Verizon announced on January 15 that it will issue $20 account credits to customers affected by a widespread service outage that occurred the previous day. The outage began around 12 PM ET on Wednesday, January 14, and was resolved at approximately 10:15 PM ET, lasting about 10 hours.
According to Downdetector, the disruption generated up to 178,284 user reports at its peak, with some sources indicating as many as 1.5 million customers were affected. Verizon attributed the outage to a software issue and stated it was not the result of a cyberattack. The disruption primarily impacted customers in the northeast, southern California, Texas, and portions of the Midwest.
Many users reported their phones displaying "SOS" mode during the outage, indicating limited or no network connectivity. Affected customers can redeem the $20 credit through the myVerizon app after receiving a text message notification. Business customers will be contacted directly regarding their credits.
Verizon stated the credit covers multiple days of service on average and should appear within one to two billing cycles. "Yesterday, we did not meet the standard of excellence our customers expect and that we expect of ourselves," Verizon said in a statement. The company acknowledged the credit was not intended as full compensation for the disruption. The Federal Communications Commission announced it would investigate the outage. New York Assembly member Anil Beephan Jr. requested an FCC investigation, citing concerns about the impact on public safety and emergency communications access. Verizon advised customers still experiencing connectivity issues to restart their devices to reconnect to the network. The company experienced a similar nationwide outage in September 2024 that affected more than 100,000 users but did not offer credits at that time.
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