Verizon restores 4G access after outage

Verizon’s super fast 4G LTE network is growing bigger every day, but there are still some bumps like the one many customers experienced over the past couple days.

Verizon confirmed that a glitch caused a fraction of its users to lose 4G access, and some were not even able to connect to a back-up 3G network, relegating their smartphones to, well, just phones.

The company has also confirmed that the glitch has been fixed, about 36 hours after it was first reported. Verizon did not comment on the nature of the outage.

This is the second service disruption for Verizon’s still-nascent high-speed network. The first occurred several months ago when there was only one LTE-compatible Verizon phone on the market.

Verizon was late to the 4G game but was the first major carrier to roll out an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, allowing it to leapfrog ahead of slower 4G offerings from Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T.

Now, LTE appears to be the accepted standard for the next generation of mobile data as other carriers have begun scrapping their existing 4G infrastructures and building LTE networks.

By the time its competitors fully get up and running, though, Verizon will likely be well ahead. It plans to have 200 million people in its 4G LTE territories by the end of the year.