MW Verizon outage spurs calls for mandatory refunds when cell service is disrupted: You shouldn't have to 'beg for it'
By Charles Passy
In the meantime, here's how to claim the $20 credit Verizon is offering in response to the outage
Verizon's Wednesday outage lasted for hours. The company said its $20 credit offer "isn't meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can."
For those affected by Wednesday's hours-long Verizon $(VZ)$ outage, the mobile service provider is offering a $20 account credit, saying "it's a way of acknowledging our customers' time and showing that this matters to us."
But some legislators are saying outage-related refunds shouldn't be left up to the discretion of phone, internet and cable companies. Rather, they should be a matter of law.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat, called for mandatory refunds in a statement he shared Wednesday on X.
"I'm working on legislation that would require cable, internet, and phone companies to provide pro-rated refunds when outages last for hours at a time," he said. "If you pay for a service, that's what you should be getting."
While Luján is calling for change at the federal level, in New York there's also movement at the state level.
Linda B. Rosenthal, a Democratic state assemblywoman who represents parts of New York City, has already sponsored a bill that would require automatic outage-related refunds from phone, cable and internet providers.
The key, Rosenthal told MarketWatch, is that consumers shouldn't "have to beg for it." And in light of Wednesday's Verizon outage and our growing reliance on mobile devices, Rosenthal said the need for such legislation is greater than ever in order to hold service providers accountable.
"Your whole life is on the phone," she said.
It doesn't appear that Verizon's $20 credit will be automatically granted. In a statement, the company said the money "can be easily redeemed by logging into the myVerizon app to accept."
The company added, "This credit isn't meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can."
Verizon isn't the first major phone-service provider to be affected by a significant outage. AT&T $(T)$ experienced a widespread disruption to its service in February 2024. In that instance, it provided a $5 credit to customers - which some considered hardly fair compensation.
Last year, the company introduced what it calls the "AT&T guarantee," which provides fiber and wireless customers with credits equaling a full day of service for outages, depending on certain details. The credits are provided "with no action required from the customer," AT&T said.
As of now, there are essentially no federal or state laws requiring automatic refunds in the case of service outages, according to John Breyault, a vice president at the National Consumers League. But he thinks the issue should be taken up by the Federal Communications Commission.
"Verizon is not the only carrier to experience outages, and they will likely not be the last, so I think this issue is ripe for discussion," he said.
In the case of the Verizon outage, an FCC spokesperson said the agency "is continuing to actively investigate and monitor the situation to determine next steps." The spokesperson didn't immediately comment on whether the agency should look into requiring automatic outage-related refunds from service providers.
Michael Podolsky, founder of the website PissedConsumer.com, is supportive of any legislation that would mandate such refunds. But he said it's not just about the money: He believes that requiring refunds would prompt service providers to avoid issues that might result in outages in the first place.
"They will maintain much stricter controls and quality-assurance processes," Podolsky said.
-Charles Passy
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 15, 2026 16:24 ET (21:24 GMT)
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