In two different areas of Tarrant County, AT&T customers reported being without reception for days or even weeks.

Since August 12, a black television screen has been Ronny Sims’ constant companion.

A U-Verse logo and a simple message informing him that the service is unavailable are the only images that have flashed since it was turned off when he saw the news around 5:00 a.m. that day.

“The TV just turned off and I thought, well, things turn off and on, but it never turned on again,” Sims said.

He soon realized that in addition to the cable, the Internet and the landline connection had also failed.

Sims said he called AT&T to inquire about a restore.

“They told me it was the 19th.^ththat would be the following Monday, a week,” he said. “I called her on the 19th.^th and I was told at the time that there had been some copper theft and that the service would be available again the next day.”

When this didn’t happen, he called again.

“I called them back on Wednesday and they told me it would be the next day. Every day it was the next day, the next day, the next day,” Sims said.

When NBC 5 reported the outage on Tuesday, a spokesperson said:

“Some customers in the Glendale area of ​​Fort Worth may be experiencing service interruptions due to repeated cases of copper theft in the area. Theft and vandalism of critical communications infrastructure are serious matters that impact important services to our customers, public safety and the community as a whole. We are actively working with local law enforcement as they investigate those responsible.”

A statement sent two hours earlier said: “Maintaining uninterrupted, high-quality service to customers is our highest priority.”

Shortly afterward, a crew from NBC 5 spotted AT&T linemen at work near Sims’ home. And by Tuesday evening, he said, reception was finally restored.

Thirty minutes away near Rendon, Jason Woolsey said he and several neighbors were still missing Tuesday night.

“It changes everything you do. No internet, no phones, no television. That’s a big deal,” he said.

AT&T confirmed that the outage was also due to the theft of a copper line.

“A lot of people here are working from home. They’re running their businesses. They’re all affected,” he said.

Woolsey, like Sims, said recovery estimates keep dropping. Four times, he said, he was told it would work again when it didn’t.

A spokesperson told NBC 5 that service was restored Tuesday evening, but Woolsey said a support line expected restoration to occur by 8 p.m. Thursday.

“I think that’s the big challenge here. Take us seriously. You know we’re at rock bottom. You’ve given us four wrong dates and we’re still not at the top,” he said.

Sims said he has been considering switching service providers in recent weeks, but Woolsey said AT&T is the only provider in his area that offers the service.

He said he has so far spent more on mobile data than he received from the credit for the unexpected outage.

Now he wants to know what AT&T will do to solve the problem.

“What will AT&T do? When will it be available again? What can we expect from a customer perspective?” he said.