A significant service outage left many Verizon customers, particularly those on the West Coast, struggling to make calls or access the internet on Friday morning. The telecommunications giant has since attributed the widespread disruption to acts of vandalism in the Los Angeles area.

Reports of failed mobile and 5G home internet connections first began appearing on the outage tracking site DownDetector around 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time. Verizon's own system status page confirmed a known issue was being addressed, with checks from California to Florida revealing the same problem.

While new reports began to slow by 9 a.m., a Verizon spokesperson later provided more detail, explaining that "multiple fiber cuts due to acts of vandalism" were responsible for interrupting service for customers in Greater Los Angeles County. The company condemned the acts, stating they not only disrupt families and businesses but also pose a direct threat to public safety. Verizon confirmed it is working with local leaders to prevent such incidents in the future.

The identity and motive of the vandals remain unknown. This marks the second service hiccup for Verizon in two days, following a separate, shorter outage that occurred early Thursday morning.

Source: Information for this report was gathered from official Verizon statements, DownDetector, and a prior Newsweek report.