Tens of thousands of Discord users ran into voice chat issues Thursday afternoon as the platform experienced a widespread service outage, leaving many stuck with the dreaded “Awaiting Endpoint” error message. According to tracking service DownDetector, over 29,800 users reported issues, with the majority of complaints coming from the United States. The platform’s voice servers were the hardest hit, making it impossible for users to connect to calls or group chats.
Outage Spikes in Major Cities
The issue appeared to be centered around major metro areas. Reports poured in from cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas, with users unable to access Discord’s voice features or getting kicked from channels.
While text and other services remained mostly unaffected, the disruption to voice functionality triggered widespread frustration online. “I’ve been waiting to connect to a voice call for nearly an hour,” one user posted on X (formerly Twitter), summing up the mood.
What Is the ‘Awaiting Endpoint’ Error?
The “Awaiting Endpoint” message typically means that the Discord client can’t establish a connection to a voice server. While it can sometimes point to a local network problem, Thursday’s issue was clearly on Discord’s end, with engineers confirming they were working on a fix.
Other possible causes of the Discord awaiting endpoint error:
- Local internet instability
- Improper router configuration
- Region mismatch in server settings
How to Troubleshoot (If It Happens Again)
While the current disruption is being handled by Discord’s internal team, users who face similar problems in the future can try these quick fixes:
- Restart the Discord app
- Check for server status at status.discord.com
- Switch server region (if you’re an admin)
- Restart your modem/router
Discord has since acknowledged the issue and said that systems were gradually being restored. As of late Thursday, voice services were still patchy for some users.
Discord: More Than Just Gaming
While originally built for gamers, Discord now serves communities, classrooms, workplaces, and everything in between. Outages like this highlight just how deeply embedded the platform has become — and how disruptive even a partial failure can be.
