Many Verizon customers in the US are affected by service outages

NEW YORK (AP) — Some Verizon customers in the U.S. were hit by a service outage Monday.

The problem appeared to have knocked out cell service for tens of thousands of Verizon users. Data from outage tracker DownDetector shows that the number surpassed 100,000 shortly after 11 a.m. ET – and while that number dropped significantly, nearly 48,000 were still experiencing problems as of 4 p.m. ET.

Frustrated online users said they were without service in many parts of the country, including the southeastern United States, where residents are still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Helene. However, the outage was not limited to one region. DownDetector's map also showed many reports from the West Coast, Midwest and Northeast.

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The Federal Communications Commission also confirmed the outage later in the day, but gave no further information other than to determine the cause.

Some Verizon iPhone customers began seeing SOS messages appear in the status bar of their cell phones. The message indicates that the device is having trouble connecting to the carrier's network, but can make emergency calls through other carriers.

For cellular outages like this, an alternative is to connect to a nearby Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi calling is also a built-in feature on most Android devices and iPhones and can be enabled in the phone settings.