Verizon Offers $20 Credit After Nationwide 7-Hour Outage

Verizon is offering a $20 bill credit to customers hit by a major wireless service outage this week, but it's still not saying exactly when the money will show up. The carrier confirmed to USA Today that affected users will see a one-time $20 credit in the myVerizon mobile app, with notifications going out by text. As of midafternoon Thursday, some Verizon customers, including USA Today staffers, reported they had not yet received the credit, and the company has not provided a specific date or time for when all credits will be applied.

Wednesday's disruption began around 12:30pm ET and lasted roughly seven hours, according to outage tracker Downdetector, which logged more than 1.5 million reports. The problems were reported nationwide, with heavy concentrations in New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Houston. Verizon said there's no sign the incident was caused by a cyberattack; instead, it is blaming a software issue and says it is conducting a full review. CNN rounds up stories from those affected, who recount being unable to get in touch with doctors, access any website that requires two-factor authentication, use Google Maps, or, in some cases, perform their jobs.

The event follows a similar large-scale Verizon outage in September 2024 that affected more than 100,000 users and reportedly drew scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission. Verizon has not said whether regulators are examining the latest failure. As the New York Times reports, some customers are not impressed with the offer of a $20 credit: Says a lawyer who was unable to communicate with a client all day, "I would rather a month of free service, for example, where the actual cost to Verizon of extending that is probably nominal, but where the message to me—that the company acknowledges the harm that 10 or 12 hours of service failure can cause—is more meaningful."