Verizon's network unexpectedly went down for almost 10 hours. In the rare event, millions of customers were left without mobile data, calls, or SMS. Imagine the horror. If you saw an SOS symbol on your iPhone, or a crossed-out network icon on your Android, that's why.
The issue lasted most of the day on January 14th, which the carrier fixed later in the evening. The company is now giving customers $20 account credits to compensate for the inconvenience. Here's how you can get it.
Millions of Verizon users affected by strange outage
If you log into the MyVerizon app now, you can claim the carrier's giveaway credits. Before then, you must've received a text message saying it’s available. The company says the $20 amount covers multiple days of service and that business customers will get contacted separately.
Yesterday, we did not meet the standard of excellence our customers expect and that we expect of ourselves. To help provide some relief to those affected, we will give them a $20 account credit that can be easily redeemed by logging into the myVerizon app to accept. On average, this covers multiple days of service. Customers will receive a text message when credit is available on the app. Our business customers will be contacted directly about their credits.
Verizon
Over 1.7 million customers were affected by the outage, with the Downdetector website receiving up to 178,284 reports within 15 minutes.
Verizon has since put out the above statement on their website apologizing for the disruption. The credit is not an attempt to erase what happened, as they've said.
Although they didn't state the cause of the outage in their statement, they did tell Mashable that it was a software issue and there's no cyber threat to worry about.
Whatever the cause, Telecom networks are extremely interconnected. Even a tiny bug in the Home Subscriber Server or IMS routing is enough to cause a nationwide chain reaction. It's understandable why they're avoiding giving specifics because it makes them look careless.
T-Mobile blows a raspberry at Verizon
One company’s crisis is another’s opportunity. In a recent post, T-Mobile was spotted subtly dissing Verizon.
While reassuring everyone that its own network was running “normally and as expected”, the carrier didn’t miss the chance to point out that customers might struggle to reach anyone on Verizon’s side because of the outage.
The post’s timing couldn’t be more convenient as T-Mobile recently launched a premium family plan with streaming perks, satellite connectivity, and a five-year price guarantee.
It's a smart moment to grab the attention of annoyed customers who are suddenly open to switching, especially those who want reliability.
That aside, you now have $20 Verizon credits you can use to reduce what you owe on your next bill. It’s applied directly to your account balance. Unfortunately, it won’t count towards buying accessories or devices, and it doesn’t transfer to another line.
In the meantime, you'll want to restart your devices to reconnect fully and troubleshoot any issues.
