A major outage hit Verizon's network on January 14, 2026, affecting voice calls and wireless data for customers across the United States. Users reported seeing 'SOS' on their phones instead of signal bars, with peak outage reports exceeding 180,000. Verizon acknowledged the issue and stated its engineers were working to resolve it quickly.
The outage began around noon ET on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, leaving many Verizon customers unable to make calls or access mobile data, though text messages largely continued to function. Reports on DownDetector surged, peaking at over 181,000 within hours, with a total exceeding 2 million by late afternoon. The disruption was most pronounced in eastern U.S. cities including Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C., but also affected areas like Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Verizon confirmed the problem in statements on X, 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 updates noted that teams were "fully deployed" and "on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue that is impacting some customers," emphasizing the company's commitment to restoration.
Some users experienced intermittent service returns, only for connections to fail again, while others remained in SOS mode. The outage also impacted broadband internet for some and potentially hindered calls to 911 in affected areas. Reports from AT&T and T-Mobile customers were minor and likely stemmed from attempts to reach Verizon users, as both carriers confirmed their networks were operating normally. T-Mobile noted that its customers might not reach Verizon subscribers, and AT&T quipped on X, "Our network? Solid. If you're experiencing issues, it's not us...it's the other guys."
By evening, tens of thousands of reports persisted, with the incident lasting around seven hours at the time of latest updates. Verizon has not disclosed the cause, reminiscent of a similar 2024 outage. In response, some customers inquired about bill credits, and Krispy Kreme offered free doughnuts from 4 to 7 p.m. to ease frustrations, though participation varied by location.
