Eagle Mountain Business, School Disrupted By Widespread Internet Outage
Dec 2, 2020, 8:56 PM
EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah – Reliable internet access has been vital during the pandemic as schools and employees count on their connections to get their work done, but an outage in Eagle Mountain put a spotlight on their only high-speed fiber provider.
Service was restored but the outage still lasted for 12 hours, leaving many people questioning why there were no other high-speed options.
The Eagle Mountain administration office told KSL-TV Direct Communications is the sole provider, because other companies have not invested in the area.
Officials with Direct Communications said a physical crash of a primary fiber routing switch caused the outage.
“I haven’t been able to do any work at all,” said resident Heidi Grimes said. “Very frustrated – especially because they are like a monopoly around here.”
The city said Comcast and Century Link have proposed serving the Eagle Mountain area but never followed through.
Grimes said it was time for the city to push harder for more options.
“We need a recourse on what we can do next time,” she said.
City leaders said there are broadband and satellite options available, but Direct Communications is the only high-speed fiber option.