Verizon down in parts of the U.S. (UPDATE-2)
Other Verizon-powered wireless providers such as Visible and Straight Talk are also affected.
Verizon outage impacts United States | Image by PhoneArena
UPDATE 2: Verizon was able to resolve the issue as fiber cuts caused the disruption in service yesterday afternoon in West Texas. The carrier said that its engineering team worked with its partners to restore service at 6 AM EDT today.
UPDATE:Verizon says that a fiber cut has caused service interruptions in West Texas, including Amarillo, Odessa, San Angelo, and Midland. Verizon is working to fix the issues impacting mobile outages and SOS mode readings on customer phones.
Verizon subscribers in West Texas and other areas in the south are having problems with their Verizon service
Verizon subscribers in the southern part of the United States are having issues with their service today. On the Downdetector website, a Verizon subscriber in South Atlanta says that his iPhone is in SOS mode, which means that his handset is not connected to a cellular network. Since 3:15 this afternoon, he has been only able to FaceTime or use Google Meet using Wi-Fi.
Another Verizon subscriber, this one in Odessa, Texas, has Wi-Fi calling only, and Verizon customers in Lubbock, Texas are also being impacted as are those in Amarillo, Texas where there are no mobile tower signals. 51% of the issues reported are problems with subscribers' mobile phones, 18% are getting no signals, and 16% are having problems with their 5G home internet.
Verizon reveals the fiber cut that caused the outage. | Image by Verizon
Some Verizon subscribers are expressing their anger on Downdetector
Things must be so brutal for some Verizon subscribers that they are threatening the carrier. One customer from an unknown location wrote, "I’m suing Verizon this is beyond ridiculous I can’t keep doing this with an unreliable piece of crap phone service so see you in court Verizon." Another customer writes, "SOS signal for the last 3+ hours here in Big Spring, TX. Tech support says they're working on it."
Sometimes losing wireless connectivity is more than just losing the ability to make and take calls. As one Verizon subscriber pointed out in a message he posted in Downdetector, the outage has hit the two-hour mark in Odessa, Texas. After calling out Verizon and characterizing the outage as being unacceptable, he types that, "People use their phones to make money while being away from Wi-Fi and currently losing money."
Verizon subscribers have reported problems with their Verizon service. | Image by Downdetector
The locations that have sent in the most complaints to Downdetector about Verizon's service are:
- Lubbock
- Midland
- Dallas
- Odessa
- Amarillo
- San Angelo
- New York City
- Atlanta
- Abilene
Other wireless providers associated with Verizon, such as Visible and Straight Talk, are having the same issue
At 5:07 PM EDT, Downdetector recorded 172 complaints from Verizon subscribers and that number soared to 2,530 just 30 minutes later. The number of Verizon subscribers complaining has since pulled back to 1,677 at 6:37 PM EDT. Downdetector still says that "User reports show problems with Verizon."
Verizon's Visible unit also is suffering with outages, which makes sense since it is a digital MVNO that uses Verizon's network. The areas where Visible users are having problems include:
- Lubbock
- Amarillo
- Dallas
- Midland
- Abilene
- San Angelo
- Odessa
- Atlanta
- Houston
These are cities in the south, and it corresponds with most of the cities where Verizon customers complained. As of now, Verizon has not given the all-clear signal, and we will let you know when this has all been resolved.
Service may not be resumed until 7:20 AM EDT
According to the Winkler County Sheriff's Office, Verizon says that it will need 12 to 14 hours to repair the issue. That means that service might not be restored until 5:20 AM to 7:20 AM EDT.
There is some dark humor that we can find in this story. A Reddit subscriber with the username "UnstoppableAura" wrote that she spent three hours with Verizon support because of the outage. She was given directions to delete her eSIM and could not activate another one. She ended up going to Google and found out about the fiber cut and that she didn't need to waste her whole day with Verizon support.
We are still waiting for official word from Verizon that the issue has been resolved. Right now, the carrier has engineering teams still on-site working to return service to those who are without it.
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