Utilities

Well this seems pretty cool “Announcing Starry Expert support for everyone”

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to Mark for passing on:

“Since the beginning of COVID-19, we’ve been finding ways to give back and support our communities.

Now, we’re expanding free access to the best-in-class technical support of our Starry Experts. Not just to Starry subscribers, but to anyone in our five markets who needs it.

So feel free to share this email with any friends and family who might need some technical assistance in these tough times.

Starry Experts are our highly trained customer service team who are available 24/7 to help solve a broad range of technical issues, including: (more…)

Let’s Talk Internet Connectivity

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by Shannon

“Dear PoPville,

RCN is expanding into our neighborhood in DC and has offered us certain “courtesy services” for a utility easement to run power from our house to the street. Have any other readers dealt with a similar situation? We’d love to have internet/cable options other than Comcast but want to make sure we’re making a good long term decision.”

Side note: Earlier this morning Caroline wrote: “Xfinity internet outage near 14th and W… anyone else experiencing this?” Others noted Bloomingdale was affected too. How has everyone’s internet been running the last couple weeks? Notice any changes?

Life Must Goes On Volume 72 “Annual Spring Cleaning for Water Pipes Begins Monday March 30”!!

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by Peyton Sherwood

From DC Water:

“The District of Columbia, Arlington County and the northeastern Fairfax County will clean out their tap water network starting Monday–a safe, annual process.

Service continues uninterrupted during the process, which runs from March 30 through May 4. During that time, drinking water in the may taste slightly different. But the purification process remains unchanged and the water is essentially unchanged. (more…)

“I’m hoping to get some advice on a pretty awful issue I’m having with Washington Gas.”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

I’m hoping to get some advice on a pretty awful issue I’m having with Washington Gas. My service was disconnected yesterday [Thursday] – with no notice – due to an ongoing construction project next door and Washington Gas needing to run a new service line to their property. Again – I received no formal notice of this disconnection and only realized the service had been disconnected when I woke up in the morning and the temperature had dropped to 60 degrees (these have been some of the coldest days of the year so far mind you – below freezing outside). (more…)

“A little PSA – just had a phishing scam.”

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to Stephanie for passing on:

“A little PSA – just had a phishing scam. Someone “from Pepco” calling to reduce my bills by 30%, they just needed me to provide my Residential-R service number. Got off the phone and called Pepco to ask about it. Supposedly with that number they can hijack your account.”

“Can I hire my own contractor or even cut the wires myself?”

By Prince Of Petworth


from a previous discussion

“Dear PoPville,

I recently bought a house that had been rented for a while. There are eight phone and TV wires coming into the house, from two different poles. One of the poles also has two wires hanging down and neatly coiled at about waist level. The poles are in front of the house and the whole things just looks like a mess. Is there any way to get the wires cleaned up? Do I have to call Comcast and Verizon? Can I hire my own contractor or even cut the wires myself?”

Huge Water Main Break in Woodley Park/Cleveland Park over the weekend

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to all who reported on Saturday. Meyer wrote: “Around 9am this morning, driving up Woodley Rd and passing Reno, we came upon an incredible outpouring of dirty brown water. A water main had just broken, between Reno and 35th, and water was forcing its way up through a manhole and even the roadway itself, where the street had buckled in two places. DC fire arrived on the scene a few minutes later and WASA was en route.”

On Sunday morning Alert DC reported: “DC Water reports the emergency repairs have been completed and water has been restored to the affected customers outage in the 3200-3400 blocks of Woodley Road NW and the 3100-3200 blocks of 33rd Place NW.”

Thankfully it’s been fixed now but have to share this wild video of the break too: (more…)

Pepco Power Outage in Lanier Heights/Adams Morgan/Mount Pleasant Reported

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to all who messaged us. Fingers crossed for a 3pm restoration. You can view the pepco power outage map here.

Update from Alert DC:

“PEPCO reports the power outage has spread to the following neighbor hoods in addition to Lanier Heights: Mount Pleasant, Park View, Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, Cardoza, and Kalorama. There are approximately 2277 customers affected with an estimated restoration time of 2:00 PM.”

Update #2: “PEPCO has updated their reported outages to be only Mount Pleasant with 419 customers affected and Adams Morgan with 272 customers affected. There is an estimated restoration time of 5:00 PM.”

Update #3: “PEPCO has updated their reported outages to be only the Adams Morgan area with 272 customers affected. There is an estimated restoration time of 5:00 PM.”

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