What caused the Verizon outage? What we know so far
"We let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry," Verizon said about the outage.
Melina KhanSome questions remain about the cause of the hours-long Verizon outage that impacted cell service for over a million customers on Jan. 14.
Service was totally restored after 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 14, roughly 10 hours after some customers first began noticing their phones entering SOS-only mode.
Downdetector, an outage-tracking aggregator, reported that more than 1.5 million Verizon customers experienced wireless and data outages on Jan. 14.
"Today, we let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry," Verizon said in a statement shared on X.
The company did not disclose further details about the scope of the disruption. On Jan. 15, Verizon also announced that it will issue $20 credits to those affected by the outage.
What caused the Verizon outage?
A Verizon spokesperson told USA TODAY that the outage was tied to a software issue and the company is "conducting a full review of what happened." The company said it did not have any indication that a cyberattack could be the cause.
Outages with cell service providers like Verizon are not uncommon, but the scope typically varies. For example, in August 2025, roughly 11,000 customers reported issues in what Verizon described as a "software-related" outage.
A similarly widespread Verizon outage in September 2024 impacted more than 100,000 people and was reportedly probed by the Federal Communications Commission.
Several factors can cause cell service outages
A mobile network outage, such as the one that occurred on Jan. 14, is an "unexpected disruption that prevents service to many cell sites at the same time," according to Verizon's website.
There are several possible causes of a mobile network outage, including technical glitches, server failures, infrastructure damage or cyberattacks, according to AT&T, a Verizon competitor.
How to get $20 Verizon credit
Verizon said it is issuing $20 credits to customers impacted by the outage.
The credit can be redeemed in the myVerizon app, and customers will receive a text when it is available.
"This credit isn’t meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can. But it’s a way of acknowledging your time and showing that this matters to us," Verizon said.
Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse, Mike Snider & James Powel, USA TODAY
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at [email protected].
This story has been updated with additional information.
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