Verizon Outage Disrupts Mobile Services Across the US Affecting 911 Calls
Verizon faces major service outages impacting mobile calls and data nationwide, complicating emergency 911 access for some users.
Washington, DC: Verizon customers started having problems with their mobile service around noon ET on Wednesday. Many people said they could not make calls or use their data. Even Verizon’s broadband internet customers faced similar issues. Other services like AT&T and T-Mobile also had reported problems, likely linked to Verizon’s outage.
Verizon spokesman Christina Moon Ashraf told WIRED, “We know about the issue affecting voice and data services for some users. Our team is working hard to fix it quickly.” On the other hand, a T-Mobile spokesperson stated their service was running fine but noted that T-Mobile customers might have trouble contacting Verizon users. AT&T shared that their network was normal but that issues were due to another carrier.
A website called DownDetector showed many complaints about service problems for the three major US mobile carriers. Several users with iPhones and Androids reported their phones were stuck in SOS mode, meaning they could only make emergency calls. Some found this made it hard to dial 911.
The emergency alert channel in Washington, DC, posted at 12:57 pm ET, saying they were aware of the Verizon outage. They advised that if users could not reach 911 with their Verizon phone, they should try a different phone, use a landline, or go to a police or fire station to report emergencies.
These kinds of outages have happened before, where one carrier’s problems also affect others because calls can’t be routed properly. A mobile network researcher, Syed Rafiul Hussain, suggested the issue might be a server setup problem within Verizon’s main network, not a coordinated attack against their system.
By around 10:20 pm ET, Verizon announced that the outage was fixed. Moon Ashraf urged users still having trouble to restart their devices. The company said it would give account credits to affected customers and promised more details later. They also apologized for the hassle. Earlier that evening, they had said their teams would keep working until all services were back to normal.