Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in D.C. and New York City
- - Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in D.C. and New York City
Steve Kopack January 14, 2026 at 6:35 PM
136
Verizon said Wednesday that its wireless service was suffering an outage affecting cellular data and voice services.
The nation's largest wireless carrier said its "engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly."
Verizon issued its statement after a swath of social media comments directed at it, with users saying their mobile devices were showing no bars of service or "SOS," indicating a lack of connection.
Verizon, which has more than 146 million customers, appears to have started experiencing service issues around noon ET, according to comments on X.
Verizon issued two more statements on social media later in the day, again saying its engineers were working to address the issue. But it did not say whether a specific reason for the outage had been identified, or when it would be resolved.
As of 6 p.m. ET, there was no update on a resolution. However, a new message appeared across the top of Verizon's website. "We are working to restore service quickly," read a yellow banner.
On Wednesday evening, Republican New York State Assembly member Anil Beephan, Jr., called on the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the hours-long outage.
In a letter to FCC chairman Brendan Carr, Beephan wrote the outage has, "had a significant and unacceptable impact on public safety, including disruptions to reliable access to emergency communications and critical response systems."
“More broadly, the continued instability of a major wireless carrier raises concerns about the resiliency and reliability of our greater communications infrastructure,” Beephan added.
The FCC said it was "aware of today’s wireless outages impacting some Verizon customers."
"We are continuing to monitor the situation," the agency added.
Users had initially reported problems with Verizon's competitors, T-Mobile and AT&T, as well. But both companies said they weren't experiencing any service problems.
"T-Mobile’s network is keeping our customers connected, and we’ve confirmed that our network is operating normally and as expected," a spokesperson said.
A spokeswoman for AT&T also said its network was "operating normally."
A Verizon store in New York City in January 2024. (Angus Mordant / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Emergency notification systems in Washington D.C., New York City and several other major metro areas sent messages to residents about the outage.
"If you have an emergency and can not connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please connect using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police district or fire station to report the emergency," the AlertDC system told recipients.
New York City's Office of Emergency Management said it was "working closely with our partners" to review the outage and "assess any potential effects on city agencies & essential services."
Christina Farrell, first deputy commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Department, said in an interview that she couldn't say whether the outage was larger in scale than the AT&T outage in February 2024, when the carrier's phone service didn't work for an entire day.
"We know that they are looking, working on the issue," she said of Verizon. The city is in touch with the company directly about the outage, Farrell said, coordinating across agencies in New York and with cities across the country.
"It’s also a good reminder for people to have an emergency plan, to have backups, Plan A, Plan B," Farrell said. "Everybody should have a network, whether it’s your family, your friends, neighbors, your co-workers."
Source: “AOL Money”
