Verizon outage update

Cynthia Kellams reports: A number of residents in the Arlington Ridge and Aurora Highlands neighborhoods of Arlington (including Southampton) have been without Verizon landline service for many days ... and, in some cases, weeks. Initially it was reported the outage was due to four cables being cut on Columbia Pike over a week ago. The vast majority of lines affected in that incident have been restored. Last night (1/15) Verizon alerted the County's Office of Emergency Management they'd discovered problems with another much older cable that affects approximately 160 phone lines. Repairs are being made and service is expected to be restored by 9 pm Monday, January 18. If you are still without service and have not already reported your outage to Verizon, do so by calling 1-800-837-4966. If it's still out on Monday, call their Customer Care and Escalation Office at 1-877-815-8494 to register a complaint and request repair. A real person typically answers the second number, but that office in only open during regular business hours Monday through Friday. If you hope to receive any relief on your next Verizon bill, it's important you report your problem and its duration.