Verizon Wireless, along with several other major mobile carriers, says it is actively working to resolve “issues” after suffering network outages on Wednesday, impacting more than 180,000 users across the US.
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More than 180,000 Verizon users reported outages at peak (1:00 p.m. ET), with issues primarily affecting the East Coast including New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, and Charlotte.
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The outage impacted emergency services in New York City and Washington, DC, forcing officials to advise residents to use alternative carriers, landlines, or visit police/fire stations directly for emergencies.
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Verizon confirmed the roughly 10-hour disruption affected wireless voice, data, and text services for hundreds of thousands of customers, and promised to provide account credits to those affected.
Verizon, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Xfinity Mobile users all reported nationwide connectivity issues starting just before 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time, according to the internet monitoring site Downdetector.com.
At its peak, Verizon was down for more than 180,000 users by 1:00 p.m., with more than 45,000 users still reporting issues at 5:00 p.m., according to Downdetector, which also showed the cities most affected located on the East Coast, including New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, and Charlotte.
In its latest update posted on X, Verizon said its team was "on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue,” without specifically stating what that issue was.
“We know this is a huge inconvenience, and our top priority is to get you back online and connected as fast as possible. We appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this issue,” the communication giant said.
Earlier in the day, Verizon posted on X that “wireless voice and data services” were impacting some customers and that “engineers were engaged and working to identify and solve the issue quickly.”
Meanwhile, Downdetector graphs showed an additional 3,500+ users reporting outages with T-Mobile and AT&T cellular services during the day on Wednesday. Verizon's Fios home internet service also experienced a spike of users reports in the afternoon.
911 services impacted
The outages have disrupted 911 emergency services in New York City and Washington, DC, prompting officials in both cities to issue warnings for residents to use “another carrier, a landline, or go to a police/fire station to report emergencies."
Just before 6:00 p.m., the NYC Emergency Management Department posted an update on X from First Deputy Commissioner Christina Farrell. “NYC Emergency Management is coordinating with city and public safety partners to monitor impacts. Emergency services remain operational,” Farrell said.
The NYPD 19th Precinct also sent out an alert on X reminding residents, "If your phone can text or you can connect to WiFi... You can Text emergencies to 911."
US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr told Reuters the agency plans to review the issue "and take appropriate action."
Late Wednesday, Verizon Communications said it had restored mobile phone service following what it described as a roughly 10-hour outage that disrupted calls, text messages, and internet access for hundreds of thousands of customers. The company apologized for the disruption and said it would provide account credits to affected users.
With the outage lasting over six hours, as is par for the course, users took to X, voicing their frustrations. Some Verizon customers already asked for compensation for the downtime, while others just looked for a progress update.
Other social media users took issue with Verizon's choice of wording, with one user commenting "'some customers" lol it's the entire USA."
“Not sure if you're aware, @Verizon, but the entire East Coast is out currently and trying to minimize it to make us believe we are a select few is obviously not working (this is the only day you have literally trended on social),” another X user wrote.
However, many users denied an entire Verizon blackout, "That isn't true. My husband is sitting right next to me, his is out, mine is not. My son, in the same account, in NYS, I'm in FL, his is also out. My two grandsons, 5 miles from me, both are fine. We have Android and Apple users, and it's affecting both," an X poster said in response.
In September 2024, tens of thousands of Verizon customers were also subject to a nationwide outage that lasted most of the day, primarily concentrated in the Western half of the country.
The 2024 disruption, which also prompted the FCC to launch an investigation, was again described by Verizon as a "network issue," while the consumer watchdog agency blamed the outage on a likely software-related problem or a botched update.
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