Stray bullet cuts internet for nearly 25,000 in North Texas

A stray bullet damaged a fiber optic cable in Dallas, disrupting internet for nearly 25,000 Spectrum customers in North Texas.

DALLAS — A stray bullet disrupted internet service for thousands of North Texas customers Friday, cutting off access across multiple cities.

Spectrum, the provider affected, did not release exact numbers, but outage-tracking website DownDetector reported nearly 25,000 users in North and Central Texas experienced service interruptions. By 4 p.m., most customers had regained connectivity.

Dallas bore the brunt of the outage, with significant disruptions also reported in Irving, Plano, Arlington, Austin, and San Antonio. According to a Spectrum spokesperson, a stray bullet struck a fiber optic cable in the Dallas area, triggering the widespread service disruption.

“Our teams acted quickly to repair the damage and restore service,” the company said in a statement. “We apologize for the inconvenience this caused our customers.”

Just last week at DFW Airport and Love Field, a telecommunications failure tied to cutting fiber optic cables knocked out both the primary and backup data pathways for the FAA’s radars, radio frequencies, and computer systems in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.