On Wednesday, a nationwide Verizon outage disrupted service for about 60% of the company's customers, causing difficulties for attendees at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The disruption forced many participants to rely on in-person interactions and traditional navigation methods instead of their usual mobile devices.
Attendees were seen asking each other for directions in various locations around Union Square, including street corners, elevators, and hotel meeting rooms. Some expressed surprise at how challenging it was to navigate without digital assistance. One communications professional described moving between hotel lobbies to find wifi access to plan her next steps. An executive mentioned his discomfort with the idea of asking others for directions or using a paper map.
Dan Samorodnitsky from BioSpace, who is also a Verizon customer, reported having to use a library's wifi to continue his reporting duties. He attempted to use a café's wifi but found that the shop was closing soon after he arrived.
The outage highlighted how dependent conference attendees—including scientists, executives, and industry experts—have become on mobile technology for basic tasks such as finding their way between venues.
