TAHOMA, Calif. – Since January, residents in Tahoma have experiencing nigh-constant outages from their internet provider Optimum. And while residents have contacted the provider, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Better Business Bureau, El Dorado County representatives, and even utilities—there hasn’t been a clear answer. It’s another example of broadband challenges in the Basin that has yet to find a solution.

Paul Marcucci and his neighbors have been hit with what seems like the worst of it. Marcucci reported that he has had nearly daily outages with what appears to be no rhyme or reason. “Weather doesn’t seem to have anything with it, we don’t always have power outages at the same time that we have internet outages—nobody I’ve talked to has had a satisfactory answer.”

Marcucci says that outages can last from anywhere from 30 minutes to five hours. Since September, he compiled a list of every reported outage, some of which even occur multiple times a day. In September, October, and November, there was not a week without reported outages. He has contacted the FCC with little success—his current case has been open since February and has not led to any fixes being made.

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“You have to pay your bill and there is no other option… we can’t use Starlink because of the trees and AT&T doesn’t work well either. You’re just left with one provider that doesn’t really seem to care,” said Marcucci.

For Paul White, there’s a real struggle for him to complete his work. Outages tend to happen in the morning, which is when he most often has to do work. As someone who previously had a commercial account with Optimum and often spoke with Optimum workers in the field, he’s left wondering what the problem is. “I’ve never gotten an answer—I’m still unsure if it’s a line issue, a router issue—and I’ve never gotten any credit for the outages,” said White.

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White contacted the El Dorado County Public Utilities Department as well as the California Public Utilities Commission to seek out what was happening. And this isn’t his first time doing so. Back when he owned a lodge, his internet line was taken out due to the ice. It took Optimum three months to service and fix his line. White was told that they were waiting for a permit from Caltrans, but when he investigated, he said he couldn’t find any evidence that a permit had ever been filed.

Candice Wilmuth has had to take an alternate approach—driving up to Tahoe City to get consistent internet. As someone seeking a job, she said she feels anxious about her internet dropping in the middle of an interview, especially as she is looking for work in the tech industry. She’s been living on the West Shore for two years but felt that it hasn’t ever been this bad.

Wilmuth requested credit for the amount of times her internet dropped back in the spring, but was dissatisfied with Optimum’s customer service. “They insisted that I had to call or report to get the credit, which I think makes no sense—because they’re the ones that contacted me to say we were having an outage,” said Wilmuth. She contacted the Better Business Bureau for an investigation in May, which helped her get an inquiry into receiving credit.

For her troubles throughout March and April—daily, near-constant outages—Optimum offered her just $3.03 of credit. “I pay $120 a month for service. I mean, that’s not even trying. It was beyond insulting,” Wilmuth said.

And as someone who has worked for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, Wilmuth says this level of outages is unheard of for her. “There’s nothing wrong with my equipment, there’s inconsistency with the power outages. I couldn’t even tell you what was happening to cause these issues.”

Optimum’s spokesperson, director of communications Alexis Aziz told the Tribune that the vast majority of internet outages were due to power outages. Aziz also clarified that bill credits are issued upon request beginning from the date the outage was declared if the outage period is greater than 24 hours. The exact credit amount is determined based on the date of the customer call and whether the outage is in progress or closed.

The provider’s emailed statement read, “Optimum is committed to providing the best possible service for our customers, and we understand how frustrating it can be when your internet does not work as expected. Our service is dependent on commercial power, and the majority of recent outages have been due to a series of utility issues. We are always looking for ways to improve resiliency in our network and will continue to do so.”

Liberty Utilities was unable to verify whether or not power outages and internet outages happened at the same time.

These frustrations come hot on the heels of other lawsuits that AlticeUSA, Optimum’s parent company, have had. These have included a suit filed in May from the state of Connecticut, where Attorney General William Tong claimed that Optimum was a broadband monopoly in the area, along with a 2023 nationwide class action lawsuit regarding misleading rate structures, where Altice paid out $15 million to customers.

Residents on the West Shore still have little control over what they can do to get stable internet connections—while some are installing hotspots or Starlink, many are unable to utilize anything but Optimum.

“It just seems like they’re doing a great job taking the money, but not providing the services,” said White. “And honestly, I’m looking for some answers, so I at least know what’s going on. Just be honest with me and don’t blow me off.”