Tree trimming in Ocala causes Cox internet outage

Cox Communications customers in Florida were left without internet or phone services after a tree-trimming accident late Wednesday morning in Ocala, said Cam Johnson, Cox’s public affairs manager.

“An unfortunate accident,” Johnson said. “We are not sure if someone hit the line or if a tree fell; we don’t have the exact report on it.”

All services were restored at about 3:30 p.m, he said.

Cox provides services for Florida customers in North Central Florida and the Gulf Coast area. The outage affected all Florida customers, he said.

Some local businesses in Gainesville had to find ways to work without internet or phone services.

Signs placed on registers in Lucky’s Market notified customers the store was only able to accept credit card and cash payments. No debit or food assistance payment programs could be used.

Burger restaurant Relish attempted to work around the outage.

“It really wasn’t that bad,” said Carina Martinez, a 22-year-old Relish crew member and UF alumna. “We can process orders offline; it just took a lot longer to process the credit card numbers, but we were still able to do it.”

Some students and faculty were forced to use UF’s on-campus Wi-Fi to meet deadlines.

“It was a pain in the butt,” said Stephen Craig, a UF political science professor. “I had work to do that required access to the internet, and I couldn’t do it.”