Verizon customers report phone outages, with devices limited to SOS mode

CBS News ^ | 08/30/2025 | Kiki Intarasuwan

[TermLimits4All]

Verizon customers across the U.S. Saturday reported issues with the network on their cellphones, with some saying that their devices have been limited to SOS mode for several hours.

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS:

[pollywog]

bkmark

[Openurmind]

It has been getting bad for three months, I had to change carriers...

[Mark]

Liz Warren can use smoke signals.

[mass55th]

That happened to me here in Rome, New York a few days ago. Nothing today.

[TermLimits4All]

I’ve been with T-mobile for years. Their coverage area has gotten really good. If you are prior military they have a great discount. We have 5 phones, unlimited everything and their in home internet. We pay under $300 a month for all those devices. I had a horrible customer service experience with Verizon, went to T-Mobile and haven’t had any issues.

[curious7]

I wonder how much Chinesium telecom and network equipment Verizon is using?

[Openurmind]

Thank you, I appreciate that. Unfortunately it is well known it doesn’t work here. I am pretty much on a deserted island... My kids come out from the city with T-Mobile and they have to climb the hill out back to get one bar... lol

Unfortunately the only carriers that work here are AT&T and Verizon. And I hate them both...

[TermLimits4All]

I get that down in S. Georgia sometimes but it’s gotten much better. I also can link up with starlink satellite with T-Mobile when I don’t have service. That way I’m able to text, don’t know if I’ve used it for phone calls or not. I’ll have to check next time I’m in the fields.

[Openurmind]

My Grandkids have that on their I-phones, And I think it is text only through the birds...

[jeffc]

Happened to me last night. My Verizon phone had no service. I switched it to my Verizon wi-fi internet and it worked. My over-the-air wi-fi worked but my phone didn’t. Phone came back online after about 10 minutes.

[Does so]

“Unfortunately the only carriers that work here are AT&T and Verizon.”
.
I’m also on a “deserted” island, but there are no hills to climb in the Florida Keys.

I quit Verizon because after a year or two of good expected service, I was totally blanked at my house. After a year or two of AT&T, my Smartphone lost the internet for hours at a time in different states. AT&T later said I wouldn’t be charged for those lost hours.

:-/

[Openurmind]

Out here they both go down for sometimes half a day couple times a week. And we only have one tower available for service and both are on the same tower and it is fringe, two bars max on a good day. So if the power goes out all phones go down too. They have a propane generator and solar back up, but they will not maintain these and keep them working. Neither really care if we have phones or not out here.

About two months ago Verizon turned off 4G and was only sending out 5G. Well that was it, no more phone at all. 5G just doesn’t carry out as far as 4G. Luckily there were enough complaints from the State road department and big corporations who have the railroad, electrical lines, and pipelines to force them to turn 4G back on because their hundreds of workers out in the field who needed them.

But they still did not upgrade their one tower equipment so it still goes down a couple times a week. Be ready, if you are fringe and rural , soon you will not have telephone. They are all going to force 5G soon and rural folks are going to lose their service altogether. And because there are not very many they are just not going to spend the money to add more towers and service.

And here is the worst part. They are subsidized by the government to supply rural areas with phone service. So they are collecting and not maintaining as they should. They are ripping off the taxpayers and not delivering service. It is fraud... Just had a long talk with a Verizon Corporate Manager about this. She told me “too bad... Then move...” That is how the city people think. It is discrimination against rural culture...