Verizon is currently experiencing a major outage impacting wireless service for many customers across the United States, especially on the eastern half of the country, with phones often stuck in “SOS” mode and calls/data failing to go through. Verizon has acknowledged the problem and says its engineers are actively working to restore service, but has not given a firm timeline yet.

What is going on with Verizon service?

  • Tens of thousands of Verizon users are reporting issues placing calls, sending texts, and using mobile data, with outage-reporting sites showing spikes well over 100,000 reports at peak times today.
  • Many phones are showing SOS or no signal at all, meaning the device can only attempt emergency calls on other networks, not regular calls or data on Verizon.
  • The disruption appears to be nationwide but is hitting the eastern U.S. particularly hard, according to outage maps and live-tracking sites.

What Verizon is saying

  • Verizon has publicly confirmed that there is an ongoing network issue affecting some wireless services, including voice and data for a portion of customers.
  • The company says its engineering teams are engaged and working to diagnose and fix the problem as quickly as possible, and has apologized for the inconvenience and impact on users’ day.
  • As of the latest updates, Verizon has not provided a clear cause (for example, software bug vs. equipment failure) or an exact ETA for full restoration.

Are other carriers affected?

  • Outage trackers are also seeing smaller spikes in reports for AT&T and T-Mobile, but those carriers say their own networks are operating normally.
  • Some of the reported issues on other carriers may be due to people trying to reach Verizon numbers, which can fail even if the caller’s own network is fine.

What you can do right now

  • Try turning airplane mode on and off, or fully restarting your phone; this occasionally helps if your area has partially recovered, but will not fix a true network-wide outage.
  • If available, switch to Wi‑Fi and enable Wi‑Fi Calling in your phone’s settings so you can still make and receive calls and messages over an internet connection instead of the cellular network.
  • For critical communication, consider alternative channels like messaging apps over Wi‑Fi, landlines, or another carrier’s line until Verizon’s network stabilizes.

Recent context and trends

  • This is one of the more significant Verizon disruptions in recent months, with outage reports hitting into the six-figure range during today’s peak.
  • Verizon had previous high-profile outages in recent years tied to software or network issues, and today’s incident is drawing similar levels of frustration on social media and forums, where many users are sharing complaints and workarounds.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.