Verizon Fios, the company’s fiber optic network, appears to be experiencing outages in many locations on the US East Coast.
User reports of problems with Verizon on Downdetector peaked at more than 22,000, and there are still hotspots on Downdetector’s outage map for Verizon in Boston, New York City, Washington, DC, and more. A few Verge staffers are experiencing outages as well, though one is seeing their service return occasionally.
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Verizon’s support account on Twitter has replied to some individuals reporting problems, saying that it has been “informed of a potential outage in the area.” The account also said there has been a fiber cut in Brooklyn, and later on Tuesday, the company shared that the cut was impacting a “small number of local Fios customers” and that technicians were working to fix things.
We are aware of a fiber cut in Brooklyn, N.Y. impacting a small number of local Fios customers there. We have technicians on the scene and are working to quickly restore service.
^JAY— Verizon Support (@VerizonSupport) January 26, 2021
People have also reported issues with Google, Zoom, Gmail, and more on Downdetector, but the reports appear to be coming from the same places that are experiencing problems with Fios. Google and Zoom’s status pages aren’t showing any outages, so it’s possible problems with those services on the East Coast are tied to the Fios outage.
We’ve asked Verizon to comment, and the company says it’s looking into it now. Acting Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel also said that the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is looking into the situation.
We have seen reports of internet-related outages on the East Coast, making it difficult for people to work remotely and go to school online. The @FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is working to get to the bottom of what is going on.
— Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcel) January 26, 2021
Update January 26th, 3:27PM ET: Added new information from Verizon’s support account and a tweet from interim FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
