Verizon outage experiences sought by the FCC

Verizon’s January 14 outage disrupted mobile services for thousands of customers, preventing calls and data usage for over 10 hours. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is investigating this incident and has invited public comments to assess the outage’s impact on users, particularly regarding emergency services.

The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau seeks detailed accounts from individuals and businesses about their experiences during the Verizon outage. This includes whether customers could send or receive messages, how long service disruptions lasted, and if they were able to contact those on other networks.

Of particular concern is the ability to call 911 during the Verizon outage. While emergency calls should theoretically connect through any operational mobile tower, reports suggest that many users faced difficulties reaching emergency services. Official advisories indicated that some 911 calls might not go through while Verizon’s network was down.

Mashable reported instances where social media users claimed they could not connect with emergency services during this period. The FCC aims to gather information from anyone unable to reach 911 due to the outage, especially if it resulted in harm or injury.

The commission also seeks feedback from first responders and government officials regarding how the Verizon outage affected public safety operations. Comments can be submitted online via the FCC’s electronic comment filing system or by emailing a description of personal experiences related to the Verizon service disruption at [email protected]. Submissions will be accepted until March 16.

This incident marks one of the most significant outages in recent years, comparable only to AT&T’s February 2024 failure which lasted over 12 hours, affecting approximately 25,000 emergency calls. In Australia last September, a similar situation occurred when Optus experienced a major outage that prevented over 600 emergency calls from connecting within a span of 13 hours; tragically resulting in confirmed fatalities due to missed connections for help.