday evening, the internet service had been fully restored.

They provided a statement that also reads in part, “The interruption was caused by construction activity performed by another telecommunications provider in the area.”

Fiber Now adds they worked with that provider “to complete the necessary repairs and restore service.”

The mayor, however, says, “It is up and working, but is temporary until the repairs are made permanent.”

The mayor tells News 6 that moving forward, there are plans to find other internet options because the time lost is much too costly a price when it comes to saving a life.