A software change took Verizon's 5G core down 10 hrs — 2M lost calling, texting and 911

On 14 January 2026 Verizon suffered a widespread, all-day network outage that began around noon and lasted up to 10 hours, affecting as many as 2 million customers. Users lost calling, texting and network internet service, and the failure was concentrated on newer high-end devices in markets running Verizon's 5G standalone (SA) core, suggesting the problem sat in the software layer that handles the newest traffic.

Verizon confirmed the cause was a 'software issue' and said it had 'no indication of a cybersecurity issue'. Independent analysts pointed to the likely mechanism: one analyst suspected the 5G SA core went down during a 'minor feature change' — possibly a 'fat fingers' input error that cascaded — while a Syracuse University professor believed a failed update to a Virtual Network Function (VNF) caused 'data overflows/cascading failures', explaining why service briefly resumed before failing again.

The outage had a public-safety edge that made it worse than a dropped call. Local governments warned that Verizon customers might not be able to reach 911, and police in Maryland and Louisiana noted that 911 operators could not call back if a call disconnected. Verizon apologized, saying 'Today, we let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry', and offered a $20 credit to affected customers.