By: Richard L. Smith
Numerous Verizon customers across New Jersey and the broader Northeast experienced disruptions to phone and internet service on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 14, as reports of outages surged on social media and tracking websites.
According to outage-monitoring site Downdetector, thousands of users had reported interruptions to Verizon’s network by early afternoon, with complaints peaking well above typical levels by about 12:45 p.m. local time.
Among the most common reports were loss of voice and data service, inability to place or receive calls, and cellular connections displaying “SOS” instead of normal signal bars.
Customers in the New Jersey area, including the New York City metropolitan region, were among those posting on platforms such as X and Threads about ongoing problems with mobile service and home internet on Wednesday, with many expressing frustration at unexpected connectivity issues.
Verizon issued a statement acknowledging the service disruption and confirming it was working to resolve the issue. In the company’s announcement, Verizon said it was “aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers,” and that its engineers were actively engaged in identifying and fixing the problem.
“We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience,” the carrier said in the statement. Verizon encouraged affected customers to check its network status page for the latest updates on service availability and restoration efforts.
While the outage affected many users nationwide, including major metropolitan areas beyond the Northeast, the full scope of service interruptions and the exact cause of the issue had not been immediately confirmed as of early Wednesday afternoon.
Verizon has not yet provided specific details on the expected timeline for a full restoration of services.
As the situation evolves, customers are advised to monitor official Verizon updates and consider alternative communication platforms where possible until service is restored.