Over 100,000 Verizon customers stuck in SOS mode during massive service outage

10/07/2024 / By Ava Grace

Verizon customers across the U.S. reported problems accessing the company’s wireless network, with some reporting that their phone service was down and limited to SOS mode.

As of 10:11 a.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 30, more than 100,000 reports of Verizon outages had been logged with DownDetector, which tracks service outages for telecommunications providers, websites and other businesses.

Outages were reported from New York to Los Angeles, with the main complaint linked to lack of service on customers’ mobile phones. Customers began reporting problems shortly after 9:00 a.m. ET, with some turning to social media to ask Verizon for refunds.

Subscribers also turned to X to complain about the outage. “It’s been over two hours and we don’t even know why this is happening. We all pay a pretty penny for our Verizon bill, this time should be compensated until the issue is fully resolved,” one customer posted to Verizon’s customer support account on X.

Another user named Carolina Antipolo said: “@Verizon, what is going on with service?? ‘SOS only.’ Please advise!” A user named Bobby Ellison posted: “My Verizon service is completely down – no phone calls, texts, or internet. It’s stuck in SOS mode. I had to use WiFi just to get back online, and it seems like a lot of users are facing the same issue.”

The company issued a statement Monday afternoon.

“Verizon engineers are making progress on our network issue, and service has started to be restored,” a spokesperson for the telecommunications company said. “We know how much people rely on Verizon and apologize for any inconvenience some of our customers experienced today. We continue to work around the clock to fully resolve this issue.” (Related: Mobile phone networks (i.e., Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) allow Big Government to rig and steal elections: HERE’S HOW.)

Service was fully restored by Monday evening.

Subscribers were disappointed, threatened to cancel service

As of 4:30 p.m. ET of the same day, Verizon’s statement about the outage had drawn more than 7,000 responses on X, many from customers asking for updates and expressing anger about the disruption. Some noted they were unable to make business calls or reschedule appointments because of the service disruption, with many customers vowing to switch carriers.

“As soon as this problem is fixed I’m canceling my service,” one customer wrote in response to Verizon’s X post. “Mostly because you have yet to say what the cause of this is … and it’s not just ‘some customers.’ It’s on a very wide scale.”

According to mobile phone manufacturer Apple, phones will sometimes switch to SOS mode when they’re having trouble connecting to a wireless network. SOS mode means the phone can still make emergency calls, such as 911, by connecting to other carriers.

During the outage, some customers complained that it was making it impossible for them to use two-factor authentication, which is when a company sends a code via text to a customer’s mobile phone during login as an added security precaution.

“How can I log into my Verizon account if I can’t verify who I am by getting a text because of an outage?” one user asked on X.

The outage appears to have affected both iPhone and Android users, according to tech site Bleeping Computer.

Watch this video about widespread outages.

This video is from the Evolution Energy Arts channel on Brighteon.com.