My mum had something similar happen with Verizon albeit as an act of fraud against her account. Her phone was working one day then mysteriously stopped working

My mum had something similar happen with Verizon albeit as an act of fraud against her account. Her phone was working one day then mysteriously stopped working the next. She didn't think much of it, but as a matter of happenstance had picked up her bill a couple of days later to find that someone had managed to attach a new phone to her account (under a new contract no less!). According to the fraud rep, the switch took place in a Target nearby and was likely done without any identification other than the phone number. Eerily similar.