Telecoms giant Verizon has announced it will issue a $20 account credit to every customer impacted by a massive network failure that left users across the UK and US without service for roughly 12 hours. The company described the widespread signal blackout as a "huge inconvenience" and has apologised, but the gesture has been met with a wave of criticism from dissatisfied customers.
A Partial Refund and a Public Apology
The outage began shortly before 5 PM GMT (12 noon ET) on Wednesday, with issues persisting into Thursday for some. Within an hour of the problems starting, more than 180,000 reports flooded in from users whose mobile phones had dropped into SOS mode, leaving them able only to make emergency calls. In a statement, Verizon offered the credit but conceded, "this credit isn’t meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can."
Standard consumer customers have been told they must actively redeem the $20 credit by logging into the myVerizon app and applying it to their bill, a process that has further frustrated many. Business clients will be contacted directly to discuss compensation. Verizon stated the $20 sum "covers multiple days of service," but did not clarify if users with multiple lines or family plans would receive the credit per device.
Customer Backlash and Unanswered Questions
Reaction on social media platform X has been overwhelmingly negative. Many customers expressed anger that the credit is not being applied automatically. "Why do we need to redeem it? You guys messed up. Apply it to everyone affected automatically," one user replied directly to Verizon's post.
Others highlighted the financial impact of the day-long blackout, arguing the compensation is woefully inadequate. "$20 when my bill is $265 HOW THOUGHTFUL," one customer posted. Another alleged, "I lost thousands of dollars of business yesterday because of this. This is an insult." Parents shared distressing stories, with one claiming their injured daughter waited hours for help because the family's phones were dead.
A key point of contention is the lack of a clear explanation for the outage. "How about an explanation as to why the outage occurred in the first place?" one person demanded. Verizon's spokesperson, in a statement to the Daily Mail, did not reveal if an exact cause has been identified or how the company pinpointed which customers were affected.
Investigations Point to Technical Glitch, Not Cyberattack
So far, initial investigations by officials suggest a technical failure, not malicious activity, was to blame. A report indicated that a single server in New Jersey may have triggered the nationwide blackout. Cybersecurity expert James Knight of DigitalWarfare.com told the Daily Mail, "There are no credible signs or evidence this was cyberwarfare, a cyberattack, or foreign interference."
Despite Verizon's announcement, some customers continued to report service issues on Thursday afternoon. The company advised anyone still experiencing problems to restart their devices. The incident underscores the profound reliance on mobile connectivity and the significant disruption caused when a major provider's network fails.
