If you’re a Verizon customer and your iPhone or Android smartphone showed “SOS” yesterday, there’s some compensation coming your way.
Verizon has confirmed that a widespread network outage impacted customers across the U.S., preventing many users from making calls, sending texts, or using mobile data over LTE and 5G. The issue has since been resolved, and Verizon says it will provide customer credits to anyone affected.
In a public statement, Verizon apologized for the disruption:
“Today, we let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry.”
While Verizon hasn’t yet shared the exact value of the credits, the company says additional details will be announced soon. Historically, these credits are automatically applied to customer accounts, so affected users likely won’t need to take action.
Why Phones Showed “SOS”
During the outage, many smartphone users noticed the “SOS” or “SOS only” indicator in the status bar. According to Apple, this means the device isn’t connected to its primary cellular network but can still place emergency calls using other available carrier networks. This feature is supported in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
What Verizon Customers Should Do Now
Verizon says customers who are still experiencing issues should restart their devices to reconnect to the network. If service has already returned, the next step is simply to wait for Verizon to share details on how and when the promised credits will be applied.
If you rely heavily on Verizon for work or daily connectivity, the outage was more than just an inconvenience. The promised credits won’t undo the disruption, but they’re at least a small acknowledgment for affected users who suddenly found their phones stuck in SOS mode.
Did you experience the outage, and do you think Verizon’s response is enough?
