Verizon outage hits customers in North Carolina, South Carolina

Verizon customers have been reporting widespread outages  across North Carolina and into South Carolina.

According to Down Detector, reports of outages began around 9:00 am ET. Cities most affected include Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh and Durham, the site says. 

The website IstheServiceDown.com reported Verizon Wireless outages in Greenville, South Carolina and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Customers reported service outages with mobile phones and internet. Some have even reported total blackouts.

In a statement to USA TODAY, Verizon said the company uses Charter Communications’ fiberoptic network to “carry information between its cell sites and the core network in the area. This morning Charter made a change to its network which impacted a number of our cell sites. Charter is working quickly to fix this issue.”

Verizon’s local cell sites are usually connected to Verizon’s own fiberoptic network. But if another provider has already installed fiberoptic cable, Verizon may partner with that provider to carry calls and other data on its lines into Verizon’s networks. In this case, an issue on Charter’s network led to Verizon’s service disruptions.