Verizon Outage Traps Thousands in SOS Mode Nationwide

According to reports, on August 30, 2025, Verizon customers across the United States experienced a major service disruption, with thousands unable to make regular calls, send texts, or access mobile data. The outage left many devices stuck in "SOS mode," which only allows emergency calls.

Downdetector, a website that tracks online outages, recorded over 18,000 reports of Verizon service issues from cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York. Customers took to social media to express their frustration, criticizing Verizon for not providing timely updates or acknowledging the outage.

In response, Verizon issued a statement acknowledging a "software issue" that was impacting wireless service for some customers. The company said its engineers were working to identify and resolve the problem, and apologized for the inconvenience caused.

However, many users were dissatisfied with Verizon's handling of the situation, with some threatening to switch to a more transparent carrier. The outage also affected business calls and two-factor authentication for some users, further compounding the disruption.

As of August 31, 2025, Verizon had not provided an estimated time for full service restoration. The company recommended that customers try troubleshooting steps like restarting their devices and using Wi-Fi calling when available, while it continued to work on resolving the underlying software issue.