So you'd think that for something as widely used as cable television and cable high-speed internet, there would be redundant connections between communities. I guess not. Yesterday afternoon a semi truck made a wrong turn in the Washoe Valley, and the article is a little unclear as to exactly what happened, but it sounds like the truck was too tall and it snagged some power lines that stretched above the road. It brought down two power poles and severed several wires. Some of the wires cut belonged to Charter Communications, and as a result cable TV and cable internet was lost in Carson City, Gardnerville, Minden, Fallon, Fernley and Lyon County. Service for all those areas, tens of thousands of homes, is carried on just that one set of wires. Seems like this was an accident waiting to happen.

It was about 4:30 last night when everything went out, and I noticed that the internet came back on around 9pm. TV was back before midnight.