Skip to main content

Verizon racks up more than $1M in fines over 911 outage

Verizon banner splashed across iPhone screen.
Verizon

One of the most vital services people rely on is the ability to call 911 during an emergency. Unfortunately, there’s been a worrying increase in 911 outages, with one happening as recently as last week in Massachusetts and reports of 911 not even answering in Jersey City. Verizon has been one of the first companies to face the consequences for these failures, getting slapped with a $1.05 million fine by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to settle a 2022 outage.

The incident in December 2022 resulted in a one-hour, 44-minute 911 outage that prevented hundreds of emergency calls in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. This Verizon 911 outage followed another one in October 2022. According to the FCC, despite Verizon attempting mitigation efforts, “certain failures recurred,” prompting the FCC to fine Verizon.

Recommended Videos

“When you call 911 in an emergency, it’s critical that your call goes through,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Today’s action is part of the FCC’s ongoing effort to ensure that the public has reliable communications, including access to 911.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

As part of the Consent Decree with the FCC, Verizon is required to implement a compliance plan to adhere to FCC 911 rules and best practices, including risk assessments and security-related measures.

“The Enforcement Bureau takes any potential violations of the Commission’s 911 rules extremely seriously. Sunny day outages, as occurred here, can be especially troubling because they occur when the public and 911 call centers least expect it,” said Loyaan A. Egal, chief of the FCC Enforcement Bureau. “We are committed to ensuring communications providers uphold their responsibilities in providing critical 911 services to the American public.”

While the fine isn’t very substantial for a company that made $4.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024, it is encouraging to see the FCC taking the problem seriously. Hopefully, this will encourage other service providers to take proactive measures to prevent future 911 outages.

Ajay Kumar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ajay has worked in tech journalism for more than a decade as a reporter, analyst, and editor.
New iPad Air incoming? There’s a low stock warning
A person holding the Apple iPad Air (2024), showing the screen.

Less than a year has passed since the release of the current iPad Air. However, a new one could launch very soon. As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes, the inventory for the popular tablet is dwindling, suggesting that a new model is set to launch.

The 2024 iPad Air was launched in May 2024, introducing a new 13-inch model alongside the traditional 11-inch model. Both versions feature Liquid Retina displays that offer vibrant colors and sharp details and are powered by the M2 chip, which provides improved performance compared to the previous generation. Beyond this, there were a few changes made between this and the previous model, which arrived in 2022.

Read more
Samsung might return to all-Exynos for its Galaxy S26 lineup
A close up of the triple camera on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus

Samsung has seen a smoother development with its Exynos 2600 chip than it did with the 2500, according to a new report. Prior to the release of the Samsung Galaxy S25, rumors suggested the phone could use the Exynos 2500 or the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and leaks provided a lot of conflicting information. Now, a report from a Korean news outlet says the company has already achieved a 30% yield from its manufacturing process.

The company is using a 2 nanometer production process, and it's initial yields were higher than expected according to The Bell. Samsung plans to start mass production of this chip in the second half of the year and say it could improve performance by 12% and power efficiency by 25%.

Read more
Google Messages might let you unsend awkward messages in RCS chats
The Google Messages app on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Google Messages, the default messaging app on Android phones, could soon get new features that will let you unsend texts like third-party messengers. The unsend functionality is reportedly under testing and will be available for chats over RCS protocol, which succeeds traditional SMS with improved support for multimedia, emoji, reactions, etc.

Presently, when you delete a message, it is only removed from your device without impacting other participants in the chat. Now, Google appears to be testing a new "delete for everyone" functionality for conversations that will delete messages for all parties, similar to instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram. 9to5Google spotted references to the under-development functionality, suggesting it might be available for a wider audience to benefit from -- though the exact timeline of remains unknown.

Read more