ios 15.2 update disabled my iPhone 7 cellular

When I updated my iPhone 7 to iOS 15.2, I lost the ability to send or receive calls.

Troubleshooting guide told me to update my phone. Settings > General > Software Update indicated that my software was updated to iOS 15.2

Took it to my carrier (Verizon), and after spending an hour with it and sharing with national support, they could do nothing with it.

Seemingly out of options, I did a hard reset and erased all data. Now, I cannot set up my phone because the message says, "Unable to Activate. An update is required to activate your iphone. Learn more at apple.com/support (only button option is to Shutdown).

Any thoughts? Or is this Apple's way of pushing me into a new device? ;-)