In the early hours of Tuesday morning, millions of Verizon Fios customers along the East Coast of the United States found themselves without internet service. The outage, which affected a vast area spanning approximately 300 miles from Philadelphia to Richmond, left users frustrated and seeking answers.
Reports of service disruptions began flooding in shortly after midnight, with complaints peaking between midnight and 2 am EST. According to DownDetector, a website that monitors real-time service issues, the vast majority of reports (90%) were related to internet services, while 9% described a "total blackout," and 1% affected TV streaming.
Verizon, the largest mobile service provider in the country, acknowledged the issue on social media. Responding to a user complaint on X (formerly Twitter), the company stated, "There is either an outage or network maintenance impacting your area. We don't have full details just yet." They apologized for the inconvenience and promised to provide updates as soon as possible.
While the East Coast bore the brunt of the outage, an area of southern Kansas also appeared to be affected, based on user-reported problem maps. Additionally, other major internet service providers such as AT&T, Cox, and Xfinity experienced a spike in reported outages during the same period.
One user in Maryland shared an update from Verizon indicating that repairs had begun at 10:50 pm EST on Monday, with service expected to be restored by 10:58 am EST on Tuesday. However, as of the time of writing, Verizon had not yet released an official statement addressing the widespread issue.
This latest incident adds to a series of outages experienced by Verizon in recent months, including similar disruptions in September and October. As millions of customers await the restoration of their internet service, questions arise about the reliability of the nation's digital infrastructure and the need for improved communication during such large-scale outages.
Verizon Fios, a fiber-optic internet, TV, and phone service, is a critical component of daily life for many Americans. As the situation develops, customers and industry observers alike will be watching closely to see how quickly and effectively Verizon addresses this significant disruption to its services.