Update: Verizon is paying $20 to anyone affected by Wednesday’s outage–here’s how to get it
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Macworld reports that Verizon is offering a $20 account credit to customers affected by Wednesday’s widespread voice and data outage.
- The outage affected hundreds of thousands of users in major US cities, leaving many iPhone users without service for hours.
- Customers will receive a text message notification when credit is available for redemption through the myVerizon app. Detailed instructions are provided below.
Update: Verizon announced that customers affected by the outage will receive a $20 credit to their account. This article has been updated to reflect this.
If you’re a Verizon subscriber, there’s a good chance your iPhone was without service yesterday. For much of the day, hundreds of thousands of U.S. customers were without voice and data service and therefore could not make calls, send text messages or access internet services while away from Wi-Fi.
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The company did not provide any details on the cause of the outage, although it appears to be a preventable issue rather than a hack or attack. Verizon apologized and admitted it had “let down a lot of our customers.” Another message reiterates that the credit “is not meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can. But it’s a way to recognize your time and show that it matters to us.
Verizon says customers will receive a text message when credit is available in the myVerizon app. Users will then need to log in and claim the credit, which should appear on the following month’s bill. Verizon says the credit represents “several days of service.” Additionally, business customers who serve multiple people will be contacted directly.
According to Down Detector, East Coast cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Miami were among the hardest hit, although the outage also affected Houston, Los Angeles and Chicago. The outage began around 1 p.m. ET and lasted late into the night, with users seeing “SOS” displayed on their phones where the bars should be.
While Verizon said the issue was resolved as of 11 p.m. ET last night, Down Detector was still showing scattered reports of outages across the country, but the bulk of affected customers appeared to have been restored. If you still see “SOS” and are not receiving service, try restarting your phone or turning on the cellular button in Settings > Cellular to reestablish the connection.
