On Wednesday, 14 January 2026, at around noon, hundreds of thousands of Verizon subscribers reported a major outage that prevented them from sending texts, making calls, or connecting to mobile data. Verizon later confirmed that the outage– a sudden and significant one – began in the late morning and continued through the early afternoon hours of Wednesday.
The outage affected users in major US cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Boston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington D.C., and Chicago, during which users reported their phones going into SOS mode, removing all data and voice capabilities of their phones for hours, save for making emergency calls.
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Downdetector, an independent tracking service, logged outage reports surging at around 12PM ET on 14 January, per a People report.
To ease the frustration, the outage prompted Krispy Kreme to offer free doughnuts to Verizon users. On Instagram and on X, Krispy Kreme wrote, 'SOS got you down? We can hear you now — and we're serving up.' Krispy Kreme also announced that for 2 hours, from 5-7PM on Wednesday, they were serving their Original Glazed doughnuts for free, 'because some days need a sweet backup plan you can rely on.'
SOS got you down? 📶
— Krispy Kreme (@krispykreme) January 14, 2026
We can hear you now — and we’re serving up.
Swing by today, 1/14, from 5–7pm for a FREE Original Glazed® doughnut 🍩 — because some days need a sweet backup plan you can rely on. pic.twitter.com/pBNxWzSQ5u
Major Outage, Major Inconvenience
For users relying on connectivity for most of their daily tasks- such as logistics or work communication, the major outage provided a major inconvenience. Users did not just find themselves unable to make phone calls or send text messages; logging in with two-factor authentication was also disrupted, as users were unable to receive the codes sent via text.
Verizon quickly acknowledged being privy to the wireless voice and data services outage and addressed the issue, turning to X to reassure and continuously update users: 'Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.'
We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.
— Verizon News (@VerizonNews) January 14, 2026
The outage served as a reminder of the tangible effects short periods of signal interruption or disconnection can have on modern life, going far beyond the inability to make phone calls or send texts, particularly for major carriers like Verizon, which has over 140 million subscribers in the US. Services requiring verification via texts or calls, internet-run applications, and, most of all, major, frequently used mobile payment apps are affected as well.
Verizon continued to monitor the connectivity issue. The major US carrier took to X to share updates, with the most recent one saying, 'Verizon's 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. We appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this issue.'
Krispy Kreme's Light-Hearted Reprieve
Just a day after National Glazed Doughnut Day, Krispy Kreme stepped in to appease the growing frustration of Verizon subscribers affected by the SOS outage, even responding to one user who reported the Krispy Kreme branch closest to him wasn't serving the Original Glazed donut: 'We understand your frustration here, please send details through here http://ms.spr.ly/6010t7gXw and our customer service team can sort this with you directly.'
We understand your frustration here, please send details through here https://t.co/yyBbRkYKIW and our customer service team can sort this with you directly.
— Krispy Kreme (@krispykreme) January 15, 2026
AT&T and T-Mobile, major US phone carriers, also made light of the issue. As seen on Krispy Kreme's official social media post on Instagram, both AT&T and T-Mobile can be seen commenting in jest. 'Def not us this time, we'll sit this one out and enjoy the donuts,' AT&T's official Instagram account wrote. T-Mobile also commented, 'T-Mobile members out here texting everybody they know.'
