Poor Signal Reception at Work - Need Advice

[Airman1947]

Hello Everyone,

This is a long time problem that I've had since I've been working at my company for the last 3 years.  I've had this problem with every phone I've had since, including my current Samsung Galaxy S5.  For some reason, Verizon cell phone reception is very poor in my office building.  I get at least 2 bars of 4G right outside, but when I'm inside at my cubicle, my service goes back at forth from 1 bar of 3G, to no service at all.  I thought that the building might be steel/concrete reinforced or something.  But here's the weird part.  From what I understand, only Verizon customers have this problem in our building.  AT&T subscribers don't seem to have the problem.  Weird.

But anyway, I was wondering if anybody has any idea for what I can do to try to get around this.  I've looked into a bunch of different options, but none of them seem feasible; physically anyway.  Money's not a huge problem.  Here's what I've got so far:

• I tried purchasing a Verizon 4G Hotspot to have at my desk, but it also didn't get any reception, so it didn't help
• I can go by the window if I absolutely need to use my phone, but this is an annoyance.  My cubicle is on the innermost wall, far away from the window, so if I need to use my phone, I'm going back and forth a lot
• We do have Wi-Fi in the building that I can connect my phone to, but it's not the best in reliability.  Plus, it's filtered so a lot of sites and apps are blocked, including messaging apps, so I can't text over Wi-Fi with the Verizon Messages app
• If I'm trying to text someone, I can use vtext.com, but it's not the most ideal solution
• I've thought about getting the Samsung Network Extender that Verizon offers, but I read that you have to plug it into an internet connection; I do have an Ethernet port at my desk I could use to plug into the company's network, but I don't think I'm allowed to do this sort of thing.  They're very strict about what gets plugged into the network, and somebody recently got in trouble for having an unauthorized router on the network.  I think this would basically be the same thing.  Plus, I don't know if the Network Extender would be filtered out or not
• I've looked into a cell phone repeater, but this would require mounting equipment outside, and wiring a cable into the building.  I could ask if this could be done, but I doubt that my employer would be willing to do something like this so that people can use their phone while they work
• I've looked into a number of external cell phone antennas that I could plug my phone into, but they require having a wire go to a window, and since I'm so far away from a window at my cubicle, I probably wouldn't be able to get away with this

So anyway, does anyone know of anything that I can try?  I guess the most ideal solution would be to have some sort of booster at my desk that wouldn't have to be placed outside my cubicle.  If anybody has any ideas, please let me know.  Thanks so much!

[pherson]

First question is, why do you need to use your phone at work? Do you have a desk phone that you can forward your cell phone to?

[Airman1947]

Thanks for the reply.  A few reasons really.  When I have some down time, I like being able to use it for whatever.

For one, I get text messages throughout the day. Since I don't have much service, I often use vtext.com on my deskop computer to answer them, but it isn't the most reliable service in the world.  Messages often don't show up unless I refresh the screen.  And also, when my phone finally does find some service, all of the messages from other people come through all at once, and the ringtone starts going off like crazy.  Kind of annoying.  Also, the lack of service tends to drain the battery

But anyway, yes I do have a desk phone.  I didn't know you could forward calls.  That would solve at least one problem; I don't like missing calls from people or having dropped calls.  How would I go about doing that?  Thanks.

[pherson]

I believe you type *73 plus the ten digit number to forward to then send. To deactivate, *73 send. In each case you will hear 2 beeps to confirm it went through.

[rcschnoor]

First of all it is not "weird" that one provider can have better service in a building than another. Possibly AT&T has a closer tower OR a closer tower in a direction which makes the signal go through a smaller distance of your building that the closest Verizon tower.

Information on call forwarding can be found HERE. Just don't forget to turn it off when you leave your office.

For what it is worth, if you have a smartphone, simply install Verizon Messages+(there is also an iPhone version but will not include iMessages) and you can send/receive messages from your computer much more reliably than with vtext.com by logging into your MyVerizon account for that line.

Lastly, I have your same problem with NO service in my office. I normally have my phone in airplane mode all day to lower battery usage. While I don't forward my calls, I use Google Voice as my voice mail provider and get email/text notification when I receive a voicemail to my cellphone. If the call is not important enough to leave a message, then it wasn't that important for me to answer it. Anyone I really want to speak with has my office phone number anyway.

[Airman1947]

I appreciate all of the input from you both!  Thank you for the info on cell reception.  That would make sense.

As for call forwarding, that might be a good option for me.  I'll look into it.  Can I ask, if a call gets forwarded to my desk phone, and I don't answer, I'm guessing that the caller would get sent to my work voice mail, correct?  Not my Verizon voicemail?

I actually do use Verizon Messages+ on my phone.  But, like I mentioned before, the app gets blocked on my work Wi-Fi.  Wish it didn't.  That would be perfect.  But anyway, when you say that logging into your MyVerizon account is more reliable than vtext.com, whereabouts to I go in MyVerizon once I login to send/receive messages?

I'm curious about Google Voice.  How would I go about making it my voice mail provider?  Would I have to cancel my voice mail service with Verizon?

Thanks again!

[rcschnoor]

Airman1947 wrote:

I appreciate all of the input from you both!  Thank you for the info on cell reception.  That would make sense.

As for call forwarding, that might be a good option for me.  I'll look into it.  Can I ask, if a call gets forwarded to my desk phone, and I don't answer, I'm guessing that the caller would get sent to my work voice mail, correct?  Not my Verizon voicemail? Correct.

I actually do use Verizon Messages+ on my phone.  But, like I mentioned before, the app gets blocked on my work Wi-Fi.  Wish it didn't.  That would be perfect.  But anyway, when you say that logging into your MyVerizon account is more reliable than vtext.com, whereabouts to I go in MyVerizon once I login to send/receive messages? Don't use the app, use the website HERE.

I'm curious about Google Voice.  How would I go about making it my voice mail provider?  Would I have to cancel my voice mail service with Verizon? If you are paying for premium VVM with Verizon, certainly cancel that. Info on Google Voice can be found HERE and HERE along with what you need to do. Basically, you are forwarding you calls if they are not answered by a set number of rings.

Thanks again!

[Airman1947]

Awesome, thanks for the info.

It appears that the website that you specified is the one that I'm using.  Vtext.com actually redirects there.  It's alright though.  It's not the most reliable, but I can deal with it if I have to.

Thanks also for the links to Google Voice.  I'll check them out.  Once again I appreciate the help!

[rcschnoor]

That's interesting. I never seem to have a problem sending/receiving texts from that site. The only messages I don't get on there are password reset confirmations from Verizon, billing questions and handset swap confirmations as Verizon likes to make sure you have actual possession of the phone to receive those type of messages.

Just so there's no confusion, you are sending messages from a website which looks like the following:

Good luck.

[Airman1947]

Yes, that is the site that I'm using.  That's interesting that you're having no problems with it.  Maybe the fact that I'm having issues has something to do with the network at my workplace.

I might be making it sound worse than it really is.  For the most part, the site works ok, and allows me to send/receive messages.  It's just that here and there, it doesn't show new messages that I've received until I hit refresh.  Other times, new messages don't show up at all.  They eventually show up on my phone, but not the site.  Also, it doesn't always show messages as "Delivered" even though they have been.

Oh well.  I guess it's better than nothing.  Thanks!