Nationwide Verizon Outage Disrupts Cellphone Service for Thousands
On Monday, Verizon experienced a significant service disruption, leaving tens of thousands of customers across the U.S. without cellphone access for much of the day.
According to outage tracker DownDetector, reports of service interruptions surged after 11 a.m. ET, with the number of affected users peaking at over 100,000. Although the situation improved in the afternoon, nearly 48,000 customers were still facing issues by 4 p.m. ET.
Widespread Impact
The outage affected users across various regions, with reports coming from the Southeastern U.S., West Coast, Midwest, and Northeast. The Southeastern region was particularly impacted, as some residents were still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Frustrated customers took to social media to voice their concerns. Verizon acknowledged the outage, stating that their engineers were working diligently to identify and resolve the problem.
SOS Messages and FCC Involvement
Many Verizon iPhone users saw “SOS” messages in their status bars, signaling that their devices were unable to connect to the Verizon network. This message typically appears during network issues but allows devices to make emergency calls through other carrier networks.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also acknowledged the outage and is actively investigating the situation. While they provided limited details, the FCC assured the public they are working to determine the cause of the disruption and prevent future incidents.
Wi-Fi Calling as an Alternative
During cellphone service outages, users can turn to Wi-Fi calling as an alternative. Most Android devices and iPhones have built-in Wi-Fi calling features, which can be enabled in the device’s settings. These features allow users to make calls over a Wi-Fi connection.
Verizon continues to work on resolving the outage. In the meantime, customers are advised to stay connected through Wi-Fi until the issue is fully resolved.