United States
News Desk | Technology
Verizon Wireless experienced a widespread service outage Wednesday that left hundreds of thousands of customers across the United States without cellular voice and data service, according to the company. The disruption, which began around noon Eastern time, forced many mobile devices into emergency-only “SOS” mode and prompted emergency alerts in major cities including Washington, D.C., and New York.
The nation’s largest wireless carrier, serving more than 146 million customers, acknowledged the issue in a statement posted on social media. Engineers were working to identify and resolve the problem, the company said, though no timeline for restoration was provided.
Outage tracking website DownDetector recorded a sharp spike in reports starting just before 12:30 p.m. ET, with complaints surging past 180,000 by early afternoon. Major metropolitan areas bore the brunt of the disruption, including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, and Dallas.
Affected customers reported their phones displaying “SOS” in place of normal network bars, indicating they could only make emergency calls. Voice calls, text messages, and mobile data services all failed for those impacted. The outage extended across states from Florida to New York and as far west as Texas, with scattered reports in California, Washington, Arizona, and Colorado.
Washington, D.C.’s emergency notification system AlertDC warned residents the outage was nationwide. “If you have an emergency and can not connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please connect using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police district or fire station to report the emergency,” the system advised.
New York City’s Office of Emergency Management issued a similar alert, noting the disruption could affect users attempting to call 911. The agency recommended using devices from other carriers, landlines, or visiting police and fire stations to report emergencies. iPhone 14 and newer models were directed to use Emergency SOS via Satellite if needed.
Verizon issued an update around 2 p.m. ET stating that engineering teams remained “fully deployed and focused on the issue,” acknowledging the impact on customers’ daily activities. The company apologized for the inconvenience but did not disclose the cause of the outage.
Competing carriers T-Mobile and AT&T confirmed their networks were operating normally. A T-Mobile spokesperson said customers might not be able to reach people with Verizon service due to the outage. Mobile virtual network operators using Verizon’s infrastructure, including Visible and Total Wireless, appeared largely unaffected.
Customers with access to Wi-Fi were advised to enable Wi-Fi calling through their phone settings to maintain some connectivity during the disruption. Verizon’s network status checker website also experienced issues, with many customers unable to access the tool.
By mid-afternoon, reports on DownDetector had declined to around 67,000, with some users reporting intermittent service returning. However, many customers remained without connectivity.
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Hannah Price is a digital journalist who covers breaking news, global events, and trending stories with accuracy and speed. She has previously contributed to several online magazines and has built a reputation for verifying facts before publishing. Hannah believes in responsible reporting and aims to present stories in a way that readers can trust.
