NEW YORK (Reuters) — Verizon Communications confirmed a nationwide wireless outage on Wednesday afternoon that left tens of thousands of customers unable to make calls or access data services, prompting emergency alerts in major cities.
The nation’s largest wireless carrier said its engineers are working to identify and resolve the issue after service disruptions began around noon Eastern Time. According to outage tracking website Downdetector, more than 175,000 customers reported problems at the peak of the incident, with many users reporting their devices displayed “SOS” mode indicating no network connection.
“We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers,” Verizon said in a statement posted on social media. “Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly.”
The outage affected customers across the eastern United States, with particularly heavy concentrations of reports in major metropolitan areas including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington. Emergency management officials in Washington and New York City issued alerts warning residents that the disruption could affect their ability to contact 911.
“If you have an emergency and cannot connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please connect using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police district or fire station to report the emergency,” Washington’s AlertDC system told residents in an official notification.
Verizon, which serves more than 146 million customers nationwide, provided an update at 2:15 p.m. Eastern Time stating that engineering teams remain “fully deployed and are focused on the issue.” The company apologized for the inconvenience but did not provide an estimated timeline for full service restoration.
T-Mobile confirmed its network was operating normally, though a spokesperson noted that T-Mobile customers may be unable to reach Verizon subscribers during the outage. Reports on Downdetector declined from the midday peak to approximately 67,000 by mid-afternoon, suggesting gradual restoration of service.
Verizon experienced a similar nationwide outage in September 2024 that affected more than 100,000 users and lasted several hours.
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Jesse Zanger is the managing editor of aldalive.com and is based in New York City. He earned a degree in Philosophy from Hamilton College in 1998. Jesse has spent his entire professional career in New York, reporting on both local and national news for MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, Spectrum News NY1, Fox News, and 5ebackgrounds.com. During his time at local News Channel, he was part of the team that helped introduce the on-screen news crawl shortly after 9/11. As a member of the leadership team at 5ebackgrounds.com, the site has received notable industry honors, including a New York State Broadcasters Association Award (2019) and a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award (2017).
