Data Breach Allegations: The first part is from a story reported by Tom’s Hardware in July 2025. Security researchers discovered a post online claiming to “offer 61 million” “Verizon USA” records, totaling 3.1 GB, in a CSV/JSON file.“ The post according to safetydetectives.net included two screentshots which were reviewed by SafetyDetectives which determined that the data seemed to be authentic but they were not able to confirm that there were Verizon customers. The types of information in the file included:
First Name
Last Name
Gender
DOB
Tax ID + 3 more ID numbers per customer
Full Address
2 Different Phone Numbers Per Customer
Email
IP Address
One can only imagine the types of identity theft, phishing attacks, and mayhem this could cause. Tech Radar reached out to the company and a Verizon spokesman said, “… [Verizon] determined that it is old data, previously posted on the dark web, and is not affiliated with our Company or customers.” Still, if I were a Verizon user, and I am, for now, I’d want to change my password to try to make things more secure just in case. I’d recommend every customer might want to consider this. Full quote and story links at the end of this article. Fee Increases & Discount Cuts: And the next story, fresh for August 2025 is Verizon customers getting the double whammy of raised fees and removal of loyalty discounts. As reported on Mashable, several customers reported on Reddit receiving emails that their discounts will soon end and that they will lose loyalty perks. This story will continue as Mashable reached out to Verizon and are at this time awaiting a response. In the meantime, I’ll give my response: Over the years I’ve used Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. And overall I’ve gotten the best cell coverage from Verizon anywhere I’d travel in the US, and they’ve also worked well for me in Canada and Mexico through their respective partnerships. There were certain spots here and there whether it was a location for work or a place I lived where Verizon did not have a good coverage for whatever reason, it can happen to the best of carriers. But coverage does not always a carrier make. Many of my fellow Verizon users have very often complained about customers service and/or the perceived threatening nature of their financial department. In today’s world of 2025 Budget Carriers and Prepaid Carries like Cricket, Mint Mobile, Consumer Cellular, and Visible among others. These companies are also known as MVNOs: Mobile Virtual Network Operators. Cricket is owned by and uses AT&Ts network, Mint Mobile leases T-Mobile’s network, and Consumer Cellular operates on both. Visible is Verizon’s main discount offering. And there are several more companies in this space as well. Interestingly enough, you probably have heard of one or more of these companies all with their steep discounts but I have to be the numbers guy, you might be surprised at which company ranks at the top of these four by the penetration of the market each has by number of customers. Cricket has 13 million customers, Consumer Cellular with 4.2 million, Mint Mobile just over 3 million, and in last place out of these four is Visible but for some reason this number was much harder to find than the others, it seems to be approximately 1 million users. The number of customers alone might tell a story. Finally for now, as an everyman who is being hit at all sides by higher costs by many different sources I ask the age old question: Doesn’t it always seem like when people have less money certain important companies (important like utilities) raise their prices? For example, your cost for energy, the fare on the buses & subways, and the price for mobile service from Verizon (although in Verizon’s case you can also add that besides raising the price they also take discounts away). If things like this always happens I bet many will agree that it often does. I will continue these two stories on Verizon here and in the meantime see link citations below.
https://www.thestreet.com/retail/verizon-quietly-plans-move-that-threatens-to-drive-away-customers