DIGITAL LIFE

Verizon Wireless Outage Leaves Customers In The Dark Across The US

Some Verizon customers across the U.S. were hit by a service outage Monday. The issue appeared to knock out cellphone service for tens of thousands of Verizon users. Data from outage tracker DownDetector shows that reports topped 100,000 shortly after 11 a.m. ET—and while that number dropped significantly, nearly 48,000 were still facing issues closer to 4 p.m. ET.

Frustrated users online shared that they didn't have service in many parts of the country—including the Southeastern U.S., where residents are still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. But the outage wasn't isolated to one region. DownDetector's map also showed many reports coming from the West Coast, Midwest and Northeast.

For those affected, this means they will not be able to make calls, send or receive text messages, or access the web unless they have a WiFi signal available. According to the website Outage.Report, the outage started at 9:04am ET. The heat map (seen below) on the website shows the outage affecting nearly every state in the continental US.

In an update posted on social media platform X, New York-based Verizon wrote that it was "aware of an issue impacting service for some customers." The company added that it had engineers looking into the problem and was "working quickly to identify and solve the issue."

The Federal Communications Commission also acknowledged the outage later in the day, but didn't provide further details beyond saying it was looking to determine the cause.

Some Verizon iPhone customers saw SOS messages displayed in the status bar on their cellphones. The message indicates that the device is having trouble connecting to their cellular provider's network, but it can make emergency calls through other carrier networks.

During cell service outages like this, one alternative is connecting to nearby Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi calling is also a built-in feature on most Android devices and iPhones and can be turned on under the phone's settings.

Downdetector also shows a massive outage for Verizon customers on its website. According to the website, the most reported locations include, Chicago, Phoenix, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, among a few others. It does appear, however, that the number of people without service is slowly beginning to come down.

Many owners of a new iPhone 16 (and other iPhone models) may be seeing the SOS icon, instead of the typical 5G/LTE signal indicator at the top left of their screen right now. This is because for iPhone users who are being affected by the Verizon outage, the SOS status means the iPhone is not connected to a cellular network, but it can still be used to make emergency calls.

The outage has been trending on social media as well. On X, one user posted, “Everyone running to Twitter to see if Verizon is down.” While another user posted, “The cool thing about Twitter is that you can see if anyone else is having some sort of issue as you are, which why I’m glad I’m not alone in Verizon being down at the moment lol. Thought it was just me.”

The cellular outage has affected at least one writer who uses Verizon with HotHardware, Ben Funk, but this writer still has service with the carrier in South Carolina. How about all of you? Have any you been affected by the outage? Let us know in the comments.

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