Canadian Internet Provider Rogers Experiencing Major, Prolonged Outage [Update: It’s Back!]

Canadian wireless and internet provider Rogers is currently experiencing a widespread, continued outage of services on both its cellular and cable home internet data networks, according to various user reports. Rogers is the second-largest internet provider in Canada by subscriber count, and the largest cellphone provider with somewhere around 10 million mobile customers.

Reports of outages are coming in on Twitter from a variety of cities in Southern Ontario, including Toronto, Waterloo and London, and some even suggest that the outage may spread across the entire country. Little is known about the potential cause, but some reports suggest that the Rogers Internet DNS is the culprit, as per this tweet:

Attempts to call Rogers support are met with a system that’s clearly not holding up well under a high influx of user reports. The system doesn’t even appear to be able to route calls properly, and customers are instead left scratching their heads. For now, there are millions of customers likely in the dark and without internet unless they also get mobile or other service from one of Canada’s other major providers who maintain their own networks.

I’ve reached out to the company to find out more, and will update as additional information becomes available. Here are some of the tweets from affected customers describing the situation:

In addition to Rogers customers, Dan Levy on Twitter notes that those using either Fido or Chatr (both Rogers subsidiaries) are also affected by the outage.

Update: Rogers has issued the following statement via Twitter. I’ve been in touch with a representative of the company who said they’d try to provide some additional information, but have yet to hear back:

Update #2: A few more tweets, including the first I could find of any problems, putting the estimated length of service issues at over two hours now:

Report from the East Coast, meaning Ontario definitely isn’t the only market affected:

And one joke at Rogers expense:

Update #3: Some customers, including in Barrie and Ottawa, report having no problems with service. Still, the vast majority of reports I’m seeing say just the opposite: connectivity is eithes very slow or non-existent:

Update #4: Reports are starting to come in that service seems to have been restored. I’m also seeing speeds that seem to be back to normal, on both LTE and cable:

Update #5: Despite improved performance for some, others are clearly still facing problems, and Rogers has been silent since its last tweet over an hour and a half ago:

Update #6: Rogers now says that the issue affecting customers has been resolved, let us know if that fits with your experience: