UPDATE (10:30 a.m. ET): Verizon says it will issue $20 credits to customer who were impacted by the service outage. (NBC News)Photo: Getty Images North America
UPDATE (10:30 a.m. ET): Verizon says it will issue $20 credits to customer who were impacted by the service outage. (NBC News)
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Verizon customers across the United States experienced a widespread wireless outage Wednesday that disrupted voice and data services for much of the day before service was restored late Wednesday night, the carrier said.
Reports of service loss began around midday Eastern Time, with outage tracker DownDetector showing hundreds of thousands of complaints at the peak. Many users saw their phones display “SOS” or no signal, indicating loss of normal connectivity.
Verizon acknowledged the problem on social media, saying engineers were working to resolve the issue and apologized for the disruption. The company said affected customers will receive account credits, though it didn’t immediately disclose what caused the outage.
Officials in some cities warned that emergency calls could be affected, advising residents to use landlines or other carriers if possible during the outage.