Verizon experienced a major outage on Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands without service.
An update on Verizon’s website on Thursday said the outage has been resolved. We are sorry for what you experienced and will continue to work hard day and night to provide the outstanding network and service people expect from Verizon, it said.
Verizon Outage Explained
The reason for the outage is clear. Verizon has not explained it on its website. In an email to media outlets, a representative blamed a software issue and said a full review is underway. Verizon has not disclosed the number of affected customers; Down Detector staff said they received 2.3 million outage reports for Verizon that day. That does not necessarily reflect the total number of customers impacted.
Cell networks experience minor outages regularly, and larger breakdowns are not uncommon. Verizon confronted major disruptions in several cities in September 2024, and AT&T experienced a significant outage in February 2024 that affected more than 125 million devices and customers across all 50 states.
Sanjoy Paul, a wireless network expert at Rice University, explains that telecommunications systems have become more complex over the past 15 years, shifting from physical infrastructure such as wires and cables to cloud-based systems. To explain network transparency, Sanjoy Pall explained that what was once hardware-based is now fully software-based. This shift offers greater flexibility, but he added that it has reduced Verizon’s reliability.
Sanjoy Paul noted that cloud and software-based networks present more opportunities for glitches and attacks. Minor issues in the computer code within these systems may have substantial consequences.
Implications of the outage
Verizon’s customers lost connectivity and had access only to SOS mode during the day’s outage.
Verizon, marketing itself as America’s most reliable network, took steps to fix the issue. The company advises customers to restart devices if problems persist and is offering $20 in credits to acknowledge their time and show that this matters to us. As per its website. However, the actual reason for the outage remains unknown.
The Federal Communications System said in a statement that it was continuing to actively investigate and monitor the situation to determine future measures, without providing a timeline for the investigation.
Potential For Recurrence
Yes, similar outages could affect Verizon or any of its competitors.
The cause of this latest outage remains unknown. It’s too early to say whether the exact thing could happen again. However, Lee McKnight, an associate professor at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, told media outlets that outages are a fact of life for major telecommunications firms today.
According to Lee McKnight, a professor at Syracuse University, modern telecom networks are cloud-based, and 5G relies on hundreds of cloud services. Staff must understand these cloud services, not just physical infrastructure.
Experts recommend that customers have a backup plan for connectivity in case of future outages. This could mean keeping a landline phone at home or buying a second phone line on a different network. This way, there is an alternate way to communicate if one network goes down.
What Customers Should Expect Next
Verizon’s service has been restored after a major outage lasting approximately 10 hours, which affected hundreds of thousands of customers.
This was Verizon’s first major outage since October 2024, with customers nationwide seeing SOS and emergency signals on their phones instead of network bars, indicating no carrier service.
Many users saw network bars replaced by SOS, making calls and texts unavailable, though data worked.
The outage began around 12:30 pm ET, with thousands of reporting issues on X (formerly Twitter), and Thread’s down Detector logged over 180,000 reports at its peak.
Verizon confirmed the disruption shortly after 1:00 PM ET and later provided an update around 9:00 PM ET.
Verizon acknowledged it had let customers down and said it would provide $20 in credits to affected customers. The company added that it was working nonstop and making progress. Verizon further stated, “Our teams will continue to work through the night until service is restored for all impacted customers.” At 10:24 PM Eastern Time, Verizon confirmed the outage was resolved.
Verizon also advised customers still experiencing issues to try restarting their devices.
Given Verizon’s lack of information about the outage, customers should expect to receive a text message in the My Verizon app about the $20 account credit the company is offering. However, customers must prepare to redeem the credit, and some may even have to wait before receiving the text message.
Finally, customers must realize that outages with telecommunications providers can occur without warning and prepare for them by investing in additional communication channels to safeguard their interests.
