Why Verizon had three mass network outages this December, See here

It’s no surprise Verizon has the fastest and most developed 4G LTE network in the US, but consistently terming them most reliable would be an overstatement for the month of December. And frankly, three mass network outages can cause some serious communication issues for both work and leisure. Heck, many families are now doing away with a central home phone, and just subscribing the entire family to a plan of cellphones.

Well, Verizon has issued an official statement for the causes of these network outages; and all three network failures had isolated causes. The first during December 7th was apparently caused by a failure in the back-up communication database. The second one was from an IMS element not responding properly, and the one just yesterday (which lasted quite long on the East coast) was due to two IMS elements not communicating properly.

Concerning the matter, Verizon said “Our 3G and 1X networks continue to reliably process calls, texts, and data for customers with 3G devices, and when necessary, 4G LTE devices”. And the protocol they actively take when 4G LTE services are down is to move those with 4G LTE devices onto their 3G network so they retain service. I for one, can vouch that Columbia, SC was without 4G or even 3G for over 5 hours yesterday – so hopefully they now have all the kinks worked out. It would be a shame to start off the new year with another outage.
It is however comforting to know that they “will not rest until our 4GLTE network performs at the very highest levels that our customers have come to expect from us”.
[via Business Insider]