Northeast Houston neighborhood without internet for weeks, service providers blame copper thieves

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Copper thieves have been targeting Houston internet lines, and it's not only impacting your internet at home, but hospitals and first responders as well.

Northwest Houston resident Jesus Yanez has had a long couple of weeks without internet.

"We work from home so we need it," Yanez said.

Doing his best with a finicky hotspot, his biggest source of frustration is with his internet provider, AT&T, who he feels hasn't communicated enough.

"No nothing. No letter, no communication," Yanez said.

In a statement from AT&T, they said vandals damaged their equipment in pursuit of copper, leaving some residents to wonder why.

"It's weird cause why would you want to take wires," Eden Lopez said. She too has been without internet for weeks.

According to internet providers, law enforcement, and Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, they're after one thing.

"They're looking for copper. They're looking for any other kind of precious metal they can sell," Teare said.

Teare said just recently someone was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the crime. The internet is now considered an essential service, and the disruption of that service is taken seriously.

"Hospitals are dealing with these outages. We have law enforcement agencies dealing with these outages. These kinds of critical infrastructure destruction are affecting people's safety," Teare said.

According to Harris County ordinance, when someone does bring copper to a recycling facility, they have to give their name, address, and fingerprint. Copper can be held for further investigation by law enforcement if the facility feels something is off.

Back in northeast Houston, residents are ready for their internet back after the two-week outage.

"I feel like they could have sent an email or even a text or something," Lopez said.

ABC13 asked why the outage lasted for so long. A spokesperson said the equipment that supports their copper network is harder to source, so it is difficult to repair or replace the parts when the cables are stolen. AT&T said they are working to upgrade more customers to fiber and wireless to use less copper in their system.

Comcast recently had vandals cut some of its lines, saying well most likely looking for copper. However, Comcast does not have copper in their lines.

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