Big Xfinity Blackout on the Island was an Inconvenience to Many, but the Suspected Cause, Vandalism, Isn’t so Funny

Where were you when the lights went out? When I was kid growing up in Upstate New York, there was a huge power outage one night in the late fall of 1966 that effected the entire Eastern Seaboard. The lights were out from New York City to Washington, D.C.  It was such a unique episode that it spawned books, lengthy magazine articles, and even a movie, starring Doris Day.

It was maybe the first time in our lifetimes that the modern-day, industrial-powered utility grid went kaput for no apparent reason. The next day – after having to miss grammar school basketball practice mind you – the lights came back on, and life as we knew it returned to normal. Thanks to more advanced technology, better data, newer substations and equipment, and 24-hour security systems, we have fewer power outages on Bainbridge Island and Kitsap County than we did as recently as 10 or 15 years ago.

But the world as we once knew it, or imagined it, is changing and changing quickly. On Christmas Day 2023, in a county in Western Washington, a couple of potential robbers sabotaged four substations of a local utility, leaving 14,000 in the dark. Around the country, there are other examples of extremists attacking utilities for attention or disruption.

This past weekend, this sort of behavior hit home – literally. Bainbridge Island, and some other communities in the Puget Sound were apparently victims of vandals who interrupted service for Xfinity and Comcast customers for more than 24 hours. Our WiFi and cable TV connections from Xfinity went out at approximately 7:45 p.m. on Friday evening and didn’t come back on again until around 9:45 p.m. Saturday evening.

Other friends and neighbors experienced the same service disruption, along with many businesses on the island. A text from Xfinity on Friday – just after the outage took place – said service would return by 11 p.m. It didn’t happen. On Saturday morning, they said it would be back on by 11:45 a.m. Nope. Then it was pushed to 5 p.m. Another missed deadline. 7 p.m., still no service. And, finally, it returned.

Living in era in which using cell phones, reading email, browsing the Internet, watching Cable TV and streaming services, are part of our daily routines, and deemed by many of us as an “essential” part of our lives, being without these wonderful tools, can be, well, a bit maddening. Right? The rain all day on Saturday didn’t help anyone’s attitude, and the promise of service coming back on every two hours or so, was equally frustrating.

We were able to text friends but couldn’t do much of the obligatory checking of email, or browsing news feeds, and the like. We read, took a walk in Downtown Winslow – and noticed that businesses appeared to be operating in spite of no Comcast, if that was their service of choice.  We played a couple of games of Cribbage, and then decided, what the heck, let’s chance it and go to Plate and Pint HOME | theplateandpint in the Village Shopping Center and have dinner.

The place was packed, but we were seated quickly and had a nice meal while watching the Seahawks final pre-season game. They beat the Browns 37-33. While we were eating and taking in the game, we chatted it up with some other patrons who were suffering the same fate as us: No WiFi, No Cable. No Internet. No Xfinity. We all sort of laughed and realized that we are probably all too dependent on our devices – maybe for our own good -and were suffering from an egregious First World problem. How awful!

But as laughable as it seemed in the moment, we found out later Xfinity’s service disruption and unexpected interruption might have been caused by vandalism to key coaxial cable lines somewhere in their system. We searched the Internet – after it came back up, of course – but could not find a more definitive explanation. Meanwhile, during the day on Saturday, a “possible cyberattack” led to an internet outage and web system issues at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the Port of Seattle reported. The Port operates the airport.

In an afternoon update, on Saturday, the Port confirmed the possibility of a cyberattack and said it had “isolated critical systems.” The Port did not have a timeline for restoration. “We are working closely with appropriate authorities and partners to help travelers who may be impacted,” the post said, via reports in The Seattle Times.

As of last evening (August 25), the cyberattack was still impacting some services at the airport, according to KIRO 7 News, but only four flights were cancelled on Sunday due to the disruptions. Whether we like it or not, vandalism and cyberattacks are becoming the new normal and that’s too bad.

Top Photo Courtesy of Fox 13 News. Bottom photo courtesy of The Seattle Times.

If you’d like to read more articles from The Island Wanderer Blog website, click here, to subscribe to The Island Wanderer Blog, click here.

ADVERTISE WITH US! We offer exceptional rates and packages for advertisers, to learn more, contact us at Contact Us | THE ISLAND WANDERER