Thousands of Verizon users are reporting that their phones have lost network connection and are in “SOS” mode as of Wednesday afternoon.
According to Downdetector, around 180,000 reports relating to the provider had been logged by 12:30 ET Wednesday. The numbers were starting to fall slightly as of 1:40 p.m. ET, according to the website.
Verizon has acknowledged the issue, which appeared to start just after noon ET, in responses to social media users reporting problems with their phones.
“We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is an apologize for the inconvenience,” a Verizon spokesperson said in an X post.
It’s unclear what might be causing the connectivity problems. Verizon’s own Network Status map was not showing spikes anywhere in the country earlier on Wednesday.
Customers from other major carries — such as AT&T and T-Mobiles — also began reporting outages around a similar time, according to Downdetector.
The actual number of users affected by the outage may differ from those figures, as Downdetector reports are submitted by users.
Still, Verizon users took to social media to voice their frustrations at the latest outage.
“Looks like Verizon is having a major outage again,” one wrote. “My iPhone is down to no service but my galaxy on unlimited welcome is fine.”
In late 2024, Verizon experienced a nationwide outage that caused issues for more than 100,000 users at its peak. In that incident, iPhone users devices were similarly stuck in “SOS” mode.
This is a developing story….
