Since the nor’easter blew through town, Tri-Town residents have been struggling with slow and unreliable — or sometimes nonexistent — cell service.

A Verizon spokesperson confirmed that storm damage caused service issues in the region — particularly in Rochester.

“As the nor’easter intensified rapidly Wednesday morning, a small number of our customers in the Rochester area experienced some network interruptions as the storm’s severe winds and intense rains impacted commercial power sources and damaged several fiber cables that carry calls and data from cell sites to our core network,” the spokesperson said.

He added the Verizon crews responded promptly and restored service to the area on Thursday afternoon. 

A spokesperson for AT&T did not mention any specific damage, but acknowledged the storm’s impact.

“We’ve made significant progress with our restoration efforts from this week’s nor’easter,” the spokesperson said. “Despite initial impacts, our wireless network in Massachusetts is currently operating normally. Our teams worked around the clock to make repairs and deploy additional recovery equipment to support customers and first responders in affected areas.”

Residents in the neighboring community of Wareham also experienced service issues. Wareham’s Emergency Management Director Patrick MacDonald said the storm had damaged a cell tower in Bourne — and that damage might be affecting service. 

Wareham Town Administrator Derek Sullivan also pointed out that with the power outages, people have been relying on their cell phones more. The increased demand could be further taxing an already burdened system. 

MacDonald said he’d heard that the damaged tower should be repaired by the end of the day, Thursday, Oct. 28. 

On Friday evening, T-Mobile/Sprint provided the following statement: “Our network held up very well during the storm and we've largely repaired any outstanding damage, but our customers have not been impacted.”

T-Mobile customers contested the company’s assertion. 

“The cell tower that normally serves us was completely down for over 24 hours,” said Timothy Maher, who lives on Minot Avenue in Wareham. 

Maher and his wife both have T-Mobile cell service. He said a cell tower behind Robertson’s Salvage Yard off Cranberry highway, next to Route 25, normally provides their cell service. After the storm, they had no service.

“We had to travel to Main Street, near CVS and Dunkin Donuts, to get cell service from another nearby cell site that was still working,” Maher said, emphasizing that T-Mobile’s claim that customers were not impacted was incorrect.  

This story has been updated to include a comment from T-Mobile media relations and a T-Mobile user.