Approximately 15 minutes ago, we noticed a significant slowdown in Internet traffic and the inability to access certain websites.  The sites don’t appear to be down because sites that cannot be accessed through Verizon service can be accessed by other providers, and vice versa.  We are not sure where the issue is within the North American portion of the Internet, but statistics are indicating significant length of time in getting from point A to point B (latency) and data loss.

According to Internet Traffic Report (which monitors the flow of data around the world), the North America traffic index is dropping fast.  At approximately 1:35 pm (ET), it was 84 out of 100 (with 100 being the fastest and most reliable connection) and now at 1:43 pm (ET), it is down to 64.

More details coming as we have them.  Are you experiencing any slowdown or inability to access some websites?

UPDATE - 2:05 pm ET

The source of the slowdown has been identifed and is due to a backbone connectivity issue at Level 3 Communications.  Traffic is slightly improved, but we are still seeing significant delays and data loss.

UPDATE - 3:30 pm ET

Internet Traffic Report is reporting North America traffic index at 74, so there has been some improvement. We have not experienced any connectivity issues for at least 30 minutes. The major Internet providers seem to be routing traffic around the outage now.