By Joanna Stern

Dear Silence,

I know I should have enjoyed the time with you. I should have thanked Verizon Wireless and its nationwide outage for reminding me what life was like before the constant notifications and neverending feeds.

Except, I was in my car. In the dark. An hour and a half drive away from my house. Staring at an ominous "SOS" icon instead of the usual 5G service bars on my iPhone.

I couldn't get directions since Google Maps wouldn't load -- and I didn't have my MapQuest printout because it wasn't 2002. I couldn't call my family to tell them I was getting on the road. I couldn't even stream the Police classic " Message in a Bottle" and dramatically sing "Sending out an SOS!" as I sat in traffic.

Across the U.S. on Wednesday, Verizon customers in New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami and elsewhere spent around 10 hours without service. For 10 hours calls failed. Texts didn't send. Websites and apps refused to load. It was one of the longest U.S. cellular outages ever. And there wasn't even a natural disaster to blame -- or me forgetting to pay a bill.

Verizon Communications has apologized and said the issues were caused not by nefarious forces but by a software update. It's offering a $20 credit to those affected by the outage. (The company said it would be available in the myVerizon app.)

My lost-in-Brooklyn evening reminded me how dependent we've grown on cellular service and how uncertain I feel about my once-trusted carrier..."America's most reliable network."

I first realized I had no cellular service around 1:30 p.m. while at a photo shoot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At first, I assumed it was a Me problem. I toggled the cellular data switch. I engaged in the ancient ritual of turning the phone off and on again. When I finally got on the studio's Wi-Fi network and saw the Verizon headlines, I figured -- given past outages -- that this wouldn't last long. Surely it would be back by 5:30 p.m., when I needed to drive home.

Nope.

Cell service isn't just in our phones, it's also in our cars. This actually worked to my advantage, because my car's native navigation system relies on AT&T. (Can you hear me now, Verizon?) Instead of firing up Google Maps on CarPlay, I dug into my car's interface and opened the navigation app I never use -- because it's ugly and lacks the live traffic data and other real-time updates I've grown attached to.

Even by the time I made it home around 7 p.m., calls were still failing. It was only at 10:15 p.m. that service was restored. An email from a Verizon spokeswoman said, "The outage has been resolved." Her previous statement: "We let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry. They expect more from us."

We do expect more. Or at least we used to. In September 2024, there was another widespread Verizon outage. The once-dependable network famous for the "Can you hear me now?" guy, Verizon feels like one of the shakier cellular options these days. Yet somehow it's still one of the most expensive. Last spring, Verizon said it would freeze monthly rates for three years for a large swath of its customers. How about a rate reduction?

We've had half a decade of 5G. Five-plus years of relentless ads promising a faster future, blazing speeds and robot surgeries performed from outer space. And yet I've been here too often lately, holding an expensive glass slab that can't do the one thing phones were invented to do: make a call.

One of my colleagues couldn't show his digital train ticket on the commute home. On X, people shared stories with me about children who couldn't reach parents for pickups, or family members unable to get in touch to share devastating news. New York and other cities warned that some 911 calls could have been affected. Verizon says mobile devices can connect to any available cellular network to make an emergency 911 call. ( Satellite messaging on newer iPhones and Android phones can also help, if you have a view of the sky.)

I realize this may sound like petty complaining. Oh, could you not feed your family because your cellular service didn't work? But spend a day without connectivity and you quickly realize how much of modern life now revolves around it -- even in a world saturated in Wi-Fi. No payments, no ride hailing, no two-factor codes.

And more and more of our lives -- from self-driving cars to home robots -- will depend on what's supposed to be a reliable cellular backbone.

So yes, Verizon, "SOS." Please Save Our Service!

Write to Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 15, 2026 12:06 ET (17:06 GMT)

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