A major outage hit Verizon's mobile and data services across the United States on Wednesday. Over 170,000 users reported problems according to Downdetector. The issue started just after noon. Many users saw “SOS” on their phone screens instead of the usual signal. The Associated Press said complaints peaked in the early afternoon and were still high by 8 p.m. ET, with around 33,000 reports logged. Verizon did not reveal the cause but said, “Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly.” The company posted on X: “We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.” Later, Verizon added, “Our team is on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue that is impacting some customers. We know this is a huge inconvenience, and our top priority is to get you back online and connected as fast as possible.” Users across the country reported “SOS” mode or no-signal messages. In New York, alerts warned that 911 calls could be disrupted. People were urged to use landlines, other carriers’ devices, or visit police or fire stations in emergencies. Major cities affected included Washington D.C., Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, but the outage was nationwide.