Verizon, the largest mobile network provider in the U.S., on Wednesday night apologized after a widespread network outage forced phones into “SOS” mode, cutting off regular calls, texts, and mobile data for much of the day.
The company quickly acknowledged the issue on social media, saying, “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 and apologize for the inconvenience.”
Later in the day, the mobile carrier shared another post that read, “Verizon engineering teams are continuing to address today’s service interruptions. Our teams remain fully deployed and are focused on the issue. We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.”
What Does SOS Mode Mean?
When a phone enters SOS mode, it cannot connect to its carrier’s network; however, it can still make emergency calls, such as dialing 911, using other available networks or satellite connections. Apple devices may show “SOS” instead of signal bars, while Android phones might display messages like “No Service” or “Mobile Network Not Detected.”
What Happened
According to reports on outage-tracking site Downdetector, the outage began around midday Eastern Time (ET), which showed complaints surging to well over 100,000 within hours. Affected users said their phones suddenly lost cellular service and displayed an “SOS” symbol, which meant that only emergency calls could be made.
As the hours passed, frustration grew. Complaints came from across the country, including New York, Florida, Texas, Missouri, and parts of the Midwest and East Coast, with users reporting that they were unable to place calls or receive texts.
In many cases, calling a Verizon number resulted in a recording saying the person was “temporarily unavailable.” Some users briefly regained service, only to see their phones revert to SOS mode later in the afternoon.
Service Restored Late Evening
At around 10:20 p.m. ET, Verizon announced that the outage had been resolved. In a post just after 10:30 p.m. ET, the company advised customers to restart their devices to reconnect to the network. It also recommended users to confirm network status online and contact customer support if problems continue.
Verizon issued a public apology, saying, “Today, we let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry.”
Credits Promised, Cause Still Unknown
Verizon said it would provide account credits to affected customers, with details to be shared directly. As of publishing time, the mobile carrier had not identified the cause of the outage.
What To Do If Your Phone Is Still In SOS Mode
For customers still seeing SOS mode after service restoration, experts recommend restarting the device, toggling cellular data off and on, checking for carrier updates, or reinserting the SIM card.
The outage underscores how even brief network failures can have a widespread impact in an increasingly mobile-dependent world.
