Power is Back for Most, But Many Still Waiting For Internet

Most people in Linn County have the lights back on by now. We've had power at our home in Marion for nine days now. I'm appreciative of it every day. Especially when my air kicks on during this current heat wave. But after a week, my family and many others could sure use some internet access. Yes, we have cellular data on our phones for browsing, but without internet and Wifi, we can't stream TV and most importantly, my kids can't do the online portion of school which starts in a couple of weeks.

Like I said, I don't want to complain too loudly but if power crews can bring in outside help and restore power to nearly half a million people in just two weeks, why aren't our cable companies doing the same thing? KCRG reports that a Mediacom representative spoke during yesterday's Cedar Rapids storm recovery press conference. He stated that around 45,000 people lost their connection due to the derecho. Around 12,000 customers in Cedar Rapids are still without internet now. Customers may have damage to the line connecting service to their home. The storm caused significant damage to their lines, and it could take weeks to fix.

KCRG reports that if you do have a line down, Mediacom suggests you call them and make them aware of the situation. My complaint is that it has been very difficult to actually reach a real person. A recorded message about the storm plays when it determines you are from Eastern Iowa. I finally talked to a human yesterday and reported the outage in my area and requested crews visit our street soon. Here's hoping.

KCRG reports that rival ImOn says that it has restored service to around 75% of their customers, and repairs on their lines continue. I guess I'll have to continue to teach my kids about life in the dark ages. Life before the internet.