Verizon, popular phone and internet service provider, is experiencing a widespread outage across a significant portion of the Shenandoah Valley.
According to DownDetector.com, which tracks the status of major providers, outage reports span from Grottoes north to Broadway, especially focusing in Harrisonburg. However, there have been more isolated reports in Staunton and Elkton as well. A similar reporting service, outage.report, also shows Harrisonburg as a hotspot for Verizon outages on this Thursday evening.
Reports of the outage began around 4:30 p.m. and still persist as of 5:30 p.m.
People with the service provider told us they've experienced either no service whatsoever or very spotty service with one bar at most.
The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Emergency Communications Center has been made aware of the situation as well, and advises anyone with Verizon as their mobile service provider to try another carrier if possible or use a landline phone if you need to call 911.
You can also go to the nearest fire, rescue, or police station to report your emergency.
When WHSV made a call to Verizon around 5 p.m., the company said they had no report of outages in the area, but that customers can call them at 1-800-VERIZON to report outages. Borrow a phone from someone without Verizon and just keep hitting 0 to reach a person and make the report, if all else fails.
If you are at your home or another location with wireless internet, on most newer phones, you can also turn on Wi-Fi calling to be able to make calls using the internet service instead.
Multiple messages to Verizon support accounts on social media have thus far gone unanswered.
Verizon also has a system through their website to check for outages in your area.
If wondering about emergency dispatch, you can check for updates from HRECC at their Facebook page.