Verizon customers across the United States lost cellular service on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. Phones showed “SOS” instead of signal bars. Many users could not make calls, send texts, or use mobile data. Reports from outage tracker Downdetector peaked in the early afternoon.
Verizon’s Official Statement
Verizon first confirmed the outage on social media around early afternoon Eastern Time. The carrier said engineers were working to identify and fix the problem.
“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.”
— Verizon Support on X, posted around 1 p.m. ET.
This statement came before a follow-up later in the afternoon.
Follow-Up Update From Verizon
In a second post roughly an hour after the first, Verizon said its engineering teams were still addressing the service problems and remained fully deployed.
“Verizon engineering teams are continuing to address today’s service interruptions. Our teams remain fully deployed and are focused on the issue. We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.”
The second update confirmed the outage was ongoing as of mid-afternoon.
How Users Are Affected
Outage reports began rising around midday Eastern Time. Many users in major cities said their phones showed “SOS” instead of normal service. That status means the device can make emergency calls only, and has no regular network connection.
Downdetector logged more than 175,000 outage reports by early afternoon, indicating a widespread disruption.
T-Mobile Response
T Mobile acknowledged the situation and said its own network was functioning normally. The carrier noted that customers might still experience problems reaching Verizon users because of the outage on the Verizon network.
No Confirmed Cause Yet
Verizon has not shared a cause or a timeline for full restoration. Network issues with one major carrier can affect connectivity with other carriers. Early reports noted fewer issue reports for AT&T and T Mobile compared with Verizon.
For now, the outage continues and customers should expect intermittent or limited service until Verizon restores full network operations.
I believe the outage had something to do with the ESIM phones. I have 3 Verizon Wireless phones in my house and the 2 that use ESIMs were not working, while the one with a SIM Card was working.