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ZDNET's key takeaways
- Hundreds of thousands of Verizon customers are currently experiencing a data outage.
- This prevents users from making phone calls and browsing on cellular networks.
- An SOS icon will appear on select iPhone models due to the outage.
If you're suddenly finding yourself with no Verizon signal, you're not alone. The Big Red cellular network is currently experiencing a major service outage in the US, with over 2 million reports over the past 24 hours across major cities, including New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Houston.
Also: Your phone is sharing data without your knowledge - how to stop it ASAP
Verizon is categorizing the impact as "Very High", with a bulk of the complaints being filed as either "mobile phone issues" or "lack of signal." If you're one of the many who are affected, you may notice your phone defaulting to SOS mode, a common setting when the device no longer has cellular connectivity.
The latest update
Verizon shared on X at 4:12 p.m. ET that its "team is on the ground actively working to fix today's service issue that is impacting some customers." The company has yet to provide information on when affected customers can expect service to be restored.
You can track the latest service updates in your local area through Verizon's network status page.
Customer reactions
Commenters on Downdetector continue to express frustration toward the Wednesday outage, and for good reason.
One user mistook the lost signal as a sign of them forgetting to pay their bill and getting cut off. Another mentioned the ever-increasing costs of phone bills, particularly with Verizon's 5G plans. A family attending a concert was unable to display their QR-coded tickets due to a loss of service.
One promising IT candidate suggested that Verizon turn its servers off and back on again as an attempt to fix the issue.
(Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as ZDNET.)
Will I get a refund, discount, or credit for the outage?
While Verizon hasn't confirmed whether or not affected customers will receive any form of compensation for Wednesday's issues, a customer service representative on X did suggest that "Once service is restored, we can review and adjust based on how long the outage occurs," as discovered by ZDNET's sister company, Mashable.
Also: My phone struggled to get signal: These 5 quick fixes instantly improved its reception
You'll want to take the report lightly, as a single support agent may not fully represent Verizon's stance on how to handle the situation. But considering the impact of the outage, expect some form of compensation by things resume.
For what it's worth, Krispy Kreme is responding to the nationwide problem by promoting a "free donut" campaign from 5 to 7 p.m. local time. So if you're based on the West Coast, you can still snag yourself a sweet treat.
What does the SOS icon mean?
A couple of readers have reached out to me (Adrian), wondering why a satellite icon and the words SOS suddenly appeared on their iPhones, in the status bar at the top. They'd not seen it before and were worried that their iPhone was making an emergency SOS call, and they could be billed for it or get into trouble.
Weird!
Back in 2022, Apple rolled out Emergency SOS via satellite to a number of countries for the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. At this point, all recent iPhone models, including the 17 series, support the outer space tech.
Also: How I use Samsung's hidden Wi-Fi menu to seriously upgrade my internet connectivity
If you have one of these handsets and live in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, or the UK, you can test this out by tapping on Settings > Emergency SOS, scrolling to the bottom of the page to Emergency SOS via Satellite and tapping on Try Demo.
But this isn't what was happening here.
After a bit of back and forth, I came up with a way to replicate this.
- I had to be outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage (I had Wi-Fi turned off), either in the wilds or in a building.
- Have a mapping app, such as Google Maps or Waze, running (it may work with other apps, but this is what worked for me).
- Wait! It may or may not pop up.
And there it was!
Emergency SOS icon appears in the status bar of my iPhone -- but I'm not making an emergency SOS call
In the Control Center panel, I can only see a satellite.
The satellite appears in the Control Center panel too
I reached out to Apple technical support about this issue, and after having some tests carried out on my iPhone, I was told it's normal behavior, even though no emergency SOS call is being made and no data can be sent or received over the satellite network (other than when making a genuine emergency SOS call).
I asked if there was a chance that this would cost me money or get me into trouble because my handset was making an SOS satellite call, and I was told there was no danger of that.
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So, if you see "SOS satellite" appearing on your iPhone, don't panic. It's likely happening because you're out of signal coverage, but you're not actually making an SOS call, and you won't get billed or get into trouble.
As to whether this is a bug or a feature, I'm not sure. Maybe Apple is testing something. Perhaps it's related to Find My. Perhaps it's an unusual issue that occurs when running mapping apps.
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