How This Outage Tracker Works

This page explains exactly how the live outage tracker works — what data we use, how often it refreshes, and how we keep the numbers honest.

Data sources

We aggregate three feeds: public outage report aggregators (2-day and 30-day windows), direct user submissions on this site, and Spectrum's own public status endpoints. Everything is cross-referenced and deduplicated by ZIP + timestamp.

Refresh cadence

The homepage snapshot refreshes every 30 seconds via server-sent events. The 24-hour timeline recomputes on every update using fixed 0–23 local hour buckets. Nothing is cached longer than 30 seconds.

Geography

Every report is tied to a ZIP code. State pages roll up all ZIPs in the state; city pages roll up ZIPs Spectrum services in that metro. All time calculations use the viewer's local timezone so numbers match what you'd expect for 'today' where you are.

What we DON'T do

We don't fabricate reports, use static data, or estimate volume. If the map is quiet, nothing is happening. We don't track individual users — reports are anonymous and IPs are hashed with a rotating salt.

Frequently asked questions

Are the numbers real?

Yes. Every count comes from an actual report, either submitted here or aggregated from public sources. Nothing is generated.

Why are your numbers sometimes different from Downdetector?

We focus on Spectrum-specific reports and dedupe more aggressively. Downdetector folds in tangentially related complaints, which inflates their totals.