Verizon Users in Michigan Affected by Outage, Plus: SOS Status, Map

Metro Detroit Verizon customers are reporting service issues Monday that are likely part of a larger connectivity issue that the wireless company told the Free Press began around 9 a.m. and is trying to resolve.

“Some Verizon wireless customers may be experiencing connectivity issues,” the company said in its email to the Free Press. “Our technical teams are working diligently on the problem. We will provide further updates as they become available.”

What does the SOS status mean?

Some customers reported that they cannot make or receive calls but can send text messages. Some phones also display “SOS Only” in the status bar or an SOS icon. This means the phone was not connected to a cellular network, but can still make emergency calls for security reasons in the US and Canada.

In the days of Morse code, SOS stood for “Save our souls” or “Save our ship”, but is the abbreviation for “Emergency”.

However, Verizon did not provide details about the cause of the outage or provide an estimated time for resolution.

Downdetector, a website that tracks outages, showed customers reporting outages around that time, and by around 11 a.m. the number of customers rose to over 100,000, although the number declined and was around 80,000 by midday.