Get in contact with Verizon about poor coverage?
skatingrocker17
Enthusiast - Level 1

Is there any way to report poor service in my area? I have been with Verizon since 2005, my area showed up on the LTE coverage map in 2011. The problem is 4G is extremely spotty and all phones almost always revert back to 3G or are unable to complete a 4G upload speed test. The only place I am able to get stable 4G reception in my house is upstairs (with HTC, Motorola, and Apple phones). When you live in a spotty 4G area you notice that some manufacturers use better radios than others.

The closest cell phone tower to my house is located about 2 miles to the east of town right on Interstate 75. The other cell phone tower is located about 3-4 miles down 75 which serves the northern portion of town. Downtown and almost all residential areas have non-existant LTE coverage unless you're outside and you're lucky to get that. The phone might read LTE sometimes but it's usually about -111dB and unstable. 2 miles west of town there is a major CSX intermodal train yard that links NYC to Chicago which also has no LTE coverage. My zip code is 45872 and the map shows LTE coverage for the entire area, and it has for years, and while this might TECHNICALLY be true, as in the tower is 4G, it's very difficult to connect to LTE while in town.

I highly doubt Verizon has any knowledge of the issue or plans to fix it anytime until the next upgrade to 5G or whatever that may be. I'd really like Verizon to consider fixing the issue or remove the LTE coverage from the map.

I am not new to this, I have had LTE devices on the Verizon network since the Thunderbolt came out. Since then I have had the iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, Droid DNA, Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR Maxx HD, HTC One, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, and the HTC Rezound (I believe this is all of them).

I don't have any issues with dropped calls and the 3G works OK, but with more data intensive applications it would be nice to actually get what you pay for and utilize the 4G speed.

Verizon only seems to care if users have LTE data coverage by the highway, not in the town. It didn't used to be a big deal but now that nearly everyone has 4G capable devices, the issue is really obvious. I will work with Verizon on the issue if they'd like, I would really just like to have the issue taken care of.

Thank you

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

skatingrocker17,

I know how frustrating it is to have service issues continuously! I apologize that this has been going on so long. Since this is happening all over your town, has a ticket ever been filed on your account regarding the service in your area? We definitely want to address any network problems you may be having.

Thank you,
MichelleH_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

skatingrocker17
Enthusiast - Level 1

There has been no ticket filed that I know about. Right now I am exactly

1.71 miles from the cell phone tower using the Note 3. I am on the second

floor of my house and my LTE signal is -110dB. while my 1xRTT signal is at

-93dBm. With the Note 3, the LTE connection is not stable but with my HTC

One, it was fairly stable on the second floor but not downstairs. I haven't

had good luck with any Samsung phone and MANY people in town are farther

away from the tower than I am. It wasn't built in a very central location

in the proximity with the area it's serving.

On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 11:00 PM, Verizon Wireless Customer Support <

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Thanks for all of the details skatingrocker17. Were these phones all on the same line or do you have other lines on your account having the same issue. Once you're outside or in other parts of the city, are you able to pickup 4G?

MarquiaF_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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skatingrocker17
Enthusiast - Level 1

They are all on the same line. I buy and sell phones so over the past few

years I've had just about everything. It's still pretty spotty outside,

it's better with some phones than others. It really just depends where you

are. Some parts of town are okay with 4G outside, but most of the town is

pretty far from the cell phone tower. The cell phone tower I'm connected to

has a red sign out front that says VERIZON WIRELESS NORTH BALTIMORE, OHIO.

It's outside of town though. The parts of town that are relatively close to

that get good service but it's pretty much just I-75, a nursing home,

trailer park, businesses, some fast food restaurants and a few houses.

This is the same cell phone tower that serves most of the town which is

over a mile from the tower and 4G is never stable in town. Most of the

towns population as well as the CSX Rail yard to not get stable 4G

coverage. You will pick it up every now and then but the uploads are

usually horrible and it usually switches back to 3G. It also seems to drain

the battery. It's not just me having the issue, it's everybody.

On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 8:39 AM, Verizon Wireless Customer Support <

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

skatingrocker17,

Thanks for the information. Since this is obviously a consistent issue it would be best to have a ticket filed to better find out what options are available. Please follow my handle TonyG_VZW and send a direct message with your account info so we can get this processed started. I am sure we can work together to get this resolved or managed for the future.

Thank you,

TonyG_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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sj_deg6
Enthusiast - Level 1

I have the same issue in my area and I keep reading posts in this forum and the Verizon reps keep asking if a ticket has been filed for their service area.  How do I file a ticket for my service area??  I have a Galaxy S4 and my service is horrible.  Other than the fact that I think the device has a poor antenna (since others with different phones such as iPhone get service in areas where I get none) my home is in an area that is not on the 4G LTE coverage map.  How can we get coverage here?  We just moved here 2 years ago and ended up buying a signal booster but my Galaxy still doesn't work unless I'm within a 10 foot radius of the booster.  And when it does work all I get is 1x.  Also, when I am in areas that do have 4G/3G, I get nothing when inside some buildings while others with different phones have no problems.  I am VERY frustrated but always thought that there was nothing I could do about it.  I finally decided that since my family pays almost $200/month on this service, it should work!  It also is frustrating that I spent WAY too much money on this phone that has a horrible antenna.  PLEASE help me.  I'm tired of paying so much for so little. 

skatingrocker17
Enthusiast - Level 1

The Verizon rep (TonyG_VZW) was communicating with me through direct messages and was supposed to call me but never did. So I don't know if a ticket has been filed or not but apparently contacting someone on here is one way to do it. I'm really doubtful that anyone will ever come and fix it. The east side of town is great but the west (where I live) is poor. I think as long as they can mark it as a "LTE" area on a map, that's all they care about.

The truth is that everyone knows that LTE sucks here, but no one really knows how to complain about it. It IS an issue and always has been, ESPECIALLY if you own a Samsung phone. The only real way they could fix it here would be to put up another cell phone tower which I highly doubt they will do, the position of the current one honestly makes no sense, it's about 3 miles from the center of town, if it was more centrally placed they would of only had to put up one tower, but now about 75% of the town has to live with slow 3G, and because the majority of people are using 3G at the same time on one tower, it's SLOW.

I don't think Verizon cares enough to put up another tower here, even with there being a major CSX inter-model hub, which is more than 5 miles long itself. It lies on the west side of town and 4G signal is extremely poor, they're building commercial shipping companies across from CSX all the time and they service out there it horrible. I'd switch to AT&T if I didn't have unlimited data because it's much faster here, the towers are more strategically placed and there appears to be more than one.

sj_deg6, try contacting a representative by direct message on here, maybe you'll have better luck than I did.

I ended up buying the zBoost DataBlast YX550-VLTE-AWS for $160, I had to put an antenna on my roof. My 4G signal ranges from 2-4 bars and usually about 19db on average, although LTE still sucks outside my house. I hope that helps.

ajnevares1
Specialist - Level 1

I am right there with both of you guys...

I had the same exact issue when I had my Note 3 (Phoenix,AZ) and when I created a thread on here about it, I encountered two other Note 3 owners in Phoenix as well and were experiencing the same exact issue. We came to the conclusion the Note 3 just has a weak antenna based on other devices used in the same area (as mentioned earlier in this thread). I have the One M8 now and it does drop to 3G too, but not as often and have a much stronger LTE signal than I did with the Note 3...only by comparison...the network here in Phoenix is still pretty bad. I am kind of new to all this but my guess is in order to have the largest LTE network, they spread it pretty thinly to a very large number of customers. Doubling the bandwidth in major cities did nothing (at least here it did not).

I went all the routes as well...new sim, replacement phones, factory resets, trouble tickets but did not get the network extender and no improvement. It finally came to a point where a tech from Verizon stated whether I have a 3G signal, or a 4G signal, there is no issue as long as I have a signal. I strongly disagreed having the premier phone at the time living in an area completely surrounded by 4G (per the coverage map) and rocking 3G, or a very weak LTE signal most of the time. It is unfair to pay so much for sub-par service, and their refusal to admit their network is not as good as advertised simply makes the whole ordeal that much more frustrating.

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skatingrocker17
Enthusiast - Level 1

So it's been about 8 months, Verizon has not done anything about the issue. Right now I'm using the first Samsung device that I've ever had decent service with which is the Galaxy S5. LTE is still spotty. I really don't think they're ever going to solve this problem. I know if someone ever contacts me about it they will run through the issues of maybe it's your device, maybe your phone isn't updated or on the latest radio firmware, something along those lines. Because the person on the other end of the phone just looks at the Verizon coverage map and see's that your in an LTE area, even though the majority of the town is 3G if you're in any building.

@TonyG_VZW never got in touch with me, but I don't think he's going to make them move the cell phone tower to a centralized location or build another one, which is really the only solution.

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

It can take several years to work through the regulatory requirements and property access agreements to build or improve a cellular tower.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Leucadia
Newbie

I have the same problems in Encinitas, California near Hwy 101 and La Costa Avenue.

I'm lucky to get 2 bars and 4G is a rarity.

If it doesn't get better in the next 3 months, I'll change to another carrier.

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skatingrocker17
Enthusiast - Level 1

So it's been one year since I've posted about having the issue. Since then, I've had the HTC One M8, Galaxy Note 3, LG G3, Galaxy S5, and the Droid Turbo. In some quadrants of town, the 4G LTE service is good, but for the most part the service is bad. It's still bad. There's only one Verizon tower that's supposed to cover a large area but it's just not good enough. I don't even know where the AT&T tower is but the LTE service is fantastic.

Anyway, no one on our plan will be renewing their contacts because Verizon has ignored the issue. The placement of the tower is really poor to being with. The service on I-75 is good and the country and certain areas of town where most people don't even live. I know a lot of others who have switched as well. The service is so poor in the weight room I have to put my phone in a specific place to get LTE so I can actually stream Pandora and music from Google Play. I would say it's the building but AT&T's signal has no issue anywhere inside. It even works in my basement, whereas with Verizon I had to get a 4G LTE booster and put in on my room so I'd have good service everywhere in my house. Don't plan on Verizon fixing the issue, they don't care and if it's no an easy solution it'll probably never happen. I'm not going to pay $300 a month for service that is below the other carriers.

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

I definitely don't want to lose you skatingrocker17! Service will be intermittent and indoors will be even more challenging due to building penetration losses. In the interim, two topics which may be of interest: http://vz.to/URWQ3b, http://vz.to/1sNJm4t . For your indoor concern please keep im mind you do have 14 days to test the network extender and if unsuccessful you may return. Please share if you would like to move forward with this option. Thank you.

VanetrisC_VZW

Follow us on twitter @vzwsupport

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skatingrocker17
Enthusiast - Level 1

I appreciate the response but that really isn't a good solution. It's not my house where I have the issue it's everywhere else in town. I don't have an issue making calls/texting anywhere, it's LTE data connectivity that's the issue. I already have an LTE booster that picks up and replicates Verizons LTE 700Mhz and 1700Mhz bands from an antenna that's on my roof. Otherwise, I wouldn't have 4G downstairs.

I don't want to leave Verizon, I have 5 phone lines and it would be a pain. But if other networks can provide what I'm looking for then it doesn't make sense not to switch. I would like for it to just work so I don't have to do anything but I'm just tired of working around it. It hasn't improved since we got LTE coverage in 2011. Most places I go, I have 0 problems with Verizon, but the places I spend most of my time at in town the LTE is very spotty and with 3G everything takes forever to load/buffer and it usually doesn't keep up with streaming services like Pandora.

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