What caused the Verizon service outage on Wednesday?

Verizon stated the outage was caused by a software issue, and not a cybersecurity incident.

How many customers were affected by the Verizon outage?

Approximately 2 million Verizon customers were affected by the service disruption.

How long did the Verizon service outage last?

The Verizon service outage lasted for more than 8 hours before being resolved.

Home / Technology / Verizon Suffers Major Software Glitch, Affecting Millions

Verizon Suffers Major Software Glitch, Affecting Millions

16 Jan

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Summary

Verizon experienced an 8-hour service outage affecting 2 million customers.
The company attributed the disruption to a software issue, not a cyberattack.
Service was restored with affected users advised to restart devices.

Verizon Suffers Major Software Glitch, Affecting Millions

A nationwide Verizon service outage persisted for over eight hours on Wednesday, impacting an estimated 2 million customers. The telecommunications giant confirmed the service disruption was resolved late Wednesday evening. Affected customers were instructed to restart their devices to restore connectivity.

Verizon stated the outage stemmed from a "software issue" and clarified there was no evidence of a cybersecurity breach. Unlike localized outages caused by hardware failures or natural disasters, this disruption was reported across various distant locations in the US, suggesting a systemic problem.

Analysts speculate that a faulty software update or an issue with Verizon's 5G Standalone (SA) core network may have caused the prolonged outage. The timing, starting midday rather than during off-peak hours, also raised questions about the nature of the change that led to the cascading failure.