Verizon service restored after fiber line vandalism caused widespread SoCal outage
Verizon customers should be receiving calls and texts again after a widespread outage impacted thousands of phone and internet customers on Sunday.
Verizon customers should be receiving calls and texts again after a widespread outage impacted thousands of phone and internet customers on Sunday.
Verizon customers should be receiving calls and texts again after a widespread outage impacted thousands of phone and internet customers on Sunday.
Verizon customers should be receiving calls and texts again after a widespread outage impacted thousands of phone and internet customers on Sunday.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Verizon customers should be receiving calls and texts again after a widespread outage impacted thousands of phone and internet customers for most of the day on Sunday.
The wireless carrier said vandals cut multiple fiber lines, causing a service interruption for some mobile phone and internet customers across Southern California.
Verizon has not yet specified exactly where the cables were cut or how many customers were affected, but says engineers and third-party vendors worked hard at the damaged sites to get the network back online.
Some Eyewitness News colleagues said their Verizon phones had no service, showing only the SOS emergency satellite service on Sunday.
"Acts of network theft and vandalism represent a direct threat to the safety and security of our communities. These are not simple property crimes; they are dangerous disruptions that cut off vital lifelines for our first responders and public safety officials who rely on constant connectivity," Verizon wrote in a statement.
Eyewitness News spoke with a line of desperate customers out the door at a Verizon location in North Hollywood before service was restored. Even after the store closed, frustrated customers kept showing up.
"I mean, not too happy, because they're charging us prices this month, every month, and it's costly. And they are saying they have no solution for why we don't have no network. I mean, it's been out all day. Can't reach nobody or anything. My phone's been dead all day," said Jovan Jordan. "I walked to the nearest store here, and they told us there's nothing they can do. They just closed the door in our face. They're charging us x amount of money each month, and then they do this. It's unprofessional, unacceptable."
"My wife depends on it. She needs it all the time. We have three children, and she couldn't call any of the three children," said Hal Newman.
"You can't even call Verizon to find out what's going on because your service is down," said Walter Brady.
Though Verizon eventually restored services, customers said they hope the efforts don't end there.
"It's all going to go back to normal tomorrow or something like that, and there's going to be no reimbursements or nothing. They're going to act like nothing happened," Brady said.
