Verizon network outage reported across US sparks fear of possible cyber attack

A Verizon network outage has been reported across the US has led to questions about a possible cyber attack.

At 9:30 a.m. ET there was a huge spike in the number of people reporting issues texting and calling, according to DownDetector.com , a website that monitors online complaints about technology outages. The Verizon network status website is not loading during the outage .

The most reported locations were Chicago, Denver, Columbus, Phoenix, Omaha, New York City, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Minneapolis, the site said. Many people reported being stuck in SOS mode on their phone, unable to send messages or place calls.

• AT&T down: Massive disruption to mobile networks with iPhones stuck in SOS mode

• Verizon down: Mobile and internet customers complain the service is not working

Reports of AT&T and T-Mobile users also being impacted by the outage have led to speculation about a cyber attack on social media.

"People, this is now affecting other carriers to. I would not be surprised if this is a major cyber attack from bad actors given current world events," one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Is there a cyber attack going on? Im stuck in SOS, as well as many others here at the hospital. Are other cell carriers experiencing issues?" another X user asked.

"What's going this morning? Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile appear to all be having issues. I'm on Verizon so noticed that first. Rumors and posts that AT&T and T-Mobile are too. Is this a cyber attack? Something Else? Who else is stuck in SOS? Where at? Carrier?" another X user mused.

Despite online speculation there is currently no evidence of a cyber attack.

Verizon has more than 143 million users in the U.S. but it is not yet known what percentage of users have been affected. The majority of the reported issues were with mobile phones (59 percent), followed by no signal (31 percent), and 10 percent reported total blackout. Verizon yet to comment on the apparent outages on their social media channels, but their support page on X has responded to several complaints from users asking them to DM them with the details of their issues.

For those with iPhones, "SOS only" mode indicates your iPhone’s isn’t connected to a cellular network, but you can still make emergency calls. SOS mode will automatically turn off once cellular service is restored.