With more and more power restored block by block, parcel by parcel, neighborhood by neighborhood, frustrated residents are confounded because they can’t get their cable TV or internet to work.
Wednesday night, two senior level executives with Cox Communications and AT&T address the Jefferson Parish at a nightly press briefing.
Cox Communications Manager of Governmental Affairs, Kristina Lagasse touched on what’s involved in restoring service to neighborhoods.
“The equipment hub or the power source that provides service to your neighborhood may have been damaged or lost power. Or it could also mean the power or the cable lines could be out between the equipment hub and your home.”
Lagasse doubled down, promising: “Cox crews will continue to work throughout the weekend to assure the vast majority of our customers across Greater New Orleans get connected to their services.”
Next up, Eric Johnson, The Regional Director of External Affairs for AT&T.
His update was a little more satisfying as he updated the public about their phone and internet service: "We've made tremendous progress since Ida made landfall,” he began. “Our wireless network is operating normally and will continue to improve as crews optimize the facilities.”
Yes, that’s great but when will the service get restored? I’ve got lots of streaming to watch…
“Of our wire-lined customers, where we know service was impacted, more than 82% have had their service restored. And our teams will work until all service is restored. While equipment that services our neighborhood can be powered and on line, we may not be aware of specific in-home service impairments until commercial power is restored.”
But then Johnson pulled out the all stops to when he described how far AT&T is going to ensure their cell phones have a connection:
“This includes First Net One, an aerostat blimp that functions as an LTE tower in the sky providing one-hundred square miles of additional coverage for first responders in the Southern part of the state.”
So once again, all eyes are on Entergy to get the juice back on at home so Cox and AT&T can get me the season premiere of Chicago P.D.