Verizon customers throughout the United States experienced significant disruptions to their mobile and internet services early Friday morning, prompting widespread reports of outages. According to Downdetector, a service monitoring tool for outage reports, the number of affected users surged from 83 reports at 11:50 a.m. ET on Thursday to a staggering 7,531 by 12:20 a.m. on Friday, before decreasing to 3,169 within the following hour. By 3:30 a.m., the figure had dropped significantly to 314, still above the typical baseline of 29 for that time, indicating that a notable portion of users was affected during the incident.
The outages were reported across multiple major cities, including New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Detroit, and Minneapolis, impacting users in other metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Seattle. Out of those reporting issues by 2:45 a.m. ET, 52% indicated problems with their mobile devices, while 40% experienced signal loss, and 8% faced issues with their 5G home internet connection.
Previously, on October 9, some Verizon customers faced a similar issue when outages peaked at 1,244 reports shortly after midnight. A Verizon spokesperson had confirmed that the interruptions were swiftly resolved after being identified, specifically mentioning areas such as Charlotte, North Carolina.
Additionally, the company’s recent initiatives, such as an upgrade that provides customers with access to a Customer Champion and AI assistance for service updates, showcase Verizon’s commitment to improving customer experience amidst these challenges.
In January, Verizon also began addressing a $100 million class action lawsuit concerning undisclosed administrative charges previously levied against customers, indicating the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance transparency.
Public reaction to the outage conveyed frustration and humor, with one customer complaining about the inability to reach customer support due to the service being down and another expressing relief at not relying solely on Verizon for internet access. Such responses reflect the broader concerns about internet stability and its critical role in communication, especially in times of need.
As of early Friday morning, reports of outages have continued to decline, suggesting that Verizon is effectively working to restore services for affected customers. The company remains one of the largest mobile and broadband providers in the country, serving over 146 million wireless retail connections and 10.4 million broadband connections as of mid-2025. This latest disruption underscores the importance of reliable communication services in daily life and emphasizes the need for providers to maintain robust infrastructure capable of withstanding such challenges.