The hourslong Verizon outage that affected thousands of customers does not appear to be the result of a cyberattack but instead an internal network issue tied to servers in New Jersey, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
More than 178,000 customers were affected by the outage. Verizon on Thursday offered a $20 credit to "provide some relief."
"Yesterday, we did not meet the standard of excellence our customers expect and that we expect ourselves," Verizon said in a statement.
"This credit isn't meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can. But it's a way of acknowledging our customers' time and showing that this matters to us.
"We are sorry for what our customers experienced and will continue to work hard day and night to provide the outstanding network and service that people expect from Verizon," the company said.
Outage tracker Downdetector showed that Verizon customers began to report issues with their service around noon ET Wednesday. Reports appeared to peak in the early afternoon but remained elevated later in the day. Downdetector said it had received more than 1.5 million reports before 5 p.m. ET.
Affected users said their phones were in "SOS" mode or had other no signal messages. In cities like New York, alerts warned the outage could disrupt 911 calls, urging residents to try landlines or devices from other carriers, if available, or visit a local police or fire station in person in an emergency.
Other major hubs impacted by Verizon's outage included Houston, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Miami, per Downdetector. But many consumers across the country said they experienced disruptions.
A handful of outage reports for other carriers also surfaced Wednesday, but companies like T-Mobile and AT&T quickly confirmed online that their services were operating normally. Both suggested that their customers may have encountered issues contacting people with Verizon's service.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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