Verizon service restored following over 7-hour outage

Update at 8:01 a.m. April 12: A Verizon spokesperson confirmed that services were back online by 9 p.m. last night. The loss in service was due to a fiber cut.

“There was a fiber optic cable cut that caused the disruption in service for some customers on Kaua’i yesterday,” said Verizon representative Steve Van Dinter in an email sent at 3:51 a.m. on April 12. “Our engineers were able to identify and resolve the issue and service was restored by 9:00 pm HST.”

Original post: Verizon service appears to be back online after an outage knocked out service for users across the island on Thursday afternoon.

“We are aware of an issue impacting service for some customers on Kaua’i,” said Verizon representative Alexis Madrigal in an email response to Kaua’i Now at 8:06 p.m. on April 11.

“Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue,” she added.

Dozens of people came into the Verizon store in Kapa’a from Thursday afternoon to evening, asking for assistance with the loss of service on their phones. The store employee did not know the cause of the problem but alerted the virtual technical support staff of the issue.

Customers claimed to have service while being in the store but reported losing it shortly after leaving the store’s parking lot.

The service in the Kapa’a area was briefly restored for a few minutes at around 8:45 p.m., disconnected just before 9 p.m., and returned about 10 minutes later.

Verizon did not immediately reply to a follow-up message asking about the cause of the outage or whether or not the problem had been resolved for the entire island.

The loss in service shortly after 1:30 p.m. came just a few hours before the island was hit by severe weather, heavy rain, strong thunderstorms, and flood warnings Thursday evening. Verizon has not shared whether or not the incident is weather-related.