‘This credit isn’t meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can’: Verizon is offering a $20 credit after its major outage — but will it be enough?

• Verizon resolves the outage
• It’s offering impacted customers a $20 credit
• Even if it knows it may not be equivalent to the pain the outage caused

The dust is slowly settling on the massive Verizon outage of 2026, and while we still don’t know what cut out cell service for Verizon customers across much of the United States, the company is getting out in front of the issue with another public apology and a $20 credit for affected customers.

Verizon wrote in an X post that customers can get their $20 credit by logging into their Verizon accounts, which customers who were unable to access the cell network for upwards of eight hours may or may not think is enough. The credit doesn’t appear to be there yet, though, and Verizon has told us it will send a text message when it becomes available – that, of course, assumes your service has returned.

In fact, Verizon appears to be anticipating the response, adding in its post, “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.”

Do I think $20 is enough? Probably not. A fairer amount might’ve been the cost of one month of 5G coverage for one month, so somewhere in the range of $50. But I get that could be a huge expense for Verizon across millions of customers. Also, that’s not my problem.

And judging from the comments on our live report tracking the outage and aftermath, I have a feeling many folks across the United States won’t be happy with this either. Further, while Verizon is upping the communication now, the carrier went for hours without providing an update, and this, as well as a small, $20 credit will likely make for a rightfully unhappy bunch. Though, as some have shared, calling in and chatting with a customer service rep might be a way to score a larger credit – mileage on this will likely vary though.

What’s missing thus far is an explanation of the outage’s root cause. There are numerous theories, including a cyberattack, bad code, and equipment failure. Any one of them could account for the scale of the event (and its duration), but until Verizon does its post-mortem, we simply won’t know. That process can take hours, days, or even weeks.

In the meantime, whatever percentage of Verizon Mobile’s nearly 150 million customers affected by the outage will have to decide if $20 is enough to assuage their frustration over lost communication opportunities, business, and even the inability to reach emergency services when they needed them.

If you’re currently searching for that $20 credit, you might want to wait a bit until that text from Verizon comes through. Many people, including this Verizon customer, have yet to see any indication of the credit on their accounts. I even tried to engage with chat on the issue, and it, though automated, knew nothing about the credit offer.

In the meantime, let us know what you think about Verizon’s $20 credit in the poll below.

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A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.