Outages ding those reliant on networking

Broadband internet outages hit a wide swath of the eastern U.S. on Tuesday, causing headaches for work-from-home users of services such as Zoom and Google.

Complaints centered on Verizon Communications Inc., which acknowledged the difficulties, though customers of providers like Comcast Corp. also said they suffered some problems. Comcast said it didn't see any effect on its network related to the outage.

The disruptions started shortly after 11 a.m. New York time, when a large internet company made an adjustment to its peering system — or traffic pathway — causing an unintended surge in volume that overwhelmed several networks mostly along the East Coast, according to a person familiar with the situation. It isn't believed to be a cybersecurity issue, said a person who asked not to be identified.

The service disruptions have eased since the height of the problems at about noon New York time. Verizon technicians and network staff are still investigating the situation, a company spokesman said.

DownDetector, a real-time monitoring service, showed a surge in reports of service interruptions Tuesday from those providers, with a spillover to popular websites like Google, YouTube and Zoom. The problems appeared to be concentrated on the East Coast.

Google said it was continuing to investigate the disruptions, which didn't stem from its products.

“We are aware of reports regarding issues affecting access to some Google products, but have not found issues with our services,” a representative said.

The pandemic has made broadband outages especially difficult. High-speed internet connections have become a lifeline during the COVID-19 pandemic as millions of office staff, students, health-care professionals and others use broadband to work remotely.

The problem for Verizon customers were ill-timed for a company that just reported disappointing results on Tuesday morning.

The carrier's shares slipped as much as 3.4 per cent to US$56.41, marking its biggest intraday decline since March 2020.

In response to questions about the blackout, Verizon reported on Twitter that it suffered a cut in a fibre line in the Brooklyn area.