Verizon customers throughout the CSRA lose service

Memes sprang up all over social media making fun of Verizon’s ad line “can you hear me now,” as thousands of customers across the CSRA lost mobile, text and data capability.

However, those who rely on their mobile phones to conduct vital business were not laughing.

Verizon customers from Aiken to Grovetown reported they had lost service.

According to Down Detector, problems began in the early morning hours and spiked around 3 p.m. as the system seemed to collapse with users getting an ‘SOS” message.

The city of Augusta sent out a notice on social media that claimed even the “SOS” functions on the phone were disabled and could not link to either the “311” or “911” systems. The message urged citizens to report emergencies on a landline or seek out a neighbor using a different carrier.

Some calls could make it through to 911, but data, such as the caller’s address and phone number did not appear on the dispatcher’s screen, meaning they could not call back if the signal dropped suddenly.

The message also urged the following:  “Officials ask customers not to call 911 to test service.”

Users can connect to a Wi-Fi service to make calls and texts.

Service appears to have been restored as of 9 p.m. The company has not released an official statement on what caused the outage.

Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com