It’s certainly everyone’s nightmare: waking up to find that you can’t make or receive calls or text messages. It’s a nightmare for many, as we rely so much on our smartphones. If it happened to you today, you’re one of many Verizon and AT&T Mobile customers who lost cell service and are now facing the nightmare of their phones displaying nothing but SOS Mode.
Mobile Customers Out of Touch
No matter how it’s happened, from a damaged phone, lost phone, or lost cell service, being out of touch can be maddening. Just a few decades ago, no one used to be “in touch” constantly, but now we have all come to rely on it. Messaging, calls, social media, etc. – all the ways we keep in touch can be lost with the drop of a hat.
I have at least one friend who is a Verizon user without any service today. Interestingly, his wife, on the same plan, does have service. That makes it even more frustrating. If you’re a person who relies on your service for work, you’re really out of luck this Monday.
Of course, it comes on the heels of some regions of the U.S. being without power as well, after Hurricane Helena plowed through, so there has to be some people without power or cell service.
If you’ve also given up your landline, deciding to rely only on your mobile phone, there’s nothing for you to do but throw up your hands, and normal options to fix cellular data not working, such as resetting your phone, will not solve the issues.
Not One, but Two Cell Services Out
While it’s being reported that the Verizon outage is taking place across the U.S., more than 100,000 users have reported to Downdetector that their service is down. Certainly, not everyone would report their loss of service to Downdetector, so this is probably only a fraction of those without cell service.
From those who have lost their AT&T service, it seems they are mostly located in areas hit by Hurricane Helena. Again, that has to add to the nightmare even more.
Verizon didn’t initially comment on the outage but finally did allow that they were aware of the issue, adding that their engineers were working on resolving the SOS mode issue.
Sometimes phones will go to SOS mode when they can’t connect to the wireless network. Users of the phones can still make emergency calls, as the phones would be routed to other carriers to make the call – but that’s the only calls they can make or receive.
Complicating the situation, many of the users have 2FA set up for their Verizon accounts. But two-factor authorization depends on them verifying their account by receiving a text message with a verification code. And, of course, users can’t receive the codes on their devices, so they can’t log in to their Verizon accounts to get help for the issue or check on it.
Hopefully, both cell providers will get their services up and running for everyone soon. At least AT&T customers know it seems to be related to the hurricane – Verizon customers don’t even know what’s causing the service interruption or how long it will last. Naturally, the interruption would be a problem as well for those with a cellular iPad, which is one of the downsides to having cell service on your tablet.
Apple credit: Canva
