Widespread Verizon Outage Disrupts Phone Services Across the U.S.

NEW YORK, NY — A major cellular service outage affected users across the United States starting at approximately 12:41 a.m. ET on October 8. Hundreds of Verizon customers reported being left without voice or data services for several hours.

The outage prompted many users’ devices to display ‘Emergency Calls Only,’ as they struggled to connect to the network. Reports of the issue began spreading quickly on social media, with users expressing frustration over the disruption.

According to Downdetector, the outage appeared to peak around 1:00 a.m. ET, with over 1,200 incidents reported at its height. Coverage was largely restored by 3:00 a.m. ET, though many users continued to report issues into the early morning.

Verizon, one of the largest mobile and broadband providers in the U.S., confirmed the disruption and stated that its engineers were working to identify and resolve the problem. As of late June 2025, Verizon had reported over 146 million retail wireless connections and more than 10 million broadband connections.

The potential reasons behind the outage have not been clarified by Verizon. Speculation ranges from a software glitch and routing failures to possible cyberattacks, though no evidence has been presented for these theories.

Users across major cities, including New York, Chicago, and Seattle, reported issues, with some taking to social media to share their experiences. One user commented, “Verizon is not being up front about what is happening. This is a huge problem for MILLIONS of us!”

By 4:00 a.m. ET, most services had reportedly returned to normal levels. However, the incident has raised concerns about the reliability of Verizon’s network, especially following another major service interruption just two months prior.