“He was there for Christmas basically,” she told NI with a wry smile.

Damiano and his family have been struggling with internet outages for months. Now, he estimates they experience one or two outages a day, lasting about 10 to 15 minutes each. Even a 10-minute outage could have an impact, he said. His son attends school online, and the outages could disrupt his classes.

To fix the problem, technicians replaced modems, swapped wiring connectors and made other configuration changes. After months of trying to fix it, Damiano said he still doesn't know what's causing the problem or how to fix it.

“What is that? I have no idea,” she said.

Caitlin Hottle, MediaCom's director of government relations and public affairs, encourages customers to report any issues with their service so the company can track down customers who are consistently or chronically having trouble connecting.

“We do everything. Usually the first thing we do is clean the entire interior of the home. Then we clean the entire exterior of the home and we look at neighborhood issues as well,” Hottle said.

Still, Hottle noted that the causes of connectivity issues can be varied and sometimes complex.

“What if we've done everything we can, replaced all the exterior, replaced all the interior fixtures, replaced everything, and there's still some kind of issue? That gets complicated,” she added.

Santa Cruz County residents who spoke to NI last week described issues with various internet service providers: A Patagonia resident said a series of outages had left him struggling to complete an online college course; a business owner in Nogales said spotty connections had hampered his real estate services company; and a Rio Rico resident said he relies on the internet to work from home, adding that he found his CenturyLink connection slow earlier this year, causing him to lose income.

There are a number of projects currently underway that have the potential to increase general internet accessibility in the county: In 2022, the Arizona Department of Transportation began installing fiber optic infrastructure along Interstate 19, a project that is still ongoing, and Wilcox-based internet service provider Valley TeleCom Group has received a large grant and is working with the county to bring fiber optic infrastructure to Patagonia homes.

As these plans move forward, the county is still seeking more funding to help with internet connectivity, said Juan Balderas, head of Santa Cruz County IT, adding that some areas are especially vulnerable to service issues.

“Tubac, Kino Springs … parts of Rio Rico are really suffering,” Balderas said.

A few months ago, the internet connection at her Rio Rico home slowed down and started cutting out at times, Stephanie Sosa de Lizarraga told NI. This took a toll on Sosa de Lizarraga, who relies on reliable internet service to work remotely. It took about a month for a technician to come and make repairs, she said.

“My job has been significantly affected, as I have the option to cede my hours at work,” she said, “so unfortunately my income has gone down.”

Ms. Sosa de Lizarraga said slow internet speeds could cause other problems, too: Her daughter, who has autism, relies on an internet connection to use her tablet at home, she said.

“We were very fortunate to have hotspots available for our daughter while we got through this,” Sosa de Lizarraga said during a month of spotty internet.

Asked for comment last week about the internet connection problems, CenturyLink chief communications manager Kelly Zimmer acknowledged some recent issues in Rio Rico and Tubac, where Lizarraga lives.

“A few weeks ago, an equipment issue interrupted internet service to some customers in the Tubac and Rio Rico areas. Repairs have been made and internet has been fully restored,” Zimmer wrote.

In general, “we have a team that supports all areas that we service, and we will send out a technician depending on the service issue,” Zimmer added.

Sosa de Lizarraga looked into other internet options, but she said no companies other than CenturyLink and the satellite company Starlink serve her part of Rio Rico.

“I really lost hope that we would get something sooner,” Sosa de Lizarraga said.

Damiano, a MediaCom client, made a similar point.

“I think we have no choice in this area, so we just have to deal with it,” Damiano said.

And funding is available to bring high-speed internet to Arizona communities as some residents struggle with poor connectivity, said Balderas, the county IT director.

Balderas is encouraging residents to test their internet speeds at home over the next five weeks, which he said is aimed at uncovering areas that may be underserved and attracting broadband funding to Santa Cruz County.

“This is specifically last-mile funding, trying to get infrastructure to people's homes,” he said.

Last year, the state-led Arizona Commerce Authority received about $1 billion through the federal government's Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program.

So how will that money be distributed? If so, how much will it go to Santa Cruz County?

That has not been decided yet.

But in an effort to draw some of that funding to local communities, Santa Cruz County last month launched a broadband challenge process. The online survey asks residents to test their internet speed and latency. The test must be done on a laptop or desktop computer — it can't be done on a phone or iPad, Balderas said. And to complete the survey, residents must test their connection three times over a three-day period.

Balderas noted that some households “may be able to get adequate service at certain times.”

“And sometimes it's not,” Balderas added. “That's why we encourage people to run a speed test if they find their download speeds aren't fast enough.”

Balderas said that if the speed test reveals a poor connection, the survey automatically sends a dispute to the participant's internet service provider, informing the Arizona Commerce Department that the area may in fact be underserved and therefore eligible for financial assistance.

So far, maps maintained by the Arizona Commerce Department show various areas of Santa Cruz County as underserved or unserved, meaning they don't have access to high-speed internet. Those areas include all of Tumacacori and Tubac. Homes along Pendleton Drive and River Road are also marked as underserved or unserved, as are several areas in Patagonia.

But Balderas said there are likely many more underserved or unserved areas out there that just haven't been marked on the Arizona Commerce Department maps yet.

“Our goal is to make the map clear” by encouraging residents to test their internet quality, Balderas said, “so that (those areas) can be eligible for funding.”

“We want to attract some of this funding to Santa Cruz County,” 3rd District Supervisor Bruce Blacker said at a regular county meeting last month. “We really need to take on some of these internet service providers.”