Thousands of Verizon mobile users were thrown into “SOS” mode today as the telecommunications giant experienced a widespread disruption to its cellular network.
Reports on Downdetector peaked at roughly 169,000 users around 12:51 p.m. ET and remained hovering in the tens of thousands late afternoon. Verizon’s official status map does not currently show outages, though that may be related to the disruption itself.
Beyond the inconvenience, which hit home as the East Coast moved through the latter half of the workday, the outage raised concerns about access to emergency services.
New York City officials urged residents to “call using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police or fire station to report emergencies.”
In Washington DC, officials gave the same advice via the AlertDC system.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Verizon outage — and where to get live updates.
What caused the January 2026 outage?
Verizon hadn’t confirmed the root cause of the outage as of its update shortly after 4 p.m. ET, which says its team is still “on the ground” addressing the issue.
The company first acknowledged the issue around 1 p.m. ET in a post on X, saying its engineers were investigating.
“Verizon engineering teams are continuing to address today’s service interruptions,” the company said just after 2 p.m. ET. “Our teams remain fully deployed and focused on resolving the issue.”
How is Verizon responding to it?
Verizon is keeping customers updated on its official social channels, though details are sparse. While it’s confirmed that engineers are “continuing to address” the disruptions, no specifics have been offered.
Where are customers reporting outages?
Downdetector is tracking reports all over the US. The most common locations reported are:
- New York City
- Atlanta
- Charlotte
- Houston
- Brooklyn
- Dallas
- Philadelphia
- Miami
- Ashburn
What should I do if I’m impacted by the outage?
If you’re impacted, you may see an “SOS” indicator in the corner of your phone where signal bars typically appear. This means your device cannot connect to the local cellular network.
For now, affected customers will need to wait for Verizon to restore service. In the meantime, internet-based options such as iMessage, WhatsApp and video calls can help you stay connected.
On iPhones, messages via satellite — introduced with iOS 18 — can also be turned on to avoid disruptions.
Are other cell services impacted?
It appears to just be Verizon. If you’re on another network and experiencing outages, that may be because you’re trying to reach a Verizon customer.
So far, both AT&T and T-Mobile have posted on X that they’re still up-and-running.
Visible, a wireless provider that operates on Verizon’s network, also saw a spike in Downdetector reports this afternoon, though only a few dozen that may not be related.
How common are cell outages?
Small, localized outages are fairly common and usually brief, often caused by issues like downed lines or severe weather. Large-scale outages like this one, however, are rare. Verizon’s last major disruption occurred in 2024, when thousands of customers lost service for several hours.
