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Verizon phones across the US have had trouble connecting since about noon Eastern, Verizon says it’s aware of the issue.
Verizon phones across the US have had trouble connecting since about noon Eastern, Verizon says it’s aware of the issue.
by
Jan 14, 2026, 6:44 PM UTC
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
is a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget.
The first big outage of 2026 is here, as Verizon customers across the US, including several of our phones, complain that service has been spotty or nonexistent starting at around noon ET, with phones switching to SOS Mode and being unable to connect. This cell service outage follows a “software issue” that cut off service for many people in August for several hours, and while Verizon has acknowledged the issue, there is no word yet on when it will be fixed.
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.
On DownDetector, the number of reports listed has dropped to about 130,000 after peaking with nearly double that at around 1PM ET, but according to our own testing, as well as other posts on social media, many phones are still offline or only connecting intermittently. We have contacted Verizon, and will update this article when more information is available.
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