Verizon Wireless’ reliable wireless network has been tested this past month with two consecutive outages on its new 4G LTE network. The newest outage occurred on Wednesday morning of this week with customers affected across the nation. By midmorning, the company stated that normal service has bee restored. The other previous outage had occurred on Dec 6th and Verizon had taken a day and a half to resolve the problem. Though it is not an uncommon occurrence for wireless carriers to have connectivity problems, to have it happen to the largest wireless carrier in the nation is notable.
“The big attraction for Verizon is its network superiority,” said Roger Entner, founder of the market research firm Recon Analytics. “People pay a premium for this superiority. But if that goes away, they are merely expensive.” Verizon primarily differentiates itself from its competitors like AT&T by touting its network reliability. Its network has won numerous awards from consumer groups. J.D Power and Associates had named Verizon’s LTE network the most reliable network in the nation this August.
Verizon has not yet offered any concrete explanations as to why the 4G LTE network was experiencing difficulties. Market analysts point to the fact that Verizon is the first major wireless operator in the world to deploy the 4G LTE technology on such a large scale. As a result, it is inevitable that the company experience some of the electrical difficulties that are associated with a first time enterprise.
“When you are the first carrier in the world to really deploy LTE in any significant scale, there are going to be issues,” Entner said. “Verizon has no one else to look to, to learn the painful lessons of deploying this network. The issues they’re experiencing are likely growing pains. And they’re to be expected.”
Verizon’s quick expansion and its growing number of customers on the network might be what contributed to the network outages. But as long as outages like this remain outliers on Verizon’s network, the company’s established reputation as a reliable and fast wireless connection should not be affected overmuch.
