Houston-area Xfinity, Comcast service restored following outage due to vandalized telecommunication lines

HOUSTON - Xifinity and Comcast customers in the Houston area are back online after a reported vandalism to the company's communication lines.

Houston Xfinity, Comcast outage

What we know:

The outage impacts Xfinity and Comcast Business customers in the Houston area. It was reported at about 10 a.m. on Friday and remained active as of 3 p.m.

According to Comcast's 1:30 p.m. update, the outage is widespread, but many residents and businesses are reportedly getting their services back.

The company also says the outage is due to "several, back-to-back acts of suspected vandalism" to their communication lines. Comcast says they are working with law enforcement to investigate.

What we don't know:

There is no information regarding the suspected vandalism or when service will officially be restored.

Latest Comcast update

What they're saying:

Comcast reported the following update at 5:30 p.m.

"All Xfinity and Comcast Business customers who experienced service interruptions earlier today are now back online. We want to thank our field technicians who worked quickly to repair the fiber lines that were cut by suspected vandals.Telecommunication line vandalism affects everyone, and we’ve worked collaboratively with law enforcement partners, the media and other internet service providers to help stop it. We ask the public to also join us in this effort; if you see something, say something by alerting law enforcement.We sincerely thank our customers and community for their patience and understanding."

Comcast reported the following update at 1:30 p.m.:

"Our technicians continue to work quickly to restore services to Xfinity and Comcast Business customers following a widespread outage. Almost all of our residential and business customers are back online. Our team is working to restore services for the remaining customers who are impacted.

We have determined the major cause of this widespread outage was several, back-to-back acts of suspected vandalism to our telecommunication lines. We are working closely with law enforcement as they investigate these incidents. 

Telecommunication line vandalism has been a crime that we’ve worked with law enforcement agencies and the media to bring about public awareness.

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our customers. We want to thank our technicians for quickly jumping into action to perform the precise work it takes to restore fiber lines."