Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan

[VZLTEcustomer]

I've been using Verizon's LTE service in midtown Manhattan NYC ever since the iPhone5 came out last year. Last year I enjoyed great speeds using LTE network, but recently it has come to a point where I simply cannot use any data during working hours (9-5 M-F) and consistently get 1-2 bars at most. I've had several calls with verizon tech support where we've been able to rule out any idiosyncratic issues with my phone - Verizon was nice enough to ship me a replacement phone overnight, only to find out that even the new phone had the exact signal issues. They sent out testing vans to my area and confirmed that there were indeed capacity issues here. This makes sense - midtown Manhattan is probably one of the busiest areas with the highest concentration of VZ users in the US. Every weekday, there's a huge influx of commuters into the city that bring additional load to the network.

However, what I don't understand is now that they've identified the problem, I don't see any large efforts being made to fix it. I was told by tier 2 support a month ago that there have been general infrastructure updates done in Manhattan - however, as seen from my speed tests below, data speeds have only gotten worse (now 10-20kbs – worse than dial-up), I’m assume as more people switch on to the LTE network. I'm paying premium fees for LTE service, but I can't even use it during the period at work where it's most useful to me (at home I can just connect to wifi). I'm not sure why more people haven't reported this problem - I'm guessing they've come to accept sub-par network coverage in NYC. Tried to do my own research to no avail, as all of my coworkers around me with an iPhone5 was smart enough to go with AT&T (and, surprise! they are all smoothly sailing with 4-5 bars).

It's not an acceptable response to be told that "there's nothing they can do" as I was by the last VZ rep I spoke with. The way I see it, Verizon needs to fix their issue as Manhattan is one of the most important areas of data coverage in the United States, or they should allow customers like me to terminate their contract early without penalty so we can switch to a service that actually works - it is after all Verizon that is breaching contract by failing to fulfill the performance claims with LTE. Something needs to be done - at the very least, New Yorkers need to be informed of these capacity issues before considering to upgrade to LTE or switch to Verizon, especially if VZ’s intent is to trap customers into non-performing contracts with no effort to address the underlying issue.

#1: one bar in midtown east Manhattan, outside in broad daylight at noon. My coworker who took this picture from his AT&T phone sent me this picture via SMS at 12:15pm. It arrived on my phone at 1:40pm. I think it’s pretty safe to say that the bottleneck was on my end of the transfer.

2#: Speed tests done back in January this year - notice the difference during work hours vs weekends and evening:

#3: Speed tests this week – getting progressively worse (10-20kbs is worse than dialup!)

[VZWNY]

Been there, done that...this is how VZ will react :https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/993787#993787

[timmiii888]

I spoke to Verizon's technical support team over the phone yesterday regarding a trouble ticket for low LTE coverage in area of 42nd Street and Park Ave otherwise known as Grand Central Station. The field tech that responded to my ticket said that the area is a known weak spot in their network and not much if anything can be done to fix this issue. There's also no way to get out of my contract without having to pay the penalties for the 4 lines I have.

[VZWNY]

Lol yup...same response I got a few months ago.  Sad really...considering Sprint, Tmobile, and ATT don't suffer nearly as bad as Verizon in this area (and the rest of NYC area).  I just wish this got some coverage in the mainstream media...all you ever hear is how great Verizon is...I'm sure that's true elsewhere, but NYC - no way.  Not even close anymore.  Back in the 3g and early LTE days yes, but definitely not anymore.  And the "support" that we have received is a joke...always acting as if it's the first time they heard of the issue in the area...always asking "is it just one device?"  "is this just indoors"...uh...read previous complaints/tickets......

[Cripes]

At this point I'd be happy with 1X speeds. And I'm a couple thousand miles from Manhattan.

[ufotop]

Just bought an HTC ONE, works great in Brooklyn and awful in the Herald Square area of midtown. Makes what would be an otherwise highly enjoyable experience unbearable. I have reset the phone, swapped out the SIM card, and most recently exchanged the phone for a brand new one, all without any improvement. Occasionally I will get decent coverage for a few minutes, then it drops and stays dropped unless I go to settings and change my preferred network to GSM/UMTS and then back to LTE/CDMA; a lame work-around at best that doesn't always work. What, if anything, does Verizon intend to do in order to fix this?

[Inimical]

Same issue here.. I'm on 53rd and 6th, but anywhere you go in Midtown the service is terrible. My co-workers who have other carriers do not have this issue. On a slightly brighter note VZ seems to be rolling out their AWS spectrum, which if I understand correctly should ease the congestion:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/16/4844524/verizon-wireless-begins-beefing-up-lte-network-with-aws-s...

[VZWNY]

Yup...AWS being rolled out...but only if you have a device that supports it.  *MOST* will not.  And quite frankly, with the absurd customer service that VZ showed to most of us, I can't imagine many people wanting to sign up for a new 2 year contract to get one of the AWS supported devices...or paying full price to not get tied into a contract. 

[Inimical]

I've had success contacting their executive team in the past - I suggest you do the same:

http://aboutus.verizonwireless.com/leadership/executive/

[Prizm]

Manhattan Verizon is straight up garbage 4G LTE.  This is just like the bad old days of ATT with the iphone 1.  I was disappointed a year ago with Verizon service in the city and now I'm even more disappointed.  Midtown.  Lower midtown.  Uptown. SOHO. East Village, you name it.  Barely dial up speeds, if that.

Verizon has some serious, serious problems here. I can only imagine hundreds of thousand are thinking about jumping ship here. All my friends on ATT get smoking speeds.  It's definitely not worth the price.

[cmenscher]

Oh man I sure wish I had seen this before upgrading to a 5s.  I thought my 4s 3G was bad and Verizon LTE would solve my problems.  It's actually WORSE. This is pathetic.  I am the only one in the office with Verizon and everyone else has fantastic service on either AT&T and T-Mobile.  I can't even receive phone calls in my part of the building, unlike everyone else.  And now I'm stuck with the service since it's been over 14 days since I bought the phone.  I might have to pay the ETF to switch to AT&T...it'll be cheaper (in value) than paying for LTE service that I can't actually use in the location I spend 90% of my time.

(I know this is not a problem with the iPhone 5s because my LTE iPad has the exact same poor service quality in the area.)

[Inimical]

For what it's worth your 5S is one of the first devices to utilize the AWS spectrum. Unfortunately it seems to only work outside. The idea is that once more people get devices that are able to use that spectrum, it will free up the congestion on band 13 (which is what you would use inside a building). So you're probably not going to see any uptake in service inside buildings for a while.

On a slightly better note, I got a phone that see's the AWS spectrum, and I'm now able to get very fast speeds outside just about anywhere in midtown.

[cmenscher]

Oh that's interesting.  Well at least it's something...although I still get worse data speeds than on 3G, even outside.  It's clearly a capacity issue as there are usually to 3 to 4 bars, but the latency for any data request fluctuates from several seconds to complete timeout.  (That is, when I get LTE and not 3G/1x.)

It's seriously embarrassing when my co-worker's T-Mobile Nokia running Windows Phone 8 runs circles around my iPhone 5s.

[Inimical]

Just wanted to share some news.. I'm on 52nd and 6th. Recently just about anywhere in the midtown area I have been connecting to band 4 (LTE) on my Galaxy S4 which is LTE compatible. Outside speeds are hovering around a steady 40Mbps down and 20Mbps up.

That's great, but I work on the 18th floor and wasn't able to connect to band 4 while in the building, only band 13. Glad to say they may have added an additional antenna as I am now able to connect inside and outside to AWS. So I guess my issue is resolved.. Hopefully some of you will be seeing the same thing (As long as your phone is AWS compatible).

[scoooter]

This has been going on with mme in Midtown for at least six momths. I thought it was my phone so bought a new one. Same problem after much troubleshooting changing sim cards swapping phones etc I finally got throough my thick skull its the network. Calls to Verizon have gotton me nothing besides "someone will get back to you" which never happens.The FCC has a new speed test app that records your location, provider, and speeds and with your permission send that info back to the FCC. I suggest anyone having this problem downlaod the app so as to have proof. This test was done in the middle of the afternoon 11-18-13 on 53rd between 6th and 7th ave but happens all over midtown.

I consider this to be a breach of contract and if i dont get some satisfaction will be contacting various bloggers and the NYS Attorney Generals Office

[Paprab]

All,

This VZ problem is still very much alive and Midtown is still nightmere when it comes to data connection. I live in south NJ. That please used to be ok. But last few weeks I am noticing that even that place also started slowing down a bit.

Anybody has any further update on this? Customer Service in VZ remained same crappy as before.

[#17]

I don't know if Verizon expanded AWS to south NJ. Also your phone has to be capable of using AWS. It's going to take awhile for Verizon to expand AWS. It took 2 1/2 years to roll out LTE everywhere.

[Nordburgh]

I have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus which is AWS compatible. The service in midtown inside or outside the building is horrendous. As well as at my home it's unacceptable.

The top 3 results are at my home! The bottom result is outside my office building.

I just signed up for a no contract service with T-Mobile. I've got 14 days to test it out. If their service is better it's adios Verizon. Here are my results so far on my T-Mobile line at my home. I'll be able to test it at work on Monday.

As you can see, T-Mobile on a cheap smartphone kicks the crap out of Verizon.

[#19]

Yes because no one uses T-Mobile 4G yet. As T-Mobile gets more customers they will have issues. Nothing special about T-Mobile's network or spectrum. Simple math the more people suing bandwidth the less there is per person. Even with AWS that will only help somewhat with congested areas. Mobile data is like pizza, the more people that want a slice the smaller the slices. For some reason people think mobile data is an infinitely sized pizza.

[Nordburgh]

It doesn't matter if more people use it. It matters that it works as advertised and you get what you pay for. With locked in contracts they are taking advantage of their customers by NOT upgrading their network to handle it. This problem has been going on for almost two years. Please stop being a fan boy. Verizon is not your friend. Verizon is a business that wants to make a profit.

Here this is how they did during their last reporting earnings: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-21/verizon-beats-estimates-as-mobile-phone-users-increase-spen...

After reporting a fourth-quarter wireless margin of 47 percent -- up 5.6 percentage points from a year earlier -- Verizon executives said today they may make adjustments to contend with the no-contract plans, lower roaming fees and other discounts offered by rivals such as T-Mobile USA.

Verizon’s wireless results beat analysts’ estimates for subscribers, spending and profits. While the company’s 1.6 million new monthly subscribers were down from a record 2.1 million a year earlier, they beat the average estimate of 1.3 million new subscribers, based on a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts.

The average mobile-phone bill increased 7.1 percent to $157.21, above the $156.38 average estimate. The wireless division’s 47 percent profit margin compared with an estimate of 46.4 percent.

The company has managed to keep expanding profits amid tougher competition because it has a reputation for better customer service and network quality.

What did the customer get for their 7.1% increase in their bill? Not much if you live and work in Manhattan.

Unfortunately for me and a lot of other people we do not get better network quality. Verizon Wireless is earning large profits, yet the situation in NYC and parts of Long Island has been poor for almost two years. This is unacceptable when you are tied down to a contract and can't leave because of poor service without paying a penalty.

Hats off to T-Mobile for their promotion that is working. And if their service starts to tank then I'll switch again. I have no loyalty to any of these companies. Whomever provides the best service for the money will get my money. And right now that isn't Verizon.

[#21]

Of course it matters. If a cell tower can only handle 150 Mbps and the maximum 400 connections are connected to it, then each connection is going to be limited to 375 kbps. So it would be impossible to get the 5-12 Mbps that Verizon says you should usually get. And if there is 1000 people wanting to connect 600 are going to have to wait until some of those other 400 are no longer on the network. This is basic math.

[FasterPlease]

It's also still bad in Lower Manhattan (Tribeca and Financial District) despite all the press about improvements. During a typical weekday, you can eke out 1 Mbps down and about 300 Kbps up — if you're lucky. Even early in the morning on a weekend the best I've gotten on my iPhone 5S is 14 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up. That's a far cry from the 40 Mbps in all the media coverage.