Verizon outage: Users report stuck in SOS mode

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FILE - In this photo illustration, Verizon Communications Inc. logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Verizon customers across the U.S. reported problems with their phone service on Wednesday.

Customers of other carriers, including AT&T and T-Mobile, also reported issues, though at significantly lower levels than Verizon. 

Is Verizon down?

What we know:

Reports of problems began coming in to DownDetector around 12:00 p.m. ET on January 14.

According to DownDetector, which tracks outages, there were more than 171,000 reports of Verizon outages as of 12:30 p.m. ET.

Half of users were self-reporting issues with mobile signal. Other users were reporting issues with WiFi and broadband internet.

What they're saying:

The company confirmed the outage on social media.

"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," the company said on social media platform X. "We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience."

Verizon outage continues

At 2 p.m. ET, Verizon issued another update on the Verizon outage, stating that, "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 we don't know:

As of Wednesday afternoon, it was still unclear what the issue was or what caused the outages.

DownDetector outages

Dig deeper:

There were also more than 1,600 T-Mobile and AT&T outages reported, as well, but T-Mobile said its operations were running "normally and as expected."

Half of T-Mobile users were self-reporting issues with "no signal," followed by issues with 5G home internet and mobile internet. AT&T users reported issues with mobile signal and WiFi.

In a statement, T-Mobile told FOX Local that its users were not facing issues.

"T-Mobile’s network is keeping our customers connected, and we’ve confirmed that our network is operating normally and as expected. However, due to Verizon’s reported outage, our customers may not be able to reach someone with Verizon service at this time," T-Mobile said.

iPhone, Android ‘SOS’ only – what does it mean?

Big picture view:

During the outage, iPhone and Android users reported seeing SOS or "SOS only" in the status bar. 

This means the device isn't connected to a network, but the phone users can still make emergency calls.

This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.