By Yepoka Yeebo and Mariel S. Clark
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — Many Gramercy Park and Midtown East businesses — including celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain's eatery Les Halles — couldn't make or receive phone calls for most of the day Monday after an equipment failure knocked out Verizon's landline service.
The outage, which started at about 9 or 10 a.m., affected a large number of landline customers, both business and residential, from East 23rd Street to East 40th Street and from Fifth Avenue to the East River, a Verizon spokesperson said.
"We had to get all our calls forwarded otherwise it would look like we were closed," said Les Halles manager Magda Wybieralska. "We received a couple emails asking if the restaurant was closed because the phones were dead."
Many of those affected heard only dead air when they tried to call out; those calling in got a "fast busy signal."
Technical crews made the outage their "highest priority in Manhattan," and at 4 p.m. phones were beginning to work again, according to the spokesperson.
"It's been out all day. It's killing me," said Ted Magen the owner of Park Avenue Floratique on 26th Street as he rushed to take orders once his service was restored.
Verizon said they couldn't estimate the number of lines affected but said the problem did not extend to cell phone service.
