Verizon Working to Fix Problem with 4G Network

Verizon Wireless said Wednesday that its engineers are working to resolve an issue with its 4G (fourth-generation) LTE (Long Term Evolution) service, that is affecting some customers' 4G devices.

The company said in an e-mailed statement that in the past 24 hours, some 4G LTE customers have reported that their devices are operating on 3G data service where they would normally get 4G.

Verizon Working to Fix Problem with 4G Network

The company did not specify what was the nature of the problem, and the locations and number of customers affected. On a Verizon community forum, customers from a number of locations in the United States were reporting problems with their 4G service on Wednesday.

Verizon's 4G LTE is currently available in 179 cities and 114 major airports, covering more than 186 million people in the U.S., according to its website.

Verizon said that 3G data and voice devices were unaffected, and all customers' voice calls and text messages continue to go through.

The operator said that while some customers have reported no issues, others are reporting that data access is either intermittent or unavailable. " We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," it said.

Verizon plans to expand its 4G LTE network to cover two-thirds of the U.S population by mid-2012, and cover its entire existing nationwide 3G footprint with 4G LTE by the end of 2013.

The company had another network issue in April that affected some of its 4G LTE customers in the United States.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com.