Verizon’s communications network has suffered a major outage affecting wireless service throughout the US.
Mobile phone users from New York to Seattle have lost all cellular service, including the ability to make calls or send text messages.
According to outage-tracking website Down Detector, Verizon’s service started experiencing widespread problems just before 12 noon ET on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of Verizon customers have reported that their smartphones are stuck in SOS mode, meaning they have no connection to Verizon’s network and can only make emergency calls to 911, send emergency texts, or use satellite features if available on their device.
Daily Mail’s attempts to contact Verizon were not answered, and an automated message revealed that the company was dealing with ‘an emergency condition.’
At 2.14pm, Verizon posted on their X account: ‘Engineering teams are continuing to address today’s service interruptions. Our teams remain fully deployed and are focused on the issue. We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.’
Similar problems have been reported by customers using T-Mobile, AT&T, UScellular, Xfinity, and Verizon’s Fios internet service.
The hours-long outage has already caused many customers to panic as the disruptions have cut off vital lines of communication between them and loved ones.
This is a breaking story. More details to follow.
Verizon’s network began experiencing a major outage at 12 noon ET on Wednesday
‘Lines are down… son who is home sick in York, Pa and on our plan is unreachable as well when I call from landline,’ one Verizon user in Pennsylvania reported.
‘Phone just randomly went SOS, calls failing and slow service,’ another person in Philadelphia said Wednesday afternoon.
According to Down Detector, the largest areas knocked offline by the nationwide outage in New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
However, customers on social media have reported that their service has also gone out in North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Florida.
‘Down in North Mississippi, even the website is down,’ another person wrote online, noting the issues Verizon customers have had accessing the company’s app and outage tracking webpage.
Verizon users also revealed that the problem seemed to be random, affecting some customers throughout the US but not others.
In a statement on X, Verizon added: ‘We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.’
Some on social media claimed that they had two or three separate Verizon plans in their household, but only one or two were impacted by the outage while the other phone was still working.
Verizon customers reported that their phones are stuck in SOS mode since the outage started (Stock Image)
‘Just sits on SOS and when someone calls my number it won’t go to voicemail, it just says “the caller is unavailable.” But my daughter, who has an iPhone 12 on my plan, has service, mine is an iPhone 14 pro,’ one resident in Dallas revealed.
Down Detector also tracked similar outages affecting T-Mobile and AT&T starting at around the same time on Wednesday, however these network disruptions were much smaller than the one plaguing Verizon.
‘Cannot make any outgoing calls. Still receiving texts and can receive incoming calls,’ a T-Mobile user reported.
