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Dead Zone in zip code 47403

Very low signal, and cannot send or receive MMS in the area around my house. Also had the same (but worse) problem with Sprint since 2004. When are they ever going to expand coverage in this area? Many new homes have been built in the last ten years, along with an expanded Ivy Tech College Campus etc. Getting tired of having to call-forward my mobile to a landline every time I go home.

GPS location of nearest intersection is 39.162129, -86.602356.

Comments

rcschnoor

You could always purchase a network extender if you have broadband internet service to your home. Otherwise, I would recommend switching to the provider which has the best signal for your needs.:smileyhappy:

Placing new towers to improve service in an area can takes 10 + years in some instances just to get the approvals needed from local governing bodies. Ad far as you know, they MAY be trying to do just that. Verizon can't just go out and put up a tower wherever they want. They have to follow a process set forth by the governing bodies in the area. Environmental concerns, aesthetics, population concentration, need, protests by local environmental groups, etc... all work into the equation.

brnmcc01

I don't like network extenders, had one with Sprint, didn't play nice with my LG G2 so that was one reason I switched to Verizon. At least I get 2 bars instead of Zero with Sprint.

However, there is no need for another tower. They already went thru that process to get one built here to supposedly service the rapidly growing west side here. Took about 4-5 years or so to get it done. I have gone out to the site to look at it, its not as big as the one north of here, I think that one was built in the days of Cingular Wireless. The problem I believe with this new one less than 1.2 miles away is most of the "pods" up top are set up to send and receive up and down State Highway 37, (soon to be Interstate 69. This is totally stupid. For one thing, at 70 MPH, people are not going to be connected to that one very long, as there is that big one I previously mentioned up by the State Police Post up at the intersection of Vernal Pike, then another really big one south of here that has been around for many decades... the road going to it is even called "Tower Rd". What someone needs to do, is get off their butt, come down here and do a local detailed survey of how many people live where, and either reorientate some of those antennas, or add a couple of additional ones. There is powerful enough computers and signal test equipment available today that just simply wasn't available even 5 years ago to pull this off. I realize people might get lower signal driving down the freeway, but jeez, they just passed a law here making it an Infraction just to be HOLDING a phone while you drive, even if you weren't doing anything at all on it. People spend most of their time AT HOME, and would like to be able to use a PHONE for just that, and not have to pay for a landline... The second most time people spend is at work. Then visiting friends and family, then maybe a couple hours here and there on the road. Service needs to be prioritized where the most number of Verizon customers are for the most amount of time. It's simply ridiculous that there is just about no useable cell phone service here (AT&T is just about useless as well), yet I don't live in the middle of nowhere, this is a modern housing subdivision with fiber FTTP. Funny how I can get broadband internet speeds up to 1Gbps down/500 Mbps up for only $159 a month, but the biggest mobile phone company in the USA won't fix their tower so it actually WORKS? You are right, nobody wants one in their own backyard, it takes forever to get one built, but that has ALREADY BEEN DONE. I'm sure it wasn't cheap even though it's fairly small in size. But in a mostly flat area like this, there shouldn't be a need for one every 1.2 miles anyway! It's getting to the point these days it can actually be hard to sell your house if people's phone won't work! Then this leads to a huge hit in the equity of my home.

That's the major reason I left Sprint. Why should I pay for the electricity for their "network extender", and pay again for providing my own backhaul and internet bandwidth, then pay again for the monthly service when I'm doing all the work, and providing my own infrastructure in effect creating my own femtocell?

I posted the GPS coordinates of the closest intersection, I'm sure you or Verizon has very accurate maps and topography and the equipment inventory and setup of all the towers around here. Should be an easy fix that should have happened 11 or 12 years ago. Finally got the tower up about 2005 or 2006. And 100's of my neighbors are STILL WAITING.

Snn5

That nearby airport/runway/landing strip could always have something to do with configuration of the tower.

rcschnoor

brnmcc01 wrote:

However, there is no need for another tower. They already went thru that process to get one built here to supposedly service the rapidly growing west side here. Took about 4-5 years or so to get it done. I have gone out to the site to look at it, its not as big as the one north of here, I think that one was built in the days of Cingular Wireless.

If it was built by Cingular, that would mean it is an AT&T tower as that was what Cingular became after its name change.

brnmcc01 wrote:

The problem I believe with this new one less than 1.2 miles away is most of the "pods" up top are set up to send and receive up and down State Highway 37, (soon to be Interstate 69. This is totally stupid. For one thing, at 70 MPH, people are not going to be connected to that one very long

...

There is powerful enough computers and signal test equipment available today that just simply wasn't available even 5 years ago to pull this off. I realize people might get lower signal driving down the freeway, but jeez, they just passed a law here making it an Infraction just to be HOLDING a phone while you drive, even if you weren't doing anything at all on it.

...

The second most time people spend is at work. Then visiting friends and family, then maybe a couple hours here and there on the road. Service needs to be prioritized where the most number of Verizon customers are for the most amount of time.

Let's do the math, 30,000(could be grossly underestimating this) cars a day traveling an interstate for 5 minutes near that tower gives you 150,000 customer minutes. 250 unit housing development giving you 8 hours/day gives you 120,000 customer minutes. That little strip of highway may have people on it for only a short period of time, but it affects WAY more customers.

Oh, and there is such a thing as bluetooth which you should be using if speaking on the phone while driving a car.

brnmcc01 wrote:

People spend most of their time AT HOME, and would like to be able to use a PHONE for just that, and not have to pay for a landline...

That is a choice for people to make. Possibly a bad choice if you do not have adequate service in your location. There are a LOT of things I would not like to pay for, but I do if I need to.

brnmcc01 wrote:

I posted the GPS coordinates of the closest intersection, I'm sure you or Verizon has very accurate maps and topography and the equipment inventory and setup of all the towers around here. Should be an easy fix that should have happened 11 or 12 years ago. Finally got the tower up about 2005 or 2006. And 100's of my neighbors are STILL WAITING.

I don't have ANY maps of your area. You are probably right about Verizon having them, though. You are right about one thing, though, it appears Verizon has its tower directed at improving the service of the largest possible number of its customers in and around that tower. It is unfortunate it does not include your neighborhood.

Finally, whenever I get 2 bars on my phone, I am easily able to send/receive calls on my phone. Possibly you should look into getting a new phone.:smileyhappy:

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