VERIZON-OUTAGES/ (UPDATE 4): Update 4: Tens of thousands of US users are experiencing a disruption in Verizon’s mobile network.
September 30 On Monday, tens of thousands of Verizon customers experienced service interruptions nationwide. Chicago and Indianapolis were the hardest-hit locations, and some iPhone users found themselves in “SOS” mode.
The outage started at about 9:30 a.m. ET, according to tracking website Downdetector.com, and as of 12:28 p.m. ET, there had been 66,761 reports, with Minneapolis, Phoenix, Omaha, and Denver among the most often reported places.
Verizon Communications acknowledged that there was a problem affecting its offerings. “Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue.”
On the social media site X, some Verizon customers claimed that their phones were locked in “SOS” mode.
According to Apple’s website, if an iPhone is not connected to a cellular network, “SOS” shows in the status bars; however, the device can still make emergency calls through other carriers.
As of 12:25 p.m. ET, the outage tracking website also displayed 1,111 incident reports from AT&T customers. However, the carrier insisted that there was no statewide outage and that the network was functioning correctly.
“Downdetector is likely reflecting challenges our customers are having attempting to connect to users on another network,” AT&T stated in an article on X.
Rival in the market AT&T experienced statewide wireless outages in February that affected over 70,000 subscribers and lasted for more than 12 hours.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, the AT&T outage that blocked over 92 million voice calls and over 25,000 attempts to contact 911 is being looked into.
The Verizon outage was announced just hours after the company revealed an agreement to pay $3.3 billion to infrastructure firm Vertical Bridge for the rights to lease, maintain, and operate 6,339 mobile towers across the United States.
