WASHINGTON — A Verizon outage Monday left tens of thousands of customers unable to make calls, text or access mobile data for several hours.
More than 100,000 customers reported issues with their cell service, according to the outage tracking website DownDetector. The outage left many iPhone users in SOS mode, meaning it can only make emergency calls.
"We are aware of an issue impacting service for some customers," Verizon confirmed in a statement Monday morning. "Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue."
As of 5 p.m. ET, the company said it is continuing to resolve the network outage and that "service has started to be restored."
The Federal Communications Commission said Monday afternoon it was aware of the Verizon outage impacting parts of the country.
"We are working to determine the cause and extent of these service disruptions," the FCC said in a statement.
AT&T, which suffered its own hourslong service outage back in February, publicly said Monday that its national network is working fine.
"Down Detector is likely reflecting challenges our customers are having attempting to connect to users on another network," AT&T posted on social media.
When will the Verizon outage be fixed?
As of 5 p.m. ET, the company said it is continuing to resolve the network outage and that "service has started to be restored."
"We know how much people rely on Verizon and apologize for any inconvenience some of our customers experienced today. We continue to work around the clock to fully resolve this issue," Verizon said in an X post.
Why is my phone in SOS mode? What is SOS mode?
SOS mode is simply a way for your iPhone to tell you that you don't have a proper cellular connection, meaning you're only able to call or text emergency services through the cellular network.
iPhone 14 or newer models also have satellite SOS capability, so you're able to call 911 even when outside of any cellular service range, unless you're some place where signal can't get out at all.
Android phones will also let you call 911 without service, although it's not called SOS mode.
What can I do when my phone has no service?
Wi-Fi calling is a built-in feature on most Android devices and iPhones and can be turned on under the phone's settings.
If Wi-Fi isn't available, there are few options for cell phone users. It's possible to switch services if a phone is unlocked, but that requires signing up online and porting your phone number.
Some apps, including Google Maps, have limited service offline. Payment apps also do not use a phone's cell service to work and should also be useable.
Chris McCrory contributed to this report.
