UPDATED: Verizon, AT&T Outages Causing Problems
Verizon provides service to 911 dispatch in Prince William County.
Update: July 1, 2:25 p.m.:
Verizon is dealing with "a number of technical and mechanical challenges, in addition to storm damage such as downed poles and trees on our wires," said Harry Mitchell, a Verizon spokesman.
One of the biggest challenges has been a power failure at one of the Verizon facilities in Arlington, which has made it more difficult for some callers to dial 911 in Prince William and Fairfax Counties.
"These counties' 911 centers now are receiving most calls, and we continue to work diligently to restore full calling to them, as well as 911 centers in Manassas and Manassas Park," Mitchell said. "We’re working late hours – often around the clock – and bringing in additional technicians from other parts of our service area to assist in bringing service back as quickly as we possibly can. We appreciate customers’ continued patience as we work to restore services in the wake of one of the worst storms in recent memory."
Update: Sunday, 1:30 p.m.:
AT&T spokeswoman Kate MacKinnon:
AT&T technicians across the region are mobilized and working quickly to resolve the issue. Forecasted high temperatures and additional thunderstorms may impact recovery efforts, including commercial power restoration. AT&T's Global Network Operations Center will continue to closely monitor and help coordinate the local recovery efforts.
Specific numbers on the number of customers affected or the exact nature and extent of the problems were not available.
Update: Sunday, 8 a.m.:
Verizon spokesperson Harry Mitchell said the company is "making progress" in restoring service to the area, but still has some hurdles to overcome.
"We still face a number of challenges, with many related to the loss of commercial power—an issue faced by more than a million residences and businesses throughout the area. Fairfax and Prince William counties' 911 centers are receiving some calls, and we continue to work diligently to restore full calling to them," Mitchell said. "We appreciate customers’ continued patience as we work to restore services in the wake of one of the worst storms in recent memory."
Mitchell could not provide exact numbers on service failures in the area.
"Some customers’ service is restored as other customers report theirs out," he said. "For example, many of our FiOS customers are affected by the widespread power outages, and their service likely will come back after power is restored."
Stay tuned for updates on Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
Original story:
Widespread outages in the Verizon and AT&T networks are causing problems not only for mobile and home customers, but also for electric companies in Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative officials said they haven't been able to reach all their line technicians and operations personnel to ask them to report to work. NOVEC is asking all its line technicians to report to work, even if they didn't receive a phone call, NOVEC spokesman Mike Curtis said.
AT&T spokeswoman Kate MacKinnon issued this statement Saturday afternoon:
“Due to damaging storms that have knocked out power across the Midwest and Northeast regions of the country, some AT&T customers in impacted areas in Virginia and Washington D.C. may be experiencing issues with wireless service.
AT&T technicians across the affected areas are mobilized and currently working to resolve the issues, including the deployment of generators and repairing storm-damaged facilities.
We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers and will continue to closely monitor and help coordinate the recovery efforts through our Global Network Operations Center."
From Verizon spokesman Harry J. Mitchell:
"The severe storms that hit the Washington metropolitan area Friday night – and the resulting power outages that have affected much of the region – have also affected services for some Verizon customers. Our operations teams currently are assessing the impact and are working to restore service as quickly as possible."
Kimberly Maidens
1:32 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
just a peek into how this world and all the people in it are getting too far into technology!! House phones never had this problem! maybe you should step back and learn from this and require all employees to have a main line to contact! Not a cordless a real phone! Remember those?!?
Leslie Perales Loges
1:40 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
Satellite phones would work too, but are expensive.
Beth
2:04 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
Our land line is not working. And two of our phones aren't cordless.
Nita W.
4:24 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
I have a landline Kimberly provided by Verizon. I haven't had service from this "house phone" (landline) since late morning (Saturday). You're right we never had this problem with house phones until something (pole, tree, etc) fell on the line. When attempting to use the cell (Sprint) phone, I'm told all circuits are busy. I have MY two cans, I just need a piece of string!
Nancy Peters
9:26 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
Our Verizon landline is down, too. It's not just cell service. No cell, no mobile....but the Internet is working! Yay!
Jamie M. Rogers
9:33 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
@ Nancy. Being without Internet access is like, much worse than being without phone, socially speaking. Glad your net is working! You are able to talk with us on Patch!
Jamie M. Rogers
1:47 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
I definitely think more people (including myself) should have land lines and mobile phones.
Duane Snodgrass
2:49 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
The land line phones aren't working either. This is a very strange storm.
Dianne Brower Lane
2:26 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
We have our copper land line despite Verizon's continual encouragement to ditch it (having a copper line makes you ineligible for just about all of their bundles; the bundles require you switch to FiOS phone service). It has been available throughout this event, and I do not need to worry about the battery dying.
Erin Gibson
5:57 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
Verizon users in Manassas report mobile service now working on and off after it was out completely this morning.
Jamie M. Rogers
8:16 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
I need to email AT&T and get an update. I'll ask Lauren to reach out to Verizon
Lauren Jost
8:43 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
I have no update from Verizon. Many Verizon users are reporting that their service is completely back, however.
Duane Snodgrass
10:39 pm on Saturday, June 30, 2012
I have internet and TV service, but no phone service. The cell phone (Verizon) appears to be back (Verizon) completely (voice/text/data), though If I try to call my home phone I will get a "This is Verizon Wireless. We cannot connect your call" message.
Anonymous Dude
2:18 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012
Some satellite phones are no longer expensive, other than the per-minute rate. But in an emergency, who cares?
Jamie M. Rogers
1:23 pm on Sunday, July 1, 2012
Good point! Hey whatever happened to those Nextel phones that used radio service? Its customers were able to "Squak" to each other and it would make this ping sound or something. Someone told me those were the only phones that worked back in 2004 when all those storms moved through Florida.
Erin Gibson
9:42 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012
FiOS is not working as of this morning...guess I can't throw my kids in front of the TV all day. Oh well! Off to the pool for a good time!! At least I have AC...count your blessings!
Sondra Harnes
11:51 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012
We have two land line numbers and "old fashioned" phones. Nothing working.
Our Sprint phones aren't working either - except for sending/receiving texts.
Jamie M. Rogers
1:21 pm on Sunday, July 1, 2012
Wow Sondra! Sprint is down, too? Has it been down since the storm or did it start today?
Justine Albright
2:01 am on Monday, July 2, 2012
I have no sprint or t mobile service in northern Minnesota either been down 5 days. I have a sprint over drive for internet for my home business and its not working either. Wild blue is always slow internet so cant load pics and thats now in and out of service too really getting old. Any news when up and running be great
Joel Maricel
7:01 am on Monday, July 2, 2012
here in annandale verizon cell seemed to be working saturday afternoon and most of sunday. a new outage seems to have started late sunday afternoon. still no cell service this morning. sprint seems to have the same problem.
Olivia
2:04 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Sprint is touch and go in Manassas, VA...more go then touchy! :-/
Arielle Masters
8:10 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
near Herndon; Verizon land line (!!!) went out sometime during the storm; came back Sunday midday; back out Monday morning & still out. Tried at their box; no dial tone there. Pretty sure they need to replace the battery at our neighborhood connection. Stinks, and Verizon doesn't care.
Arielle Masters
8:12 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
...power came back Sat. afternoon; Internet came back Sun. afternoon. Those are still fine, aside from a brief power blip Sun. evening.
pam martin
9:31 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
I am in the 703-583-xxxx exchange and I can't reach any number in the 703-792-xxxx exchange, when I call Verizon they act as if they have no idea as to what is wrong.
Am I the only one in the city with this problem? A recording says" can't complete your call now, please call again later.
Sandra
11:44 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Friday night we lost our power, cable, DSL, and landline (yes, we have a phone with a line & jack, but Verizon service was down). Cell batteries died as well. Saturday am we plugged in and charged our phones at the library. However, Verizon service was spotty. Still no service from the landline (dial tone, but call any number and you just got a beeping noise). I spent an entire afternoon notifying Verizon - they have no one way to report 3 separate problems (internet, landline, and wireless) so you have to spend 45 minutes on hold with each version of tech support. Each reported that service would be restored in 24-48 hours. Of course, every time that deadline got reached, another call would assure us that service would be restored in 24-48 hours. It got really tedious waiting for 45 minutes each time, only to be told that our trouble ticket had gotten closed out, even if our service wasn't restored. Nobody at Verizon seemed to care that we had no way of communicating with the outside world because we had Verizon service for everything, and none of it was working. And for those of us who work from home, well, you're just SOL. We got our power back after 24 hours (kudos to NOVEC), but it took 5 days to get our landline and internet services back. I no longer feel confident in relying on Verizon for all of my communication needs!
Ron
2:32 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
Love you all take care of your health learn to protect yourself at cidpusa.org
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