Verizon customers hit by another 4G LTE outage
Verizon users across various states are reporting another outage of 4G LTE services, though 3G users may also be affected.
Verizon's 4G services continue to suffer growing pains with yet another outage being reported by users in several different states.
A few customers in Michigan, Arizona, and Virginia so far have posted messages about outages via the Verizon discussion forums, while Engadget has received reports of data coverage being down in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
A fresh tweet from the company highlighted this latest issue.
"VZW is investigating customer issues in connecting to the 4GLTE data network. 3G data, voice and text services are operating reliably."
A Verizon spokesperson also confirmed the outage but said he had no further details beyond what was conveyed in the tweet.
Though Verizon is claiming that 3G data is unaffected, some of the commenters to the tweet are saying otherwise. Engadget also said that it's heard from 3G customers reporting their service has been down.
This incident is just the latest in a string of data outages experienced in recent months by the company that claims to have the more reliable wireless network.
Verizon suffered three outages alone in December all with a similar pattern.
The company reports that its 4G data services are down but that 3G is okay, yet many 3G users say they can't get onto the network either. Verizon then fixes the glitch later in the day or by the following morning.
Roger Entner, founder of the market research firm Recon Analytics, told CNET in December that some growing pains are to be expected as Verizon adds more customers to its LTE network. Entner believes that since most of the outages have occurred in the middle of the night, they're being triggered by updates and patches to the network that affect multiple parts of the country.
However, today's outage seemed to have started in the morning. And the 4G growing pains don't necessarily explain the 3G outages or why Verizon insists that 3G coverage is fine when customers claim otherwise.
Verizon still holds a strong reputation for reliability among most customers. But a constant string of recurring outages is likely to cause people to question that reputation.
"It's a small set back," Entner said about the past outages. "As long as these outages don't become a trend, Verizon will be all right. But if this continues another year or two, that could be a completely different story."
Updated 8:15 a.m. PT with background on previous outages.
Updated 11 a.m. PT with a Twitter post and separate e-mail from Verizon saying that 4G LTE service has been restored.