--- description: Macaques live in the temples of the holy city of Varanasi title: Monkeys Chew Cables, Ruin Wi-Fi Plan in Indian City image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1450d81ce697dc46/69878692524fc01dc8ded3b5/macaque-varanasi-monkey.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Monkeys Ruin Plan to Install Wi-Fi in Indian City by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 3, 2015 3:30 PM CUT  Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), Varanasi, India Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), Varanasi, IndiaGetty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 3, 2015 3:30 PM CUT An Indian city’s plan install street-level Wi-Fi has been foiled by monkeys that are[ chewing the new fiber-optic cables](http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/04/01/india-digital-idINKBN0MS5EP20150401 "undefined"). The holy city of Varanasi is home to a large community of macaque monkeys that live in Hindu temples where devotees feed them, Reuters reports. But apparently that food is not enough, as the monkeys managed to destroy newly installed cables in less than two months. The city was meant to be the first of 2,500 locales in the country to get street-level Wi-Fi, but the monkeys aren’t going anywhere and the city (population: 2 million) is too densely built to install the cables underground. \[[_Reuters_](http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/04/01/india-digital-idINKBN0MS5EP20150401 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3770509/monkeys-chew-wifi-cables/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3770509/monkeys-chew-wifi-cables/"},"headline":"Monkeys Ruin Plan to Install Wi-Fi in Indian City","datePublished":"2015-04-03T15:30:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:41:16.845Z","description":"Macaques live in the temples of the holy city of Varanasi","url":"https://time.com/3770509/monkeys-chew-wifi-cables/","keywords":["India","monkeys","WiFi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1450d81ce697dc46/69878692524fc01dc8ded3b5/macaque-varanasi-monkey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1450d81ce697dc46/69878692524fc01dc8ded3b5/macaque-varanasi-monkey.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"478155823","caption":"478155823","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3770509/monkeys-chew-wifi-cables/","name":"Monkeys Ruin Plan to Install Wi-Fi in Indian City"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life","description":"Conservationists and scientists have a saying, \"extinction is forever.\" But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to \"DE-extinction is forever.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7mURxfr4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-12T14:27:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3770509/monkeys-chew-wifi-cables/","duration":"PT4M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3770509/monkeys-chew-wifi-cables/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```