Verizon Users Report Service Outage Affecting Thousands

Verizon Communications Inc. is suffering a widespread service outage, with thousands of users reporting lack of cell service on Wednesday afternoon.

Verizon, the largest US wireless provider, said it was aware of the issue and trying to resolve the problem.

“Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly,” Verizon spokesperson Rich Young said in a statement. “We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience,”

The internet outage site Downdetector reported 176,865 complaints from users in places from Florida to New Jersey as of 1:04 p.m. in New York.

AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. were also experiencing a much smaller number of network issues, according to Downdetector. When one large carrier has issues, other carriers can sometimes see a drop in service as a residual affect — for example, when inter-carrier calls cannot be completed.