Are you a Verizon customer? You may be eligible for a $20 credit from the cell service provider. Find out why and how to claim it.
If you were having trouble making calls or sending text messages on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, you weren’t alone. There was a large Verizon outage affecting thousands of customers for most of the day. While the internet and cell phone provider eventually restored service, the inconvenience left many customers upset. In an effort to smooth things over, Verizon is offering a $20 credit to eligible customers.
Who Was Affected?
ABC News reports that at the peak of the outage, “at least 178,284 Verizon customers were affected.” The customers in question claimed that “their phones showed ‘SOS’ in place of network bars.” Additionally, “New York Emergency Management (NYCEM) officials said the outage was affecting some users calling 911.” Customers who were unable to call 911 were directed to try again “using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police precinct or fire station to report the emergency.”
While the outage was felt across large swathes of the country, “the highest concentration of reports of Verizon problems, according to Downdetector, was in New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte and Houston.”
Why Did This Happen?
With such a large and long outage, many people were left wondering if this was an equipment failure or something more sinister. ABC News reports that “multiple law enforcement agencies have spent hours looking into the possibility that the Verizon outage could be the result of a cyberattack.” However, given the initial findings, “the belief is the outage is a technical issue and not the result of a cyberattack or some other nefarious act.”
Am I Eligible for the Verizon Credit?
According to the statement that Verizon put out on Wednesday, in an effort “to help provide some relief to those affected, we will give them a $20 account credit.” If you’re eligible for this credit, you “will receive a text message when the credit is available in the app. Our business customers will be contacted directly about their credits.”
How Do I Claim the Verizon Credit?
The press release says that the credit “can be easily redeemed by logging into the myVerizon app to accept.” The company claims that the credit is $20 because “on average, this covers multiple days of service.” If you’ve received the text message directing you to log in, you can do so safely. This credit is real, not some scam cooked up by people looking to take advantage of a bad situation.
Source
- Verizon offering customers $20 credits after hourslong outage impacted thousands, ABC News, 2026.
- An update on our network outage, Verizon, 2026.
