Verizon Network Outage: Carrier Says Network Has Been Restored After Long Day Of Issues [CNET]

If you still don’t have Verizon service on your phone, the carrier says you may want to restart your device.

If you’ve had trouble using Verizon’s network on Monday, you were not the only one. The carrier has confirmed to CNET that it has been working to fix some problems that have led to a service outage for some of its users. After a day of issues, it says on Monday evening that everything should be coming back online. 

“Verizon engineers have fully restored today’s network disruption that impacted some customers,” the carrier told CNET in a statement Monday evening. “Service has returned to normal levels. If you are still having issues, we recommend restarting your device.”

A Verizon spokesperson confirmed that it was dealing with an issue on Monday morning, and in an updated statement from 4:53 p.m. ET, the carrier confirmed the issue was still ongoing but that it was “making progress” on a fix. 

“Verizon engineers are making progress on our network issue and service has started to be restored,” the company tells CNET. “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.”

Exactly what the issues were or how many people were affected was not immediately known. It similarly is not known if the carrier will give a refund to customers to make up for the lost day of service. When AT&T suffered a network outage earlier this year it issued a $5 statement credit to all accounts to “make it right.”

While we don’t yet know the exact issue, Verizon says that the problems were unrelated to Hurricane Helene, which hit the US over the weekend. 

Problems began early Monday with some Verizon users taking to X to post how their phone has been stuck in “SOS mode,” an emergency setting that allows users to contact and connect with first responders but not regular friends, family or contacts. 

Like this if your phone is stuck in SOS mode @Verizon @VerizonSupport #Verizon

— Jalen Harper 💧 (@Scooper1946) September 30, 2024

Anyone else in Chicago having issues w/@Verizon? I’m stuck in SOS mode.

— Patty Wetli (@pattywetli) September 30, 2024

According to Downdetector, a site where users can self-report outages, issues with Verizon’s service have begun popping up across major cities including Chicago, Atlanta and New York. (Downdetector is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

T-Mobile and AT&T have confirmed to CNET earlier Monday that their respective networks are fine and that issues their respective users may be experiencing could be a result of trying to connect with a Verizon user who doesn’t have working service. 

“Based on increased reports on Down Detector related to other providers, we believe our customers may be having challenges connecting with other networks,” a T-Mobile spokesperson said. “Outside of some areas where restoration is continuing from Hurricane Helene, our network is operating normally.”