Hello,
I am a Verizon customer for over 15 years if I remember correctly, and some years before that before switching carriers and then carriers becoming Verizon again in time due to buy-outs. My home community was hit hard by Hurricane Ida. My immediate neighborhood is suffering greatly due to Verizon's lack of solution for our immediate neighborhood. The issue is that there is no tower with Verizon service for 1.5 miles of us, the next closest is over 2 miles. Under "normal" circumstances we do not have reliable celluar data coverage inside or outside of our houses. We also do not have reliable celluar voice coverage inside our homes or buildings. The only thing that kept me as a customer is the advent of WIFI calling, and my home WIFI network, backed by my internet service provider. Myself and the customers in our area that I have spoken to have all made Verizon aware of this in the past at various times.
Now fast forward to the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, internet service providers infastructure is devestated, no hard line internet to feed our home WIFI networks, and thus very limited phone and almost nonexistant data service, for about a month and a half now. In this day and age everything relies on data - insurance claims, supplement claims, ordering necessary recovery supplies not available in local area such as cleaning products, repair parts for generators and other machinery needed to survive and recover, tracking delayed shipments, submitting official disputes to delivery companies, and ordering products 2 or 3 times to get successful delivery....this all takes data network access. (AND RELIABLE VOICE SERVICE)...I'm not even going to mention essential medical supplies, and other life saving / supporting items.
It's easy to say just drive to an area that has better service, but when you are spending every day trying to save what's left of your home every hour counts, and traffic in our area is very often at a standstill due to the utility work, debris clearing, and support services. It can take hours to drive a mile, not kidding, depending on the day and what's going on.
This all being said, myself and my neighbors have repeaditly been contacting Verizon, trying everything to improve the situation to no avial. I upgraded to the highest "Unlimited Plan" because the Verizon rep said it should give me higher priority on the wireless network, that plan is expensive, and in the end I got charged $50 per line on top of the new monthly charges! Being that I don't have data service still I think I should be credited for this, on top of that it turns out to be a 5g plan and I don't even have a 5g phone on any line.
Verizon also offered to send me a "Network Extender", I very clearly communicated that we have no internet connection and this was the reason I needed a solution. I was very excited, and waited in utmost anticipation to receive the package, when I opened it, loe and behold, the quick start instructions say that it requires a hard line internet connection, WHICH WE DON'T HAVE. I immediatly called Verizon, if you've done this recently you know how long that takes, try doing it with poor celluar coverage and dropping the calls a few times, only to be put through the same procedural questions and checks, why can't Verizon reps pull up your history right off the bat and go from where you last left off??? Anyways I ended up an hour and a half on phone with rep and with technical support only to be told there is no hope, "you need a hard line internet connection, thanks for being a Verizon customer, Goodbye!"
So in desperation I called and waited again jsut a couple days ago after I saw my bill, I requested a credit due to not having service at my home. I also asked the Verizon rep if there was any way a Technicain could be sent to my address, (I even gave her my GPS coordinates) to test the signal in my home and outside of my home and see if any adjustments could be made. I also asked if Verizon could park one of those mobile emergency mini tower trailers in our neighborhood for the many verizon customers suffering right now, I have seen them other places, we sure would DESPERATLY love to have one, at least, at minimum, until our internet service provider restores the infrastructure to our neighborhood. That is what led me to this forum, I'm not sure if it's the right place, but the rep said my best bet was to provide feedback to Verizon Corporate, I have no clue where that is, so if any corporate Verizon people are reading, or if you know one, are related to one, or have a link or contact to one, please, please let me know or let them know. I drove to a free WIFI hotspot set up at our ISP main office today just google Verizon Corporate, land on this page, and send this message.
Lastly I just want to close on this note, it is absolutly beyond all reason that my friends with AT&T Wireless service have a full 4 bars at my house, same exact location, same exact phones, night and day difference in coverage. So that tells me there is a tower close enough to provide reliable service, it does not seem very hard for Verizon to permanently or at minimum temporarly fix this poor service coverage for my neighborhood, it's all about caring for their customers, OVER 15 years loyal costomer!
Can you hear me now? GOOD...fix it, or loose a customer, for LIFE.
