David Shepherdson
Jan 15 (Reuters) – Verizon Communications said on Thursday it would provide $20 credits to hundreds of thousands of customers affected by a 10-hour outage caused by a software issue on Wednesday.
Verizon said the issue, which primarily affected customers in the Northeast, southern California, Texas and parts of the Midwest, was not the result of a cyberattack. The issue was resolved around 10pm ET (0300GMT) on Wednesday.
The Federal Communications Commission said it would review the outage.
Verizon said: “We did not meet the standard of excellence our customers expect, nor the expectations we hold for ourselves. To help provide some relief to those affected, we are offering customers a $20 account credit.”
“If customers are still experiencing issues, we encourage them to restart their devices to reconnect to the network,” the company added.
The outage prompted several major cities to advise residents to use alternative carriers to call emergency services. DownDetector, which compiles service outage data, said late Wednesday it had received 2.2 million reports related to Verizon service outages in the past 24 hours.
FCC Chairman Brendan Kahl told Reuters after a congressional hearing that the agency would review the issue “and take appropriate action.”
The city told residents that the outage may affect some users trying to call 911 for emergency help. “Use another carrier’s equipment, make a call from a landline, or go to the police/fire department to report an emergency,” the city said on X.
A similar alert was issued in the District of Columbia. The warning was lifted after operations returned to normal.
Verizon faced a nationwide wireless outage in late 2024, affecting more than 100,000 customers at its peak. The outage attracted the attention of the FCC as multiple services were affected and iPhone users were stuck in “SOS” mode. On Wednesday, many users reported the same issue with their phones in “SOS” mode.
(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Detroit; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
