An attempted — and unsuccessful — copper theft in Van Nuys caused a widespread internet outage Sunday affecting swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, a Spectrum spokesman confirmed to The Times.

AT&T has said that its $23 billion acquisition of EchoStar's wireless assets can help the carrier speed up its copper phase-out. The carrier plans to retire its copper network by 2029 and is amid a ...

The big picture: Internet outages typically occur due to faulty equipment, accidents, or adverse weather conditions. Deliberate sabotage is rare, and incidents resulting from a mistaken search for ...