CTTO/NBC 5
South Dallas, TX – AT&T customers in South Dallas are experiencing frequent phone and internet service disruptions, with the company attributing the outages to thieves stealing copper wire.
One of the affected neighborhoods is Green Hill Road in South Oak Cliff, where residents report ongoing frustrations with service blackouts. Reginald Terry, a local resident, described the outages as a constant headache over the past few months.
“It would just go out,” Terry said. “We didn’t understand why it was going out. It would just go out.”
Terry told NBC 5 that his AT&T internet has been offline for days at a time since the spring, and his neighbors are facing the same issue. He mentioned that AT&T’s customer service often blamed the outages on storms, even during periods of calm weather.
Terry discovered the real cause when he spoke with an AT&T technician working on his street. “He said I’m going to tell you the truth, they’re stealing the copper off the wires, off the lines,” Terry recounted. “He said we can’t catch who’s doing it.”
An AT&T spokesperson confirmed the situation, stating, “We’re working as quickly as possible to restore home phone and internet service to affected customers in South Dallas following a recent copper cable theft. Theft and vandalism of critical communications infrastructure are serious matters that disrupt essential services for our customers, public safety, and the community at large, and we’re actively working with local law enforcement as they investigate to find those responsible.”
Terry expressed his frustration over the recurring outages, which have disrupted his household’s daily activities. “It controls my alarm system, it controls, Wi-Fi controls everything in the house basically,” Terry said. “So when it goes down, you can’t watch TV, the alarm system doesn’t work, you can’t use the computer.” His son has even had to stop working from home due to the unreliable internet service.
Residents like Terry are adapting to the outages as best they can, sometimes listening to Texas Rangers games on the radio while waiting for service to be restored. However, they urge AT&T and local police to do more to address the thefts. “We’re paying for a service that we’re not receiving, basically,” Terry said. “I know they can’t control thieves stealing their copper, but they’re the provider, and we want them to come up with a solution to this.”
NBC 5 reached out to the Dallas police for a response to neighbors’ concerns about insufficient action against copper wire thefts. The department acknowledged awareness of metal theft cases, including copper, and assured that all cases are investigated thoroughly. They encouraged residents and businesses to report any suspicious activity and crimes to law enforcement.