We're still piecing together what caused Verizon's extended service blackout, but network experts point to possibilities based on how it transpired.

Verizon said it has resolved an hours-long outage that is believed to have left tens of thousands of US customers without access to voice and data services for much of Wednesday.

Nearly 200,000 users reported their service being disrupted on Wednesday, according to Downdetector, with reports flooding in around noon. A majority of the issues were reported to be related to mobile phone connectivity, at 61%, followed by users having no signal, at 35%, and mobile internet disruptions, at 4%.

Verizon has received all approvals it needs for a $9.6 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications, an Internet service provider with about 3.3 million broadband customers in 25 states. Verizon said it expects to complete the merger on January 20.

Tess Coward, a 27-year-old PR professional based in New York City, woke up feeling under the weather on Wednesday. But without the ability to make phone calls or receive text messages, she couldn’t get in touch with her doctor or log into the provider’s patient portal.

Verizon is offering customers a $20 account credit following a massive outage that brought down service across the US on Wednesday. In an update on X, Verizon says you’ll receive a text message when the credit is available, which you can redeem by logging into the myVerizon app and accepting it.

Verizon's services are fully back up. The carrier giant suggests restarting your device to reconnect it to the network. Additionally, the carrier is also giving all impacted Verizon users a $20 account credit to make up for the outage.

During the Verizon outage, police warned that contacting 911 could be tricky. Big disruptions can have cascading effects on everyday life.