Sidecut Reports

Though according to Verizon the day-long service outage of its brand-new 4G LTE network is now fixed and to be forgotten, it remains to be seen what the full fallout is over the still-unexplained service interruption, which cut off Verizon 4G customers from their high-speed wireless data connection earlier this week.

Unlike other digital-service concerns like Amazon, which this week issued a very detailed public apology and explanation for its own service outage, Verizon has kept its corporate lips zipped pretty much shut over the LTE outage. Repeated queries to Verizon PR for some details on the outage only resulted in replies like this:

- Our 4G LTE network is up and running. Our network engineers and
vendors quickly identified the issue and solved it.
- Customers using the ThunderBolt have normal service.
- Laptop users with USB modems may need to re-connect to the
network when moving between 3G and 4G. This will continue to improve.

Granted, the LTE outage wasn’t on a business-catastrophe par with the Amazon breakdown — even though Verizon is claiming 565,000 active devices on its LTE network it’s doubtful that any big businesses are betting their entire communications infrastructure on those connections just yet — but the lack of transparency about the outage is hardly confidence-building. And despite several queries Verizon has yet to answer the question about if and when its next 4G smartphone, the Samsung Droid Charge, will launch since its previously scheduled arrival date of April 28 has apparently been pushed back indefinitely.

Another 4G LTE device that is also being delayed — in part due to what Motorola is calling LTE software problems — is the Motorola Droid Bionic, another of the LTE smartphones that Verizon was confidently showing way back at CES in January. Separately, none of these issues would be a very big deal. But with numerous device delays and an unexplained nationwide network crash, the question needs to be asked whether or not Verizon’s new fast network is really solid, or whether it’s still in a sort of beta mode with kinks left to be worked out. At least, that may be the questions users ask when deciding whether or not to sign up for 2-year contracts for a network that might not be there when you need it — and a provider that doesn’t tell you why afterwards.

UPDATE: Andy Abramson, a pro’s pro when it comes to public relations, also thinks Verizon needs to tell more about the outage. So does our old pal Wayne Rash over at eWeek.

Still no official press statement from Verizon Wireless on its apparently still ongoing LTE service outage. The first big casualty of the problem appears to be the launch for Verizon’s second 4G LTE phone, the Samsung Droid Charge, which was supposed to go on sale today at stores and on the Verizon website. However the Droid page on the website still says “coming soon” as of Thursday morning, and no new updates from Verizon in regards to the LTE outage since a brief tweet on Wednesday saying:

We have determined cause of 4G LTE issue & are working with major vendors to restore connections. Details as they come.

More on this as we hear more but it is now 18 hours since the last update.

UPDATE, 8 a.m. PST: Apparently the service is working again. No official statement yet on the reason for the outage but a tweet from @verizonwireless says:

4G LTE up and running. Thank you for your patience.

UPDATE 2: We have just received official confirmation from Verizon PR that the Droid Charge launch is delayed with “more to come regarding an availability date.” For those who really, really really want a Droid Charge Verizon says customers “have the option of providing store representatives with
their contact information and they will be notified when the device is available for purchase.”

Still no word on why the LTE outage happened. Stay tuned!

According to several reports as well as an official company tweet, Verizon’s brand-new 4G LTE network is apparently on a nationwide blink — with no official statement yet from the company on what happened, why it happened, or how long the network will stay inoperable.

More on this as we learn more… let us know if your Verizon 4G LTE connection is or isn’t working. Not a good sign for the company that prides itself on its network, but hey these things happen.

UPDATE, 12 pm PST: Still no word on the why or how long, but the LTE network is definitely still down. According to Verizon it will issue updates on Twitter, and you can track by following @verizonwireless. Latest update is “Investigating 4G LTE network issue; ThunderBolts making voice calls, may get slower 1xRTT data.”