At 12:30 PM ET on January 14, a widespread Verizon wireless outage left millions unable to call, text, or use data across the United States. Phones across multiple states showed SOS mode as the Verizon outage spread, with some users unable to reach 911 and hospital systems stalling.<br /><br />Downdetector logged more than 175,000 concurrent reports during the nationwide outage, while AT&T and T-Mobile services operated normally. Experts described a core network failure, and Verizon engineers reportedly spent nearly ten hours working to identify the cause.<br /><br />Background includes a late-2024 outage, AT&T’s February 2024 peak of about 74,000 reports, and 13,000 Verizon layoffs in November 2025 under CEO Dan Schulman; by 9 PM, Verizon acknowledged it had not met expected standards.
