Mediacom goes down in three states after separate fiber cuts

Thousands of Mediacom customers in Georgia, Illinois and Missouri were left without internet and TV service this week amid two separate incidents in which fiber-optic cables were cut. 

Mediacom spokeswoman Phyllis Peters told the Associated Press that a road crew using a mower accidentally severed a cable in Fitzgerald, Georgia, on Thursday morning. 

Half an hour later, she said, a construction crew in Carrollton, Missouri, accidentally cut another cable. 

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Peters conceded to AP that it is “very unusual” for a cable operator to experience two such accidents in a single day. 

She said the Missouri incident caused internet service problems for 140,000 customers in Missouri and Illinois. The Georgia cut interrupted video service for 36,000 local customers and internet service for up to 15,000 users.