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After a recent outage left Verizon subscribers without service, reportedly for 10 hours, the mobile carrier is offering a small account credit to help smooth things over. On Wednesday, January 14, many Verizon users were left without the ability to place calls, send text messages, or connect to the Internet. The scope of the outage is not yet clear. By the time Verizon announced that the issue had been resolved at 10:15 p.m. Eastern time, the website Down Detector, which tracks service outages based on user reporting, had reportedly peaked at 175,000 reports, according to CNET.
There has not been an announcement as to the cause for the outage, which affected even the best phones on Verizon. Now, the carrier is offering a small, conciliatory gesture to affected subscribers in the form of a small account credit, which can be applied for a reduction in billing. "Yesterday," Verizon wrote in a statement, "we did not meet the standard of excellence our customers expect and that we expect of ourselves. To help provide some relief to those affected, we will give them a $20 account credit..." The carrier says the $20 amount should be enough to cover multiple days of service, on average.
Verizon customers affected by a recent outage can claim a $20 account credit
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Verizon is offering a $20 account credit to users whose service was interrupted by Wednesday's outage. However, the company has elected to make this an opt-in process. Customers whose service was interrupted will not automatically receive $20 off their bill, but will instead need to proactively accept it. To redeem the credits, affected users will need to log into the myVerizon app on their smartphone, where they will need to accept the credits. In a statement, the carrier noted, "Customers will receive a text message when the credit is available in the app." Even if you don't get such a text, it could be worth checking your myVerizon app.
The carrier assured users, "This credit isn't meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can." It also instructed any subscribers still experiencing connection issues to restart their devices in order to prompt a reconnection to the network. The released statement does not include any mention of a possible restitution for users whose devices are part of an enterprise plan, so stay tuned if you're a Verizon user whose phone plan is paid through your employer.
It's unknown if the outage affected other carriers on Verizon's network. If you're on a different network, you won't be affected at all, since Verizon runs on its own towers. According to TechRadar, some users are still waiting to see their credits, so if yours hasn't shown up yet, you're not alone.