Verizon customers across the U.S. are reporting problems accessing the company’s wireless network, with some reporting their phone service was down and restricted to SOS mode on Monday morning.
As of 10:11 a.m. ET, DownDetector, a site that tracks outages for telecom providers, websites, and other companies, had logged more than 100,000 reports of Verizon outages.
Power outages were reported from New York to Los Angeles, with the main complaints related to customers’ cellphones being without service.
Customers began reporting problems shortly after 9 a.m. ET, and some took to social media to ask Verizon for refunds.
“It’s been over 2 hours and I don’t even know why this is happening. We all pay a significant amount of money to our Verizon bills. Until the issue is completely resolved, This time should be compensated,” one customer posted on Verizon’s customer support account. With X.
People across the country said that no services other than SOS mode were available on their phones.
“There was an SOS in Ohio this morning. I was working on it while driving to work, but it went down a few hours ago and hasn’t come back,” one user wrote on DownDetector.
Verizon said in a statement emailed to CBS MoneyWatch that it is aware of the issue.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware of an issue impacting service for some customers.” “Our engineers are diligent and working quickly to identify and resolve issues.”
What is SOS mode?
Your phone may switch to SOS mode if it has problems connecting to your wireless network. According to Apple, as the name suggests, SOS mode means the phone can connect to other carriers to make emergency calls, such as 911.
Some customers complained on social media that the outage prevented them from using two-factor authentication, where companies text a code to customers’ phones when they log in as an additional security precaution. Customers then use the code to access their Verizon account, as well as accounts such as their financial services account and work email.
“Also, how do I log into my verizon account if I receive a text message and can’t verify myself due to a disability?” one user wrote on X.