iOS 17.3.1 Update Broke my 12 Pro Max

I am experiencing the most frustrating software bug I have ever encountered with Apple after over a decade as a customer.

During the Super Bowl, all of my Cellular/Bluetooth/Wifi was locked and I was unable to troubleshoot or toggle options. The cellular section had a message saying 'Update is required to use this iPhone'

So after the game I plug into the computer and update from there, the update fails with an error code 9.

After hours of support chat and phone with no success, I finally gave up and figured I would buy a new phone, with the support team telling me it was likely a coincidental hardware issue (if its hardware apple gets paid, if its software they fix for free).

Frustrated and without access to 911, my family, or 2FA for work I gave up for the night. In the morning I tried one last time to reset/update and it worked, I was then stuck in an infinite loop of 'setup/activation' - it appeared my wifi and cellular were both still disabled at this point so I tried to setup from the laptop.

I received 'error activating' messages on every loop of this setup until I finally tried the hard reset/restore one more time. That worked! I had wifi and was able to get into my phone. I restored my previous backup in the cloud and the phone worked GREAT for the entire day without issue.

About 6-8 hours later I received the same exact lock on my cellular/wifi/Bluetooth settings with a message in the iPhone settings that an update was required. This took me back into the infinite loop where I couldn't activate and the updates were failing.

Support then told me it was a carrier issue and I had to go see Verizon. I spent three hours at a local Verizon store where the staff there told me many customers came in with similar issues after the update and that it was 100% the software update breaking people's phones.

So I contacted support again and they were unable to assist now they want to send me to an Apple Store for diagnostics and I fear they are going to try to blame the hardware and swindle me for money when I am 99.999% certain this is a software issue with the most recent update. My phone works GREAT without the update.

Is there any known solution to this? Could Apple please take some responsibility here? Thanks community.