Why does my phone say SOS? National outages affecting those with Verizon, AT&T, more

Tens of thousands of cellphone users were impacted by a nationwide telecommunication outage on Monday morning.

Although Verizon users were the most impacted, the issue also affected AT&T, T-Mobile and US Cellular users, according to Downdetector , a website that monitors real-time outages.

Downdetector showed a spike in reported Verizon outages around 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 30. By 10 a.m., more than 100,000 outages had been reported. The majority (53%) of affected customers had issues on their mobile phones, while 34% said they had no signal and 13% reported a total blackout.

The service outage also caused some to see an SOS icon where the cellphone service usually displays on the screen. Here's what it means and how to fix it.

Telecommunication outage: Why does my phone say SOS?

An SOS symbol appeared on the screens of iPhone users who use Verizon where cell service bars are normally shown.

According to Apple support, if you're having trouble with phone service and you see SOS or "SOS only" in the status bar, it means your device can still make emergency calls despite not being connected to a phone network.

The purpose is that you can make calls to first responders in an emergency despite not having cellphone service. When users make an SOS call, the iPhone automatically calls the local emergency number and shares the user's location information with emergency services, according to Apple. In some countries and regions, users might need to choose the service they need.

Check your network status at verizon.com/support/check-network-status/ .

If you need more help with the outage, you can contact Verizon Support .

If the cellular issue has been solved and you still can't connect to a cellular network, contact Apple Support .

Verizon SOS mode: Customers air grievances on X

As of 10:45 a.m. Monday, Verizon had responded to some customers regarding the outages but had not released an official statement.

This story was updated to add new information.

USA TODAY reporter Laura Daniella Sepulveda contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Why does my phone say SOS? National outages affecting those with Verizon, AT&T, more