Cellphone service restored to Key Peninsula after Verizon outage
UPDATE: A regional spokesperson for Verizon said service was restored at approximately 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
Verizon customers on the Key Peninsula were experiencing outages that began at 7 p.m. Monday evening through Tuesday afternoon, saying they were struggling with poor reception with calls unable to go in or out.
Heidi Flato, Verizon media relations representative for the region, confirmed the outages to The Gateway in an email.
“Verizon uses another fiber provider in the area to carry information between its cell sites and the core network. An issue with that provider’s network is affecting Verizon service in the area,” Flato said. “Our engineers are working to restore service as quickly as possible.”
Flato did not have a more definitive timeline or information about how widespread the outages were.
“A wireless network outage typically impacts cell sites within a certain geographical area, so customers who happen to be in that area during the outage period could be affected,” Flato said. “I cannot tell you how many Verizon customers may have been in or traveling through the area at a given time so I don’t know how many customers have been impacted.”
Kerry Zimmer, senior communications manager for the telecommunications company Lumen, formerly known as CenturyLink, said he was aware of one cell tower in Lakebay currently affected.
“Our technicians are working on restoration now and I am waiting for an update from the field,” Zimmer said in an email. “This disruption was caused by an equipment issue and should be resolved this afternoon. We have no way of knowing what the impact is/was to Verizon customers.”
Zimmer said the company had received a call first thing this morning about the issue. He said the equipment in question was “defective” and will need to be replaced.
A spokesperson for the Peninsula School District said parents have been informed about potential challenges to remote learning.
“We are hearing reports of a possible Verizon tower being out of service, this could affect your student’s hotspot and internet working properly,” the district told parents in an email. “School systems are up and running so if you run into connectivity issues this could be the cause. If your child has issues with accessing internet this morning, please encourage them to keep trying to log in and if they need to, have them email their teacher once they have internet back.”
The district spokesperson said no classes have been postponed because “it was mostly students who were unable to connect to their classes and teachers will assist those students impacted.”
Reach Chase Hutchinson at chase.hutchinson@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 1:30 PM.
