At a Glance
- A Verizon service outage peaked at 180,000 DownDetector reports around 11:40 a.m. CT on Wednesday.
- Customers in major cities, including Chicago, lost calls, texts, and saw phones stuck in “SOS mode.”
- Service was fully restored around 9:20 p.m. CT/10:20 p.m. ET.
- Verizon promises account credits and issued multiple public apologies.
Why it matters: Millions lost basic communication for most of the day, and the carrier still hasn’t explained what went wrong.
Verizon’s network went dark for roughly twelve hours on Wednesday, cutting off calls and texts for users in Chicago and other large U.S. cities before the company restored service late Wednesday night.
DownDetector logged a surge of complaints starting around 11 a.m. CT, climbing past 180,000 by 11:40 a.m. CT. Frustrated customers flooded social media with screenshots showing “SOS mode” where signal bars normally appear.
Outage Timeline
| Time (CT) | Event |
|---|---|
| ~11 a.m. | Spike in outage reports begins |
| 11:40 a.m. | 180,000+ DownDetector reports logged |
| ~12 p.m. | Verizon first acknowledges “an issue” on social media |
| 8 p.m. | Carrier posts apology, pledges account credits |
| ~9:20 p.m. | Service fully restored |
Verizon kept updates brief throughout the day, referring to the cause only as “an issue” and offering no technical details. Shortly before restoration, the company posted on X:
“Today, we let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry. They expect more from us. We are working non-stop and making progress. Our teams will continue to work through the night until service is restored for all impacted customers. We will make this right-for any customer affected, we will provide account credits and share updates soon.”
What Happened Next
- Verizon urged customers to restart devices to reconnect.
- The carrier said credit details “will be shared directly with customers.”
- No explanation of the root cause has been released.
According to News Of Fort Worth, the company first confirmed the problem on social media around noon and continued hourly updates promising crews were “working non-stop.”
Caleb R. Anderson reported that while the outage hit multiple cities, Chicago emerged as a major hotspot based on DownDetector’s heat map. Users there described being unable to place even emergency calls without Wi-Fi, a frightening scenario that lasted past sunset.
Customer Reaction
- Social media complaints surged under Verizon-related hashtags.
- Many demanded to know why their phones showed “SOS” instead of the carrier name.
- Small-business owners reported lost sales when card readers and scheduling apps relying on Verizon data failed.
Verizon’s final public statement on X Wednesday night read:
“The outage has been resolved. If customers are still having an issue, we encourage them to restart their devices to reconnect to the network. For those affected, we will provide account credits. Details will be shared directly with customers. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.”
Despite the apology, the company has not disclosed how many subscribers were affected, what triggered the outage, or why redundant safeguards did not prevent a nationwide disruption.
Key Takeaways
- A twelve-hour Verizon blackout paralyzed calls and texts, peaking at 180,000 simultaneous complaints.
- Chicago and other major metros lost service from mid-morning through late evening.
- Verizon vows account credits but has yet to reveal the cause of the failure.
The episode highlights how dependent consumers and businesses remain on a single carrier’s network-and how little information they receive when that network fails.
