Verizon restores its network after major outage

What you need to know

• Verizon customers experienced network problems throughout the day on September 30.
• The company says it fully restored its network that same evening.
• Reports suggested other networks were also experiencing outages, but AT&T confirmed it was due to customers trying to contact Verizon users.

Starting around 10 a.m. ET, Verizon subscribers began reporting outages via Downdetector . Affected users are unable to send texts or make or receive phone calls, along with seeing their devices showing "Emergency Calls Only." However, after a long day of network problems, Verizon says it has fully restored service to users and that things should be back to normal.

Earlier in the day on September 30, users took to social media to see if others were experiencing the same problems. According to Downdetector, the majority of the outage seemed to affect those on the East Coast, including Washington D.C. and New York. However, the " heatmap " also showed issues in other regions of the country, extending out to the West Coast.

Although customers began reporting these problems at around 10 a.m., Verizon finally acknowledged the "issue" almost two hours later, stating that its engineers are "working quickly to identify and solve the issue."

Hours later, Verizon provided an update, stating that it is making progress on restoring its network and that it would "continue to work around the clock to fully resolve this issue."

Finally, just after 7 p.m. ET, Verizon confirmed that it had fully restored its network and that users should no longer experience issues, apologizing for the inconvenience it caused. However, it suggests that those who are still having problems should restart their devices.

The carrier did not confirm on its account what caused the network outage, which came at an inopportune time while many were dealing with the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene .

Additionally, while there were reports of similar problems with AT&T and T-Mobile customers, the former shared that it was "not experiencing a nationwide outage" and that its national network was operating normally.

"Down Detector is likely reflecting challenges our customers are having attempting to connect to users on another network," which is clearly referencing Verizon's outage.