Fury as Verizon Offers 'Credits' After Outage Leaves Remote Workers Demanding Pay for Lost Hours

If you have Verizon on your phone, you must have gone through the no-service outage as well. The shocking nationwide outage affecting Verizon customers has caused widespread frustration across the United States, leaving thousands without mobile service and demanding refunds from the telecom giant.

After the disruption began on Wednesday, reports of phones switching to an 'SOS' mode and users being unable to make calls, send texts or access mobile data came out immediately. At its peak, outage-tracking platform DownDetector logged hundreds of thousands of reports from users across some of the biggest US cities.

The phrase 'network unavailable' became a common cry as customers tried in vain to reach loved ones and manage everyday tasks, according to some reports. Verizon acknowledged the disruption publicly and said its engineering teams were working to resolve the issue, but offered no concrete timeline for restoration, leaving many feeling ignored and verydissatisfied. Now, Verizon has apologised and offered compensation, but customers are not happy.

Major Outage Hits Verizon: What Happened and Why

All hell broke loose in the US on the afternoon of 14 January. A sudden and complete outage knocked out wireless voice and data services across Verizon's network, catching millions off guard.

According to multiple reports, the outage began around midday Eastern Time and then escalated, with more than 175,000 reports logged on Downdetector at its peak and tens of thousands still affected into the night as per the latest social media posts.

Moreover, users across the United States noticed their devices displaying 'SOS' or 'SOS only' in place of signal bars. This status typically appears when a phone cannot connect to its carrier's network but can still make emergency calls via another available network. Phones stuck in SOS mode meant that basic mobile functions like calling, texting and internet access were unavailable for many.

Next, Verizon confirmed the outage on social media, acknowledging issues with both voice and data services and stating that 'our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly.' The company reiterated its commitment to restoring service as quickly as possible in another statement, but did not provide a precise timeline for resolution.

Furthermore, outages were reported in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Houston, Atlanta and other major metropolitan areas, showing the disruption was not confined to a single region. Officials in some jurisdictions even warned residents that the loss of mobile service could affect 911 calls, advising them to seek alternative contact methods such as landlines or other carriers where possible. While smaller issues were reported on other networks, like AT&T and T-Mobile, Verizon's network appeared to be the primary source of the fault, as others cleared their names. Here are their reactions.

Even now, the exact technical cause of the outage remains unclear, but Verizon has finally apologised and given a way to compensate, as it said,

'Today, we let many of our customers down, and for that, we are truly sorry. They expect more from us. We are working non-stop and making progress. Our teams will continue to work through the night until service is restored for all impacted customers. We will make this right - for any customer affected, we will provide account credits and share updates soon.'

It is true that outages of this scale are rare, but not impossible for large carriers. Despite the apology, Verizon is still facing a lot of fire.

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Angry Customers React to Verizon Outage

Now, as the outage drags on, many Verizon subscribers' immediate reaction is pure frustration. Social media platforms were filled with complaints from users who had lost service for hours and voiced their displeasure directly at the company. Here are some top reactions:

Many users demanded compensation for their work loss:

But that's not all, customers even thrashed Verizon's apology

It seems Verizon has yet to fully resolve the issue.