dslreports logo
 story category
Verizon Suffers Yet Another Nationwide LTE Outage
Company Says Voice, SMS and 3G Data All Work Normally

Numerous users have written in to note that Verizon is having yet another nationwide LTE outage. "I've been unable to get a 4G connection from Saint Paul through Minneapolis (MN) since I turned on my device this morning," writes in user ArkhmAsylm See Profile, something mirrored by other users in other cities.

While no explanation has been provided, Verizon's Twitter account says they're looking into the matter, and that 3G data, voice and text services should all be working normally. Some users e-mail us to note that this isn't to case, and that they're also having connectivity problems with Verizon 3G (EVDO) service.

Verizon hasn't had particularly good luck on this front, suffering at least four outages last year as they rushed to deploy LTE service. Several of the outages were due to software glitches in Verizon's IMS core, something that usually only takes only a few hours to remedy.
view:
topics flat nest 

ArkhmAsylm
Evrythng I need isn't really what I want
Premium Member
join:2006-02-22
Saint Paul, MN

1 edit

ArkhmAsylm

Premium Member

Verizon Wireless 4G Outage - Feb 22, 2012

Looks like this may very well have been one of those short-term software glitches you mentioned, as my 4G just came back online.

Regarding the 3G service while 4G was out, it took about 10 minutes (or so) for my Razr to revert to 3G each time I rebooted my phone.

- Ark

thegeek
Premium Member
join:2008-02-21
right here

1 recommendation

thegeek

Premium Member

Re: Verizon Wireless 4G Outage - Feb 22, 2012

you should be able to change it to 3G only in the system settings.

ArkhmAsylm
Evrythng I need isn't really what I want
Premium Member
join:2006-02-22
Saint Paul, MN

ArkhmAsylm

Premium Member

Re: Verizon Wireless 4G Outage - Feb 22, 2012

Acknowledged.

The signal indicator would show 3G with bars in white, but no data connection could be made. Assumed manually switching would be futile.
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103 to ArkhmAsylm

Member

to ArkhmAsylm
Need to get off the Wind0z OS for running this kind of stuff.
OpenBSD, HPUX, Solaris, even Linux would be much more rugged.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: Verizon Wireless 4G Outage - Feb 22, 2012

Who the hell is this? Another *n*x troll?

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

Heh...

Remember kiddos, never buy "Version 1.0" of anything.

LTE needs to mature before any customer should buy into it. Of course, even if it was a mature technology, the low caps make it practically useless to anyone who cares about saving money.
crk2h
join:2003-03-19
Murfreesboro, TN

1 recommendation

crk2h

Member

Re: Heh...

Caps? Thats why I have an unlimited plan on 4g with Verizon...

Duramax08
To The Moon
Premium Member
join:2008-08-03
San Antonio, TX

Duramax08

Premium Member

Re: Heh...

til they start throttling...

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: Heh...

I believe the already do?

»Verizon Wireless Throttling System Now Live [36] comments

gdm
MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL

gdm

MVM

Re: Heh...

I haven't once seen my LTE connection throttle but the most I've used is about 6 gigs when I'm traveling. Typically I'm between 1-2 and no issues. I"m on unlimited data for my phone and mobile hotspot.
crk2h
join:2003-03-19
Murfreesboro, TN

crk2h

Member

Re: Heh...

From what I understand they only throttle on 3g connections and not 4g? I have never had a problem with being throttled on mine but I am typically not using over 3 gigs of data in a month.

gdm
MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL

gdm

MVM

Re: Heh...

I believe your right about the 3G customers only. I also believe it's pretty high cap to start throttling or it was the top 1-2% of users that got throttled. It's not like TMobile throttling policy that's at set size.

bob dobalina
@comcast.net

bob dobalina to pnh102

Anon

to pnh102
Or perhaps it is the non-standard setup Verizon had to use to bridge CDMA to LTE, as LTE was designed as the upgrade for UMTS systems. Albiet AT&T's LTE network is smaller, it has yet to have a single outage. I have read several articles that seem to point to it being more to do with CDMA and the handoff.
flashcore
join:2007-01-23
united state

flashcore

Member

3G and Voice down, 4G up

Its funny, here in Baltimore MD the 4G service has been fine, 3G and Voice have been up and down but mostly down. All the idiots on the phone can tell me is that the 4G is the problem with no explanation as to why its been rock solid all morning.

Verizon really needs to get their act together on these major issues with there service, there is no excuse for there continued expansion of 4G if they cant make the dam thing work reliably.
jmas
join:2011-12-09
Hamilton, MI

jmas

Member

3G was out all morning here in west MI

3g was affected. I had no data signal all morning.

I restarted my device (Samsun LTE phone) a few times and it failed to connect to 3G data at all untill it finally connected around 10:30 AM.

I do not have a 4G signal at home.

thegeek
Premium Member
join:2008-02-21
right here

thegeek

Premium Member

For all those AT&T fans:

Would you rather have a fast car that always starts that you can never take out of the garage? Or a slightly slower car that occasionally needs a minute before it starts that you can take anywhere?

I actually leave my home so I'll take the car that I can take anywhere.
budone
join:2002-09-07
Coopersville, MI

budone

Member

Re: For all those AT&T fans:

I think the issue more with the their backbone, because I was unable to access their forum. I ran a tracert and I would lock up at their first hop.

CDMA Pirate
@sbcglobal.net

CDMA Pirate to thegeek

Anon

to thegeek
Huh?????

zephyr13
@comcast.net

zephyr13

Anon

.

Verizon needs to get it together... 3g and 4g are both out in slc , have been for about 2 hours. Of course maybe an unknown new type of phone is updating rightnow and putting stress onto their network- same thing happened with the droid charge.
zeddlar
join:2007-04-09
Jay, OK

zeddlar

Member

3G loss

I don't have 4G yet but my tower has the backhaul for it since a tornado took it out last spring but my 3G service from that tower has been hit and miss since Saturday. This morning my phone and hotspot have both jumped back to getting a good signal. I thought the problem was an update I did on my hotspot because it started then so I ordered an amp this morning, guess I will have a really good signal now, LOL. I just had a sweet spot inside the house to use my phone and hotspot anyhow so this will free me up to get a decent signal elsewhere in the house.

CDMA Pirate
@sbcglobal.net

CDMA Pirate

Anon

Outage Options

Hello.....Hello.... Can You hear me now? To all you LTE phone owners, the CDMA network is still up and operational. hehehe
flashcore
join:2007-01-23
united state

flashcore

Member

Re: Outage Options

That all depends on where you are, if you read up you would have learned that CDMA was DOWN in Baltimore earlier today yet LTE was fine. That said all is back to normal as of 11am.
crk2h
join:2003-03-19
Murfreesboro, TN

crk2h to CDMA Pirate

Member

to CDMA Pirate
I can hear you just fine I never had a problem making calls or txting when my 4g was out..
patt2k
join:2009-01-16

patt2k

Member

OK

Click for full size
NY
LTE works just fine in NY.

Rambo76098
join:2003-02-21
Columbus, OH

Rambo76098

Member

Re: OK

I've had no issues yesterday or today either.

south1178
Premium Member
join:2001-12-17
Cleveland, OH

south1178 to patt2k

Premium Member

to patt2k
Not at 8:36am it didn't. Issue was resolved around 11:30am
tim92078
join:2010-07-15
San Marcos, CA

tim92078

Member

more than just this morning...

LTE's availability in the Phoenix area has been iffy since yesterday morning. Good thing I carry a backup hotspot on another carrier or I'd have been sunk - the Thunderbolt I'm paying full price to beta test was only getting 1X most of the time.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

The world is ending...

Verizon nationwide and AT&T is toast up here in northern New England today. Not sure how far it extends out of Maine and New Hampshire.

EDIT- Local news reports it is a technical issue for AT&T out of Mass.

tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Gulfport, MS

tc1uscg

Member

Maybe it's time for slogan change

From their website:
"
Why Verizon?
Our Network. Your Power.
From surfing the web to watching movies. From getting social with friends to sharing pics or playing games. Verizon gives you the power to do it all, all on the largest high-speed wireless network in America. That's how Verizon helps you connect to the things that matter most." All this on the nations largest non-working network.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: Maybe it's time for slogan change

Heh.. Better than at&t.. They'd claim it was your fault and deny their network was down.

EvelKub
Kitty is crazy
Premium Member
join:2002-03-17
Mesa, AZ

EvelKub

Premium Member

The reason why switching to 3g works

Native 3G (EVDO/HRPD) and Hybrid 3G/4G (LTE/eHRPD) are seperate technologies. As long as the eHRPD system is up and running, you can switch between the two towers without an issue. When eHRPD goes down or stops responding in a predictable manner, your phone continues to try over and over on the preferred network, which is LTE. If you are in 4G mode and eHRPD is down, it's down on both networks, 3G and 4G, so even if you do "roll back to 3G" you'd never know it.

If you configure your phone to CDMA Only or 3G only (labeled differently on different phones) your phone begins to use the old HRPD system, slower, but tried and true.

A reason that you'll not have similar problems with AT&T's LTE is that their 3G (or 3G+/4G non LTE) is actually natively compatible with the LTE.. You don't have this extra underlying layer to do down.

As to the users which Karl was reporting were having issues with 3G, I'm wondering if it was issues with the 3G network, or issues with expecting 3G rollback.

A decent document (with pictures) to explain this is here:
»3g4g.blogspot.com/2008/0 ··· lte.html

verizonlteda
@myvzw.com

verizonlteda

Anon

Re: The reason why switching to 3g works

Not true i have gone 3g only when lte was down and my galaxy nexus/ thunderbolt wont lock on no matter what untill lte was back online.

EvelKub
Kitty is crazy
Premium Member
join:2002-03-17
Mesa, AZ

1 edit

EvelKub

Premium Member

Re: The reason why switching to 3g works

Hmmm... Interesting. Are you normally able to use 3G service?
When I got my first LTE phone, the Thunderbolt, the activation process was messed up so that it wiped the 3G data access codes from my account, which was reflected in My Verizon. When I would drive out of LTE coverage, I would have no data.
gregvee
join:2005-12-27
Palisades Park, NJ

gregvee

Member

verizon 4G outage

Verizon claims the issue is fixed yet as of 2:30pm EST in Philadelphia I am still getting only 3G signal and speeds. Nothing has been fixed here.
Technicholas
Premium Member
join:2010-11-11
West Des Moines, IA

Technicholas

Premium Member

Been down in Iowa

Been down all day here in Iowa... This morning took 20min then got 1X all morning. Afternoon got onto 3G but very slow 128kbps.

Nicholas.
pimpinparker
join:2005-06-14
North Baltimore, OH

pimpinparker

Member

Re: Been down in Iowa

Mine wasn't working this morning in the Toledo, Ohio area.
spkay
join:2005-11-10
Princeton, MA

spkay

Member

4G back up last night in Central MA

I am in an area where I have no high speed internet options except Satellite or Verizon Wireless LTE (still no AT&T 4G). I have a home antenna+amplifier to reach a cell tower 4.2mi away. No connection yesterday from early AM until around 5pm - was on/off for a while and stabilized around 9pm. LTE is still young so I expect hiccups, I just wish I hadn't spent hours diagnosing my equipment and cradlepoint router trying to find the problem. The killer for me was that pulling the UML290 from the router and plugging into a laptop did get me connected, but that was largely a red herring, I think connections could be made intermittently but the network was still unusable and would soon result in disconnect. I learned my lesson, don't rule out a network issue when dealing with Verizon 4G LTE at this point. I back up now though and quite happy with the network performance now.

ArkhmAsylm
Evrythng I need isn't really what I want
Premium Member
join:2006-02-22
Saint Paul, MN

ArkhmAsylm

Premium Member

Sporadic outages again today (Thurs)

I've been seeing intermittent outages of my connection throughout the day today (Thursday). I'll lose all connectivity for minutes at a time.