After a major outage on Wednesday, Verizon says it will issue credits to customers affected by disrupted service across New Jersey and other major U.S. metros.
The wireless outage began in the late morning on Wednesday, and lasted for much of the day. It affected more than 1.5 million customers, rendering many unable to make calls or send and receive text messages. Customers reported cellphones displaying “SOS only,” indicating a loss of network connectivity.
Service problems peaked in the early afternoon and gradually declined throughout the day. New Jersey was among the hardest-hit areas, along with New York City, Philadelphia, Miami, and Atlanta.
Verizon has not yet disclosed what caused the outage. However, the company is ruling out a cyberattack. Engineers worked to restore service throughout the day. Connectivity was fully resolved by the end of the day.
In a statement issued after service was restored, Verizon said:
“The outage has been resolved. If customers are still having an issue, we encourage them to restart their devices to reconnect to the network. For those affected, we will provide account credits. Details will be shared directly with customers. We sincerely apologize for the disruption.”
Verizon has not indicated how much the credits will be or when they will roll out. Eligible customers will be contacted directly, according to the company.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr said the agency will review the outage and determine whether further action is warranted.
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.