Is Verizon down? Customers impacted by wireless voice and data services, company says

Verizon is responding Wednesday to an issue affecting wireless voice and data service to customers across the country, the company said.

Verizon said the outage began around noon ET. It was not immediately clear how long the service would be suspended.

“Our engineers are engaged and working to quickly identify and resolve the issue,” the company said in a statement. “We understand how important reliable communication is and we apologize for the inconvenience.”

Several customers said their phones showed the word “SOS” instead of network bars.

according to DowndetectorAt least 175,000 Verizon customers were affected at one point, but that number has since declined. Downdetector, a site that tracks outages, said Verizon customers began noticing outages around noon ET.

As of 3:30 PM ET, the number of Verizon customers affected by the outage had fallen to less than 60,000, according to Downdetector.

In a social media post shortly after 4 p.m. ET, Verizon said a team “is on the ground and actively working to fix today’s service issue affecting some customers.”

New York Emergency Management (NYCEM) officials said the power outage affected some users calling 911.

“Verizon is working to resolve the issue,” NYCEM said in a statement. “If you have an emergency and cannot communicate using your Verizon Wireless device, please call using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police station or fire station to report the emergency. In the meantime, you can check your mobile carrier’s website or social media account for updates.”

Several law enforcement agencies spent hours looking into the possibility that the Verizon outage was the result of a cyberattack. But so far, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News that the outage is believed to be a technical issue and not the result of a cyberattack or other nefarious act.

The federal government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency refers questions to Verizon.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.