Thousands of Verizon customers nationwide experienced widespread service disruptions early Friday, October 17, 2025, as mobile and internet connectivity went down across major metropolitan areas.
The outage, which began shortly after midnight, affected users in cities including New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Detroit, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Seattle.
According to outage tracking platform Downdetector, reports of service failures surged from fewer than 100 at 11:50 p.m. Thursday to over 7,500 by 12:20 a.m. Friday. By 3:30 a.m., the number had dropped to 314, signaling gradual restoration, though issues persisted in several regions.
The majority of users reported problems with mobile service, with 52% citing issues making calls or sending texts, 40% losing signal entirely, and 8% experiencing outages in their 5G home internet connections. Some customers noted that even after rebooting devices and routers, service remained unavailable.
Verizon has not yet released an official statement on the cause of the outage. However, the company previously attributed a similar incident on October 9 to a localized network issue in the Charlotte, North Carolina area that was quickly resolved.
Customers affected by the outage are advised to check Verizon’s official network status page for real-time updates. The company’s support channels, including its mobile app and automated chat services, remain accessible for troubleshooting.
This incident underscores the growing reliance on wireless infrastructure for both personal and professional communication. While the outage occurred during off-peak hours, it highlights the potential for significant disruption when major carriers face network failures.
Verizon, which reported 146.1 million wireless and 10.4 million broadband connections as of June 2025, continues to be one of the largest telecommunications providers in the United States. As demand for seamless connectivity grows, maintaining network reliability remains a critical challenge.
Further updates are expected as engineers assess the root cause and work to prevent future disruptions.
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