Overview
- Service was brought back online around 10:20 p.m. ET on Jan. 14 after hours of widespread voice, text, and data failures that left many phones showing “SOS.”
- Verizon says affected retail customers can redeem a $20 account credit via the myVerizon app, with business customers to be contacted separately.
- DownDetector recorded roughly 170,000–180,000 simultaneous outage reports at the peak, with major metros including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C., reporting issues.
- Emergency managers in multiple cities warned some users might have trouble reaching 911 and advised using other carriers, landlines, or in-person reporting during the disruption.
- Verizon advised customers still experiencing issues to restart devices, while regulators at the FCC said they are monitoring and reviewing the incident.