T-Mobile Network Suffers Major Outage in US: iPhone Users Forced Into 'SOS' Mode

T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS is facing a major outage in the U.S., forcing Apple Inc. AAPL smartphones to go into “SOS” mode. 

What Happened: T-Mobile customers started complaining about the network system being down shortly after 6 PM PT. The services are still down at certain geographical locations, including West Seattle and Southern California. 

See Also: Ransomware Attack Targets Thousands Of Computers Worldwide Including Those In The US

iPhone users, in particular, see the SOS icon on their device’s status bar. This indicates that there is no network connection on their iPhones, according to 9To5Mac.

For the unversed, the SOS icon appears on the iPhone status bar when a cellular network is available for emergency calls. iPhone owners still seeing the SOS icon on their status bar should take this as an indication that T-Mobile service is still unavailable in their areas. 

The company has acknowledged the issue and said they are “rapidly addressing” the problem that has impacted some voice, messaging and data services.

There were significant improvements at the time of writing, but the service was not completely restored. 

Why It’s Important: Previously, in January T-Mobile data hack incident impacted 37 million postpaid and prepaid customers. 

While the company promptly dedicated an external cybersecurity team to stop the activity, the fact that it was the second substantial security breach at T-Mobile in the last two years made the entire affair infinitely more concerning. 

Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Ransomware Victims Are Refusing To Pay Attackers — But Is It Making A Dent Against Cyberattacks?