Verizon's mobile network went down for thousands of customers across the United States. Then it came back up. The company offered no explanation for why their infrastructure failed. They did however suggest that customers still experiencing problems try turning their phones off and then on again.
That's the fix. The same troubleshooting step your grandmother uses when her TV remote stops working. Verizon operates a $340 billion telecommunications empire built on cell towers and fiber optic cables and satellite arrays spanning an entire continent. Their official response to a massive service outage was have you tried restarting it.
Thousands of people couldn't make calls or send texts or access the internet on devices they pay $80 per month to use. They panicked. They checked Twitter. They wondered if this was a cyberattack or a solar flare or the beginning of some catastrophic grid failure. Verizon's communications team watched this unfold and decided the appropriate level of transparency was zero. No cause identified. No timeline provided. No accountability accepted.
Just restart your device.
The wireless carrier restored service without explaining what broke or how they fixed it or whether it might break again tomorrow. Customers who depend on mobile networks for work and emergencies and basic communication got nothing but a corporate shrug. But at least Verizon was thoughtful enough to remind everyone that the power button exists.
Some guy in Cincinnati probably missed a job interview because his phone showed no signal for three hours. Verizon's message to him: did you remember to restart though.
Photo by on Unsplash
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