Verizon Network Outage: What You Need To Know

On a Thursday afternoon, Verizon users faced significant disruptions across the network, igniting frustrations among millions of customers. Reports surged on Down Detector, indicating that the issues began early in the day and peaked between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET. Major cities like New York City and Philadelphia were hit hardest, with additional reports of outages from Los Angeles and Kansas.

As of 1:45 p.m. ET, Verizon acknowledged "limited" service in New York City, estimating a restoration time around 3:55 p.m. The affected services included text messaging, mobile internet, and 5G home internet.

The outage followed a previous incident just a week earlier, during which some customers experienced nearly a full day without service. A spokesperson for Verizon commented, saying, "Some Verizon customers in a few states in the Midwest experienced a brief service interruption today. Engineers were able to identify and resolve the issue, and service was restored by 3:30 PM ET."

During the service interruption, many customers resorted to using their phones in "SOS" mode, allowing only emergency calls. Thankfully, service was restored after several hours of downtime that evening.

A shorter outage affecting landline customers was reported on the following Monday but was resolved within a few hours. As the chaos unfolded on Thursday, over 1,400 reports were made at the peak of the outage, with customers again limited to SOS mode. It’s important to note that Spectrum Mobile also faced issues, as it operates on Verizon's network.

While outages of this magnitude are relatively rare, AT&T experienced a similar situation in February, where disruption lasted around 11 hours. Verizon recommends that customers facing service issues should first troubleshoot by restarting their devices. If the network is down in their area, they’re advised to use WiFi for messaging and calls when possible.

Interestingly, Verizon does not offer any credit or refunds for periods of service disruption. Their website emphasizes their commitment to connectivity, stating, "As America's most awarded network, keeping you connected is our highest priority. Network disruptions are unexpected, and we’re always committed to restoring service as quickly as possible."

The timing of this disruption coincided with efforts to assist those affected by Hurricane Milton, where reports indicated over a million people were without service. Florida's Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis took to X, formerly Twitter, expressing concern over the company's preparedness, stating, "This is Hurricane Michael all over again. 1M people are without cell service after Hurricane Milton. Unacceptable. We need that network up and running ASAP for our first responders. Can you hear me now?"

In response to the hurricane, Verizon had encouraged users to set up satellite calling and messaging in anticipation of the storm's impact on Florida.