On September 30, 2024, an estimated tens of millions of Verizon customers around the country lost major cellular service and couldn’t call or go online. The widespread disruption frustrated users-especially as their phones slipped into “SOS” mode, which only allows emergency calls and reflects that it is disconnected from the cellular network.
We are aware of an issue impacting service for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue.
— Verizon News (@VerizonNews) September 30, 2024
The issue started around 9:30 a.m., and by noon, more than 100,000 complaints had been filed on Downdetector, a site that monitors online service disruptions. The outage was most visibly manifested in key cities such as New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and other East Coast metropolitan cities, though reports filtered from all over the country, including states as far-flung as California and Michigan.
Complaints varied in the cases, where users of the iPhone complained that their units hung in the SOS mode. One even tweeted:
Trying to get through a workday, and my phone has been in SOS For Hours. This is really frustrating.
Another said: “It’s Monday morning and I can’t make any calls! Come on, Verizon!”
Verizon acknowledged the problem through its support channels, responding to upset users via its account on X, formerly Twitter. Their messages, however, did little to calm nerves. “We do understand that it is very important for our customers to stay connected, and we’re working to resolve the issue,” Verizon said in response to the complaints, but by afternoon no specific cause for the outage had been identified.
Verizon has more than 114 million subscribers within the United States, and officials were more surprised by the outage due to its widespread nature. Though Verizon has witnessed outages in the past, the extent of disruption on this occasion-to calls and internet services alike-has decidedly made it a greater concern. Users reported their phones were all but useless for hours-an incalculable inconvenience as every second of life is hooked to the gadget in today’s always-connected life.
While it reassured its customers that engineers were at work to solve the problem and restore the service, as of midday, there was no timeline for full restoration availed. As of now, users can only cross their fingers and wait for further updates by Verizon.
