Nationwide Verizon Outages Disrupt Services in Major Cities on October 17

NEW YORK, NY — Verizon customers experienced significant service disruptions early Friday morning, October 17, 2025, affecting both mobile and internet connectivity across major U.S. cities. The outage peaked at around 12:30 a.m. ET, with reports of issues flooding in from New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and beyond.

According to the tracking website Downdetector, reports surged from 83 outages reported at 11:50 a.m. ET on Thursday to over 7,500 by 12:20 a.m. ET on Friday. Although numbers dropped to about 3,169 at 1:35 a.m., the total remained above normal levels, which typically hover around 29 during that time.

Many users across various platforms took to social media to voice their frustration. One disgruntled customer from Jackson, Michigan, noted, “Tried to contact support, but they won’t engage unless I verify my number via text, which I can’t receive.” Another user from Kalamazoo expressed similar dismay, stating, “My home internet went down around 12:15 a.m. I don’t know what’s going on, but this is ridiculous.”

In addition to mobile network failures, customers reported problems with Verizon’s Fios, 5G, and LTE home internet services. A representative from Verizon confirmed that “data, voice, text, and wireless home internet” services were experiencing limitations.

As of Friday morning, 52 percent of users reported mobile phone issues, while 40 percent experienced signal loss. Verizon has advised customers to check their areas for service disruptions by entering their address on the company’s website. They can also contact customer service at 800-922-0204 for technical support.

This incident is not the first of its kind; a previous outage occurred on October 9, where 1,244 disruptions were reported at its peak. Verizon’s spokesperson stated that technicians were deployed swiftly to resolve such issues in the past.

While no official cause has been confirmed for Friday’s outage, such interruptions can be attributed to various factors including technical malfunctions or network maintenance. The majority of the disruptions coincided with overnight hours, potentially limiting their impact on business operations.

As users await full restoration of services, they have expressed concern over the reliability of modern communications. One user quipped, “I should have stuck with two tin cans and some string,” reflecting the humorous side of the frustrating situation.