After some Bronx residents living in ZIP code NY 10467, which broadly covers the Norwood and Olinville neighborhoods, officially reported a loss of landline phone service since Thursday, April 24, Verizon has confirmed to Norwood News that there was damage to some equipment due to vandalism and they are working to fix the issue as soon as possible. One female elderly resident who lives on Dekalb Avenue by East 212th Street who happens to have a cell phone as a back-up said she recently spoke with Verizon and said her service actually stopped April 22.

The resident said to her knowledge numerous customers had been affected. “Those who have no cell phone as a back-up are out of luck,” she said. Norwood News reached out to Verizon for comment on Monday, April 28, as soon as we were informed of the issue. On Tuesday, April 29, a representative said, “Due to damaged equipment as a result of vandalism, customers in The Bronx may experience a temporary loss of their Fios service. Fios technicians are actively restoring service and expect to have all customers restored as quickly as possible.”

 

We asked Verizon if they could say how many customers were affected, since when and share an estimated restoration of service date. We will share any feedback we receive. The Norwood News office is located in ZIP code NY 10467 and our phones are operational, though our wifi has been weak/spotty.

 

Con Ed workers have been carrying out roadworks in the broader Norwood/Bedford Park area for the last month or so. We reached out to Con Ed, explained the situation and that we were aware that their teams had been working in the area in recent weeks, and asked if they were aware of the Verizon outage issue and if they could shed any light on it. A representative asked us for an example of an affected address and the locations of the Con Ed works, which we shared with them.

 

The representative later responded saying the pictures we sent were of Con Ed crews “doing routine turn ons for customers.” They added that this wouldn’t have affected Verizon. “We’re not seeing any work done that would effect Verizon,” the representative said. “If anything changes. I’ll let you know.”

 

In the meantime, the female resident was informed by Verizon that residents [with cell phones] who are affected by the landline issue can contact Verizon on their customer service line at 1-800-837-4966 and ask for technical support for more details. The affected female resident we spoke to recommended ignoring recorded questions and pressing “0” to ask to speak to a representative, and giving “no service” as the reason for the call. She added, “It’s possible that if you call, that service will have been restored, but it’s unknown.”

The resident said she was informed by Verizon that her bill would be automatically credited for the days during which she has had no service.

Tracey Towers, located on the border of Norwood and Bedford Park, which houses 871 residential units across two towers, is located in adjacent Zip Code NY 10468. During a visit (story to follow) to the towers on Monday, April 28, by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and City Councilman Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11), none of the residents immediately mentioned that there was any landline issue.

We followed up with one two different residents of Tracey Towers, which houses a large number of older adults, after we heard the news of the outage and at least one, Sheila Reinhardt Ballard, said she still had service but said one of her neighbors has not had consistent service for quite some time. “They never seem to get it right for her,” she said. “And she needs to have her service because her husband is disabled,” Reinhardt Ballard added.

It’s unclear if the lack of landline service for the affected resident is related to the construction works or something else. We’re checking with other residents and will share any further updates we receive.

Later on Monday, we also spoke to Jean Hill, president of the Tracey Towers Tenants Organization, who said she is an Optimum landline customer. Hill said that right now she has a dial tone and an active landline service but has also noticed going back a month or two that her calls drop sometimes mid-conversation and she has to call the other person back. She also mentioned that a few other residents have also mentioned from time to time that they have had issues with their landlines also.

We reached out to Optimum and a spokesperson replied, saying, “Thank you for reaching out. We are happy to look into this and determine if there are any underlying issues affecting phone services in the area. We will circle back with any updates to share once we’ve made contact with the customer directly.”