Computer screens went dark Monday at several houses in Lowndes County as a leading broadband supplier abruptly cut service off forever.

In Lowndes, Tap’s businesses were mostly in the region around Moody Air Force Base and Lake Park, including base casing.

The county authorities received no warning of the turnoff of Tap, said Lowndes County clerk, Paige Dukes. She said due to changes in national law years past, Tap wasn’t a county-given franchise and paid no franchise fees to Lowndes; therefore, Lowndes County does not have any regulatory authority over the business.

Lowndes County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter talking to state representatives to see if anything can be done and has been working through local contacts, Dukes said.

Court records reveal Tap Broadband is involved in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in Florida and is involved in discussions with an investor interested in buying the business.

The service cutoff also arrived as a surprise to Moody AFB staff, said Andrea Watford of Moody Family Housing.

Tap had supplied service to the Quiet Pines home complex of Moody.

“We notified residents door to door Friday as soon as we found out.”

Southern Fibernet, another broadband business, is working to bring Internet connectivity back to Quiet Pines, Watford said, but she’d no estimated time regarding when that work would be completed.

Until then, Quiet Pines residents use the Internet there, and can go to The Place, Moody’s recreation center, she said.

Over 100 posts from dissatisfied customers trailed the Facebook post of Tap Broadband Tuesday.

In a phone interview, she described a long list of issues with her Tap service, including speeds much slower than regular and publicized link dropouts.

“I finally paid for service from AT&T as well,” she said. “It is slower, but I was paying for both services.”

For her work, she needed the quicker broadband, but dependability issues with Tap meant she wanted the set up that was second with AT&T, Pritchett said.