Verizon Outage Disrupts Data Service for Hundreds Due to Cut Fiber Optic Cable

Experience Major Service Disruptions: Verizon Outage Impacts Cities Nationwide

Verizon Outage in Colorado: Fiber Cable Cut Causes Widespread Disruption

On Monday afternoon, October 6, Verizon users in Grand County, Colorado, began to encounter significant disruptions to their mobile and internet services. The connectivity loss, attributed to a cut fiber optic cable, persisted until Tuesday evening, leaving residents without essential communication tools for over a day. Emegypt reports that the affected service was eventually restored across numerous U.S. cities.

Widespread National Outage Follows Local Disruption

After the Grand County issue, Verizon was further impacted by a national outage early Thursday, October 9. According to Emegypt, customers in major cities, including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix, and Atlanta, reported service disruptions starting around midnight ET. Downdetector, a service disruption monitoring website, registered a spike in outage reports at 12:56 am ET, with complaints peaking at 1,244. By 3:14 am ET, services largely resumed, evidenced by a decrease in reports to just 22.

Impact of the Verizon Outage on Customers and Businesses

Verizon, one of America’s largest mobile and broadband providers, serves 146.1 million wireless retail connections and over 10 million broadband customers. Although the outage mostly occurred during early morning hours, thereby minimizing disruptions to businesses and emergency communications, it still posed significant inconvenience. Downdetector data reveals that 51% of the complaints pertained to mobile phone service, while 32% were related to 5G home internet issues.

Restoration and Consumer Demands for Transparency

By 4 am ET on Thursday, most Verizon services returned to normal, as reported by Downdetector. However, Verizon has yet to provide a comprehensive explanation regarding whether the national outage was linked to fiber cable damage. As reliance on mobile and broadband services continues to grow for work, education, and safety, affected users are calling for greater transparency from service providers, echoing similar demands made during past service outages.