Verizon Communications has announced it will provide a $20 account credit to hundreds of thousands of customers affected by a widespread wireless outage that lasted about 10 hours on Wednesday. The U.S. telecom operator said the disruption was caused by a software issue and was not the result of a cyberattack.
According to Verizon, the outage primarily affected customers in the Northeast, Southern California, Texas, and parts of the Midwest. Service was fully restored around 10 p.m. EST on Wednesday. The company acknowledged the disruption and said it fell short of customer expectations.
“We did not meet the standard of excellence our customers expect and that we expect of ourselves,” Verizon said in a statement. “To help provide some relief to those affected, we are giving customers a $20 account credit.”
Verizon also advised customers who continue to experience connectivity issues to restart their devices in order to reconnect to the network, Reuters news report said.
The outage had significant real-world consequences, prompting several major U.S. cities to warn residents about potential difficulties reaching emergency services. New York City advised users experiencing issues to call 911 using a device from another carrier, a landline, or to visit a police or fire station to report emergencies. The District of Columbia issued a similar alert. Both cities lifted the warnings after Verizon confirmed services had returned to normal.
Downdetector, a platform that tracks service disruptions based on user reports, said it received about 2.2 million reports related to Verizon’s network issues over a 24-hour period, underscoring the scale of the outage.
The Federal Communications Commission said it is reviewing the incident. FCC Chair Brendan Carr told Reuters following a congressional hearing that the agency would examine the outage and take appropriate action.
This is not the first time Verizon has faced scrutiny over network reliability. In late 2024, the company experienced a nationwide wireless outage that affected more than 100,000 users at its peak. That incident also drew the attention of the FCC after multiple services were disrupted and many iPhone users were stuck in “SOS” mode. During Wednesday’s outage, numerous customers again reported their phones displaying the same “SOS” status.
The latest disruption adds to ongoing concerns around network resilience and reliability among major U.S. wireless carriers. As regulators review the incident, Verizon’s response, including customer credits and technical fixes, will likely be closely watched by both customers and policymakers.