Verizon outage: What’s causing Verizon phones to show SOS? here’s what we know | Find a Way

Verizon outage: What's causing Verizon phone to show SOS? here's what we know

What to know about a major Verizon outage.

By 

Matthews Martins

 on January 14, 2026

Credit: Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Updated on Jan. 15 at 1:41 p.m. ET: Verizon confirmed Thursday that its massive outage was caused by a software issue and not by a bad actor.

"This was a software issue, and we are conducting a full review of what happened. As of now, there is no indication that this was a cybersecurity issue," the company said in a statement sent to Mashable.

SEE ALSO:Verizon outage cause revealed

Updated on Jan. 14 at 11:51 p.m. ET: Verizon states that the outage has now been resolved, though hasn't yet shared any details on what caused it. If you're still having difficulty connecting to the network, Verizon recommends restarting your device. The company also confirmed again that it will provide account credits to impacted customers.

Updated on Jan. 14 at 9:22 p.m ET: Verizon has posted an update about the situation on X, stating that it is working through the night to solve the issue and has been "making progress." The company also apologised for the outage, and said it would issue account credits to impacted customers. Unfortunately, there is still no information on when service might be restored, or what caused it the outage.

Updated on Jan. 14 at 8:00 p.m. ET: Eight hours after the mobile outage began, Verizon still hasn't made any statements on the cause of the problem, and customers are still reporting a lack of service. The problem is serious enough that the Federal Communications Commission has now weighed in:

Updated on Jan. 14 at 5:57 p.m. ET: The platform Downdetector has now received more than 1.7 million user error reports for Verizon. By Wednesday evening, some Verizon customers reported restored service; however, many social media users are still complaining of ongoing problems.

Verizon has not yet explained the source of the outage or provided a timeline for a potential fix. On X, a Verizon support account suggested that customers may receive a discount on their phone bill based on the outage.

Updated on Jan. 14 at 4:46 p.m. ET: Verizon issued a new statement Wednesday afternoon, saying its team was on the ground working on a resolution.

"Verizon's team is on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue that is impacting some customers," the company posted on X. "We know this is a huge inconvenience, and our top priority is to get you back online and connected as fast as possible. We appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this issue."

Updated on Jan. 14 at 4:02 p.m. ET: As the Verizon outage continued, T-Mobile issued a statement on X confirming its own network was still working normally:

At this time, only Verizon has confirmed a wireless network outage.

Updated on Jan. 14 at 2:27 p.m. ET: Verizon issued a new statement regarding its ongoing service disruptions. The company indicated the issues persisted, but that it was working on a fix.

"Verizon engineering teams are continuing to address today's service interruptions," the company wrote on X. "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."

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On Wednesday afternoon, thousands of Verizon mobile customers reported an outage, with widespread service outages sending some customers' phones into SOS mode.

User-reported issues spiked at Downdetector around midday Eastern time. (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.)

"Verizon is currently grappling with a nationwide service disruption that has generated over 1 million reports (1,053,104) within the last 24 hours," noted Downdetector in an update Wednesday afternoon. The majority of Downdetector users reported problems with either "total loss of signal" or "mobile phone failure."

Verizon's support page on X wrote that it was aware users were having issues and that it was working on fixing the problem. A company representative provided the same statement to Mashable.

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"We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers," the account posted. "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."

As the outage continued, users shared their frustration on social media.

What does SOS mean on your phone?

In short, when you see SOS on your phone, it means you're not connected to a cellular network. "If you see SOS or 'SOS only' in the status bar, your device isn't connected to your cellular network, but you can still make emergency calls through other carrier networks," reads an Apple support page on the feature.

In short, while affected customers will be unable to make or receive calls and texts or access data services, they should still be able to place emergency 911 calls via satellite.

Are T-Mobile, AT&T having issues, too?

Around the same time user-reported issues for Verizon spiked, the same trend occurred for T-Mobile and AT&T. Both services experienced spikes in reports on Downdetector. That does not mean, however, that the carriers were necessarily experiencing the same issue confirmed by Verizon. Downdetector tracks user-reported issues, which can be made in error or for an entirely different problem.

What is the cause of the Verizon outage?

So far, Verizon has not released any information on the cause of the January 2026 outage. However, this isn't the first time Verizon customers have dealt with service disruptions.

Verizon mobile customers also experienced brief outages in August and October 2025, which Verizon eventually attributed to software issues. A service disruption in 2024 also sent some Verizon customers' phones into SOS mode.

This story is developing and will be updated as necessary...

Topics AT&T