Verizon Outage Confirmed by Verizon Wireless: East Coast Blackberry Users Experience Data Outage

Blackberry users on the Verizon Wireless sytem experienced a data outage this morning (March 3, 2010) on the East Coast, and Verizon Wireless has now confirmed that outage. [Source: Hamblen, Matt. " Verizon Wireless confirms data outage." Computerworld - News, Education & Headlines - Security, Storage & Networking - Information on Hardware, Software for Laptops & Desktops. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
Verizon Wireless is hardly the only cellphone data provider to experience an outage. However, any data outage is an incredible frustration for users. This morning's outage was localized in the East Coast, and I am guesing that business users in NYC were not amused. The angriest people of all, no doubt, were Verizon Wireless officers. Here is why they should be furious:

Verizon Outage Problem #1: Bad publicity. Any widespread data outage from a cellphone provider results in instant bad publicity. Users make decisions about what network to use based in part on the reliability of the service. Although it might be difficult to quantify, it is likely that some potential customers will be lost as a result of this morning's outage.

Verizon Outage Problem #2: Complaints. Imagine that you are in a business meeting. An important question arises, so you turn to your Blackberry (or other smartphone) to find a quick answer. But this morning you have no data service! How angry would you be? This morning, many people found themselves in similar situations, and I am guesing that many of them have already complained to Verizon Wireless. An increase in complaints presumably leads to an increase in departing customers (leaving to go patronize some other provider). Obviously, that is a problem.

Verizon Outage Problem #3: Fear of future problems. Verizon Wireless executives have probably had a lot of confidence in their network, but that confidence was shaken this morning. If a widespread outage can happen on the East Coast, can a country-wide outage happen? Will there be another East Coast outage tomorrow? Have we really discovered the problem, or is this only the tip of the iceberg? For management, these are very scary questions.

Personally, I will probably forget about this morning's Verizon outage pretty quickly. But at Verizon Wireless, heads will probably roll. Management must take this sort of problem very, very seriously.

Sources

Hamblen, Matt. " Verizon Wireless confirms data outage." Computerworld - News, Education & Headlines - Security, Storage & Networking - Information on Hardware, Software for Laptops & Desktops. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.