Verizon phone outage hits part of Manhattan

(AP) -- Landline and cell phones are unable to complete calls in part of New York because of a malfunction in Verizon's network.

Equipment that connects calls on the East side of Manhattan between 20th and 40th Streets was at fault. Verizon Communications Inc. spokeswoman Linda Laughlin said Monday that the company hopes to fix the problem during the afternoon.

The outage affects cell phones as well, because they connect through the wired network.

Verizon has no estimate on the number of customers affected.