Verizon customers had their Labor Day weekend plans disrupted when a major software glitch knocked out service for thousands of people across the country. The outage, which started Saturday morning and lasted into Sunday evening, left many smartphones displaying "SOS Only" instead of their usual network bars.
At its peak, more than 23,000 customers reported problems on Downdetector, with many phones completely unable to make regular calls or send texts. The outage hit major cities from coast to coast, including New York, Chicago, the Bay Area, and Miami.
As reported by The Verge, Verizon blamed the widespread disruption on "a software issue impacting wireless service for some customers," with company engineers working around the clock to restore connections.
While Verizon initially said only "some customers" were affected, the reality was much more extensive, with reports suggesting up to 50% of customers in certain areas lost service completely.
The good news? If your phone got stuck in that frustrating "SOS Only" mode, there are several simple fixes you can try. When your iPhone shows "SOS," it means the device can't connect to your regular cellular network but can still make emergency calls through other carriers' towers.
The easiest solution is often just restarting your phone - not just turning it off and on, but doing a proper restart. For newer iPhones, quickly press the volume up button, then volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.
You can also try the "airplane mode trick" - turn on airplane mode for at least 15 seconds, then turn it off to force your phone to reconnect to the network. If you're still having trouble, check that your cellular data is actually turned on in Settings, and make sure you haven't accidentally disabled it.
Verizon is now offering compensation to customers who were affected by the outage, though the amount varies depending on how you ask for it. The company's standard policy is to provide credits when outages last more than 24 hours, which this one certainly did for many users.
This wasn't just an inconvenience - network outages like this can have serious economic impacts. Studies show that just one hour of network downtime can cost approximately $459 million in lost economic activity across various industries.
For Verizon customers still experiencing lingering issues, the company recommends checking their network status page and contacting customer service. Most service has been fully restored, but if your phone is still acting up, those restart tricks are worth trying before calling for help.
Source: The Verge
