Three months of digital blackout: when will mobile internet be restored in Nizhny Novgorod

      Problems with mobile internet have been observed in Nizhny Novgorod for three months

      Story

      Internet outage in Nizhny Novgorod

      Exactly three months ago mobile internet disappeared in most of Nizhny Novgorod. NewsNN recalled how the plunge into a total blackout began and found out how Nizhny Novgorod residents are surviving without the Net now.

      The start of the outages and the first shock

      It all began with small glitches and disruptions in mobile internet service in June. Then residents of the lower part of the city reported that their connection was dropping only occasionally. But everything changed on June 27, when their internet vanished completely. In addition, the outage affected part of the Prioksky district closer to the exit from Nizhny Novgorod.

      Mobile operators shrugged, claiming they provide services in full and had nothing to do with the slowdown. It soon became clear that this would last — the government of the Nizhny Novgorod region announced that the signal from cell towers was being reduced to combat enemy UAVs using the internet for navigation.

      The outages affected not only ordinary citizens but also business representatives — many small cafés and shops in the Zarechnaya part of the city stopped having working payment terminals. Taxi drivers had difficulty receiving orders, and some marketplace pickup points closed due to lack of internet.

      In some shops cash registers stopped working. Photo: 1MI

      Nizhny Novgorod residents began to adapt

      Soon an alternative was offered to the townspeople — free Wi‑Fi at the "smart" bus stops, but it was not possible to connect to it everywhere, especially at first. Nevertheless, for many Nizhny Novgorod residents these hotspots became a real lifesaver — there one could check messages, plan a route and use banking apps.

      Over time people began to get used to the situation and realized that life without mobile internet is a new reality. Regional authorities still could not give precise timelines for restoring access, and city organizations and venues began gradually switching to Wi‑Fi and offering it free to their visitors.

      In September a new problem surfaced — students and schoolchildren in the lower part of the city lost access to apps and websites used in education. For example, some pupils and parents could not log into the electronic diary to view class schedules. Students were slightly luckier — many dormitories had Wi‑Fi hotspots.

      Around the same time a "white list" began to operate in Nizhny Novgorod and other Russian cities, which included apps and websites that work even in the absence of mobile internet. It included VKontakte, Gosuslugi, Yandex services, marketplaces, the MAX messenger, government sites and other pages. However, so far the white list does not work for everyone and some Nizhny Novgorod residents cannot access the "allowed" sites.

      The messenger MAX also ended up on the white list. Photo: newsnn.ru

      New problems

      Very recently, on September 22, trouble reached the upper part of the city — people began reporting that mobile internet was working poorly in Gorky, Lyadov and Sovetskaya Squares, on Gagarin Avenue, on Artelnaya, Timiryazev and Belinsky streets, near Pushkin Park, and in the Lapshikha microdistrict.

      As at the end of June, mobile operators answered citizens' complaints by saying the slowdown was due to reasons beyond their control. Now residents of central Nizhny Novgorod fear that they too will soon completely lose access to the internet outside their homes and Wi‑Fi spots. Although as of September 27 no large‑scale outages have been observed yet — on social networks people write only about local difficulties.

      In addition, on September 26 Nizhny Novgorod residents began reporting that the internet had returned to some parts of the city; for example, near Varya station in the Moskovsky district it was possible to connect to the Net for the first time since June 27. Similar reports came from residents of the Meshcherskoye Ozero neighborhood and people living near the Zarechnaya metro station.

      Nevertheless, most townspeople still do not have mobile internet and continue to post angry comments in Governor Gleb Nikitin's VKontakte community.

      "Return mobile internet and service to the city!", "Stop playing with the network! We couldn't reach an ambulance!", "Why don't operators reduce rates for Nizhny Novgorod residents when the internet is off?", "The bus stop Wi‑Fi no longer works", "It's impossible to work and take care of everyday matters", write angry Nizhny Novgorod residents to the head of the region.

      However, there have been no statements yet regarding the restoration of full mobile internet access. Nizhny Novgorod residents can only hope that the problem will be solved in the future.

      Earlier NewsNN asked experts when restrictions in Nizhny Novgorod might be lifted and whether the end of the special military operation (SMO) would have to be awaited for that. Details in our material.

      #Alexander Asriyan

      More news about the event:

      More than 100 Nizhny Novgorod residents demanded compensation for the lack of mobile internet

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      More than one hundred Nizhny Novgorod residents demanded a recalculation of the fee for internet that does not work. 16:24 27.09.2025 ProGorodNN.Ru - Nizhny Novgorod

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      In the Volga capital the network has not worked on the street for three months.

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      News from neighboring regions on the topic:

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