Verizon is DOWN: Outage leaves thousands of Americans without mobile or internet service

Telecom giant Verizon is experiencing an outage, leaving thousands of Americans unable to use their smartphones and the internet or call local police stations.

Customers reported problems around 8am ET, and the company has acknowledged that issues are rising. 

‘Outages are totally unpredictable and usually don’t depend on us,’ Verizon shared on its support X account.

‘We’re working hard to have the service back as soon as possible, but sometimes takes longer than expected.’

The Verizon outage occurs when many Americans wake up or commute to the office, leaving them without communication.

What caused the glitch is not yet known. 

DownDetector, a site that monitors online outages, shows that 57 percent of reported problems are with mobile phones, 25 percent with mobile internet, and 19 percent said no signal is available.

A live issue map shows the outage is plaguing the eastern coast of the US, hitting major cities like New York City, Washington DC, and Boston, Massachusetts.

While DownDetector shows problems started around 8am, users report being without internet service at 6am. 

A Verizon customer in Philadelphia shared on X at 8:20am:  ‘Verizon what’s going on with my WiFi it’s been down for almost 2 hours and when I try to get someone on the phone, it’s an hour wait to speak to someone.’

A Tennessee police station in Bartlett notified residents that the outage is impacting their ability to receive calls – but 911 calls are going through.

Cleveland Police has shared the same announcement about its non-emergency number.

Other police stations nationwide are sharing similar messages on X, formerly known as Twitter.