Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in Washington, New York City

Verizon mentioned on Wednesday that its wi-fi service was struggling an outage impacting mobile knowledge and voice companies.

The nation’s largest wi-fi provider mentioned that its “engineers are engaged and are working to determine and clear up the problem shortly.”

Verizon’s assertion got here after a swath of social media feedback directed at Verizon, with customers saying that their cellular units have been exhibiting no bars of service or “SOS,” indicating an absence of connection.

Verizon, which has greater than 146 million clients, seems to have began experiencing companies points round 12:00 p.m. ET, in line with feedback on social media web site X.

Customers additionally reported issues with Verizon competitor T-Cell. However the firm mentioned that it was not having any service points.

“T-Cell’s community is maintaining our clients related, and we’ve confirmed that our community is working optimally,” a spokesperson instructed NBC Information. “Nevertheless, as a result of Verizon’s reported outage, our clients could not have the ability to attain somebody with Verizon service right now.”

AT&T additionally mentioned it was not experiencing any technical points. “Our community is working usually right now,” mentioned a spokeswoman for the supplier.

In Washington, D.C., the District’s official emergency notification system despatched out a message to residents saying that the Verizon outage was “nationwide.”

“You probably have an emergency and cannot join utilizing your Verizon Wi-fi gadget, please join utilizing a tool from one other provider, a landline, or go to a police district or fireplace station to report the emergency,” the AlertDC system instructed recipients.

New York Metropolis’s Workplace of Emergency Administration additionally mentioned it was conscious of the outage with out mentioning Verizon by title. The town mentioned it was “working intently with our companions” to overview the outage and “assess any potential results on metropolis businesses & important companies.”