A massive, 10-hour Verizon outage yesterday took large swaths of Americans back to the pre-smartphone era, causing outrage and in some cases significant consequences.
“I got locked in a parking garage and couldn’t get out due to no cell service to call,” one person says. “Missed appointments, late to meetings.”
The outage is resolved, but Verizon has not provided a detailed explanation of what took down its network, only that it was not a cyberattack. “This was a software issue and we are conducting a full review of what happened,” a company spokesperson tells us.
Verizon’s handling of the situation has come under intense scrutiny. One person, unaware of the outage, spent hours troubleshooting their inactive device with customer service agents who had not been briefed on the situation. The company plans to issue a $20 credit for everyone affected, which many account holders are calling “unacceptable” given the inconveniences it caused.
Even worse, Verizon also won’t proactively apply the credit to affected accounts; you have to go into the Verizon app to redeem it when it’s ready. The company might be banking on customers not following through. Some say the whole ordeal made them want to switch carriers.
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Many people experienced disruptions at work due to the inability to place calls, send texts, use internet-connected applications, or receive two-factor authentication texts. “Can’t even work right now, they ought to compensate for missing work due to the outage,” one person says. “My work as a courier depends on calls and texts for communication, so I have lost at least a day’s pay,” another person reports.
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Another widespread issue was transportation, as people lost access to GPS and ride-share apps. Multiple people reported having no way to call an Uber or Lyft at the airport or to get in touch with the people picking them up. (Without GPS, those people may have gotten lost, too.) One person said the lack of GPS “made my commute balloon to over 2 hours (usually under 1).”
“My husband got stranded in the middle of nowhere with no GPS and he couldn’t call out,” another person says. “His brother is in the hospital & we can’t get updates on his condition.” Another also reported being unable to contact family members on a family plan.
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Uber drivers were also unable to log in to their accounts to pick up rides. Some truckers also reported on Reddit that they were stranded with full loads or unable to get assigned new ones without a working cellphone.
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On a more serious note, some people report that they were unable to dial 911. However, all mobile phones should be able to connect to any available carrier network (not just your personal plan) to place an emergency call.
“This light caught fire today and my family was unable to call 911 because of Verizon’s incompetency,” says one person on X. “Thankfully our cleaners happened to be at the house (who have T-Mobile) and called 911.” One of PCMag’s editors saw someone struggling to call 911 to report a person possibly overdosing on the streets of New York.
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The Orange County Deputy Sheriff’s office reminds the public that mobile phones can still call 911, but says too many people were calling 911 to report the outage. Not having a working cellphone can certainly feel like an emergency these days.
“Do NOT call 911 to report that you have No Bars. Please keep 911 lines clear for life-threatening emergencies only,” the office said. “My TikTok won’t load is not a Countywide Emergency. Hang in there, everyone. We’ll get through this 1G lifestyle together.”
Some people used the opportunity to take a break from their phones, including one mom who chose to watch her son’s baseball practice rather than be on her phone the whole time.
Others plan to stick with Verizon, chalking the incident up to an anomaly. “Honestly, I’ve had Verizon for over 30 years,” one person says. “They were the only carrier that had service on 9/11 and I’ve never had this happen in the past 30 years. It’s annoying and I will be calling in for a credit, but this is not the norm. I think of leaving at times, but I also know the service I’ve had for major events when no other carrier did.”
Unfortunately, outages are not uncommon. That’s why one US senator says the Verizon outage underscores the need for federal legislation to force wireless carriers and internet service providers to compensate consumers for network disruptions. “I’m working on legislation that would require cable, internet, and phone companies to provide pro-rated refunds when outages last for hours at a time,” tweeted Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico).
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