nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Site Totals

3371 Users Online 5848159 Members 365599 Discussions 61880 Solutions

5G Home Internet bizarre behavior

GaryFNC

OK, this is a wild ride. Talked to Verizon almost every day for a week. Speed is OK, then drops to almost zero (or zero). Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes until I call Verizon. Recovers when the Verizon tech rep "runs diagnostics" on the router (or "resets the network").

OK, tried a second router - both are running right now. Yet again, this morning, both routers went to near zero. Perfect weather. On ethernet, not wireless. Tried rebooting both routers - Nothing. Called Verizon - yet again, "diagnostics" on the first router and things started working. 2nd router was still near zero. After the call, the 2nd router seemed to recover as well..

Only 1 tower visible from my house - and that tower got hit by a power outage about 10 days ago. Just FYI

Now, I worked in software and devices for 40 years - I do know that intermittent problems can be hard. BUT when both routers are down - it would be good for someone on the network team to look long and hard.

Issue has been escalated, but no good response yet. Everyone at Verizon support is trying to be helpful, but this seems to be beyond their domain.

Comments

SynthpopAddict

You are talking about 5G Home Internet service, using the cube-shaped internet gateway, and not Fios service, correct? If so, because the internet gateways are running off the cell phone towers, your data speeds are going to fluctuate based upon network traffic. If you are in at least a decent-sized city, I suspect the tower(s) in your neighborhood get congested at certain times of the day and that's what's causing your speed drops. With people paying more for the premium mobile plans to access the same network, I'm willing to bet the internet cube is being deprioritized to cell phone traffic.

GaryFNC

I thought of that. But the variations happen almost any time of the day. One morning at exactly the same time, the network is blazing and next day it isn't. And I am in a semi-rural area with probably not great demands off hours on the network/tower. And it wouldn't explain why the 2 routers are different at the same time. It is always possible that this is random - but that wouldn't explain an hour with both routers showing almost no speed...

SynthpopAddict

If you are in a semi-rural area, it's possible that 5G service is spotty or nonexistent, as Verizon's 5G coverage is mostly a city thing. Low-band 5G runs about the same speed as 4G LTE, and the radio waves can only travel a few miles before they fade out. Mid- and high-band 5G are where the really great data speeds live, but the higher the band, the less distance traveled. I don't think mid-band 5G reliably goes more than about a mile, and high-band 5G has a range of only ~1500 feet. If your routers are only using 5G, they could just be struggling to get signal?

GaryFNC

All good info - especially on the bands. And I am sure the signal here has a lot of variability. But that doesn't fully explain being out for 30+ minutes or coming back when tech support "resets the network", etc. I still fairly sure they have a tower problem (we can only see 1 tower). Variability I can deal with - being out and having to call Verizon almost every day not so good.

Thanks for all the useful info

Verizon_Support

Hello GaryFNC. We want to make sure you get the best service possbible. Are you still experiencing these issues?

~Ivone

GaryFNC

Yes, I am still having these problems. As I noted, I have already talked to support 5-6 times. In theory, they are looking into any network problems... I haven't heard anything back yet. I'm sure it is all documented in tech support notes from my account....

GaryFNC

Even better... AFTER I complained loudly and got blown off by the network team, all of a sudden the speed and consistency has increased significantly in the last 2-3 days... Hmm, very interesting...

SynthpopAddict

[chuckles] Well, hopefully that fixed the problem.

If the internet gateway has settings for you to adjust the band it picks up, see if you can switch it to 4G LTE if your signal appears to "drop out" again, as LTE radio waves travel farther, so have a better chance of being received. I'm wondering if your gateways are losing signal when they get handed off to the tower which is 3 miles away because the tower which is 1 mile away won't let the gateway connect for whatever reason. If the gateways are set to use only 5G, 3 miles is a very long way for 5G to have to travel, and the reception won't be that good.

That's too bad there isn't at least a cable ISP around for you to use, but if the only choices are "fixed wireless" internet and satellite internet, fixed wireless such as Verizon offers is generally faster than satellite internet.

Child Item