The cause behind the LTE (long-term evolution) outage that had been harassing Verizon Wireless's high speed network customers since late Tuesday has reportedly been fixed.

The New Jersey-based network provider announced on Thursday that it had discovered the cause behind the crash and fixed it. However, in between, the network provider's most advanced mobile data network was unavailable.

Verizon Wireless' fourth-generation network runs handsets like that of the HTC ThunderBolt. The carrier has high hopes from its 4G network as it could help it gain more customers.

But, the recent outage was a major embarrassment for Verizon Wireless, which publicizes itself as more trustworthy network than its rival AT&T. The nationwide failure also reminds us that even the most sophisticated systems can fall short.

Speaking on the outage, an angry Verizon Wireless customer said, "If it happens once more I will go back to cable Internet/Wi-Fi usage in my home office, depend on hotel Internet and Wi-Fi hotspots ... and cancel service on the Verizon Wireless."

Analysts said that the problem was still small for Verizon as its LTE is currently available only in 38 metropolitan areas. Analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates said it was a wake-up call to Verizon.

Verizon is planning to expand the system to 140 other areas by the end of 2011.