Recent poor signal in neighborhood

[raptor1418]

In the last month signal, not just indoors but also outdoors in my neighborhood has gotten extremely poor.

I was able to get 3 to 4 bars sitting at my desk (in my house) with lots of electronics around.   Now I get no service sitting at my desk and if I am lucky 1 bar of service on the second floor.   If I walk outside my house or even part way down the street I get maybe 1 or 2 bars of service.   I basically have to leave the area to get good signal strength.  

I tried all the usual troubleshooting to verify the phone is not the problem (2 of the same phones on the account and both have the same issue).   Soft reset phone, re-seated SIM, data roaming is on and mobile network is set to Global.   Both phones are running the latest update pushed out by verizon.   One thing that is odd is it constantly shifts 4GLTE to 3G to 1x to no service.   Signal strength is up and down when it does this shift.   So if it shifts to 1x I will have 4 bars for about 3 or 4 seconds than none or it will switch over to 3G with 2 bar and than drop off to no service.  If 4G LTE comes up it is always no better than 1 bar.  

Signal strength while on 3G

inside:  -96 to -104 dBm always 1 asu

outside:  -92 to -101 dBm always 2 asu

Could catch a 4G LTE or 1x connection.

Nothing major going on in the area that I am aware of that would cause problems (cranes, planes flying low, unknown objects in the signal path, towers being constructed, new broadcasting antennas or dishes being setup, etc...).

Hate to say it but my AT&T work phone gets full signal just fine when sitting right next to my Verizon phone on my desk.   (Verizon phone had no service)   

Is there any service disruptions in the area?  Any thing else that I should try with the phone?

Galaxy S5

zip 80234

[vzw_customer_support]

raptor1418,

We always want you to get world class service wherever you are! That's incredibly important. It sounds like you've done a lot of great steps. What phones do you have? Do the phones still work well when you're in other areas? How far do you go before the service improves?

AndrewT_VZW
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[raptor1418]

Would have to check to see how far away I have to get before I get strong signal as I am usually driving so can't really look. Will try to take a bike ride and see how far and which direction I go before I get strong signal. 

Both phones are Samsung Galaxy S5's.

I finally got a 4G LTE signal read outside and outside.  Couldn't even establish a call on that signal (sample is about every 15 secs for 2 minutes)

outside:  -112 to -122 dBm, 2 to 24 asu

inside:  -116 to -118 dBm, 20 to 24 asu

[vzw_customer_support]

raptor1418,

I appreciate those details! This definitely sounds like something is going on. Do you have any sort of case or cover on the phone? Does the signal improve at all if that is removed?

AndrewT_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[raptor1418]

I have a very simple rubber case on mine and the other phone has an Otterbox.   I already had the cover off mine while I was testing so I can eliminate the case.    Putting the case on doesn't seem to affect the signal as it still floats in both of those same ranges listed in the original post.  

[raptor1418]

Did a little riding around and found that I can pickup a clean 4G LTE signal in about a half mile radius from my location in all directions but it is only at one bar of service.   Signal was from -99 to -124 dBm, 2 to 24 asu.

I get 3 bars of service at around 1.5 to 2 miles away but signal strength was still not that great.   -88 to -112 dBm, 22 to 43 asu.

I did notice that I pick up a good signal closer to my location when heading west.  Even at the Verizon store parking lot I was only floating 2 to 3 bars of service but signal strength was -98 to -106 dBm, 23 to 25 asu. 

Strongest signal was at the crest of a hill (the -88 dBm, 42 asu) 2 miles south of my location. 

[vzw_customer_support]

Raptor1418, I appreciate the detailed information, very helpful. Let's continue working on this issue. How many devices were you able to test? Does signal strenght change when you go indoors?

GersonG_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[raptor1418]

I only had the one device on me during my ride around. 

If I am at home the signal really only goes down a few dBm but tends to more often go to no service than outside my home in the immediate area (100ft of the house).   However I do get no service outside sometimes as well.  This is identical on the other device. 

When doing the ride around I had no locations where I could go indoors.   All signal strength readings were outdoors.

While in another location last week on the East Coast I had perfectly clean signal on my phone and a few weeks before that I was in a northern state with clean signal.   4 to 5 bars indoors and outdoors but I did not think of grabbing signal strength at those times.   Signal problems in my immediate area of my house started to occur before either of these trips were taken.

Currently the other device is in the city (roughly 20 miles away) and has 4 bars of service (indoors, 7th floor of an office building) with a signal strength of -97 dBm, 43 asu

So doing a little reasoning here couldn't the phone be ruled out as being part of the problem unless there is some incompatibility between the devices and the tower around my home?  Based on my ride around it almost seems as if a tower was lost (or antennas in my direction) or a tower was removed from service in my immediate area.   

[vzw_customer_support]

Raptor1418, thanks for getting back to us with this information. In this area where you notice poor service, is there any other Verizon Wireless customer having the same issue? Do calls drop in that area? Any issues with data and text?

GersonG_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[raptor1418]

Not sure of any other Verizon customer in the neighborhood

[raptor1418]

Someone else was over the house today who had different phone and they had the same signal strength I had on my phone.   Not sure what model it was but it was a pop up phone with a keyboard.

[vzw_customer_support]

Raptor1418

I would be concerned about coverage issues like this as well. Please respond back to the private message I am sending so we can investigate this further.

ChristopherM_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[Chipskate]

when I responded tho a similar post, it seems Verizon froze the post.  Anyway, I'll try this one again.  I just returned a new phone from Verizon for refund as I could not get more than two bars at home on my desk.  I returned the phone at a Verizon Corporate Store 20 miles away and only got 2-3 bars the whole distance except when I did pass a Verizon 4G tower,  It shoe up to 5 bars but within a mile dropped back to one or two bars.  After talking to Verizon techs several times, they act a it they don't know what the problem is and one told me that it was probably the antennas were not right in my new phone and offered to exchange,  I already read other blogs where be said this is futile.  I'm heartbroken as I've been with Verizon for 18 years and enjoyed the best coverage but now I pronounce Verizon 4GLTE dead and shall jump all four of my devices to AT&T.  The Lollipop fiasco is no longer an excuse either.

[vzw_customer_support]

Chipskate, this is not what we like to hear from our loyal customers. We want to make sure we work closely to provide you the service we come to expect as a Verizon Wireless customer. I don't want to see you go, and hope you give us the opportunity to assist here. What service issues were you having exactly, voice, data, or text? What make/model phone do you have now? Are you still having the same issue or was this only with the new devices? 

JorgeO_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[Chipskate]

Sorry, I spent three weeks researching this and have come to this conclusion. There is no solution for Verizon at this time. The 4GLTE towers that exist now can't handle the load. Probably because of the volume of business Verizon has. Two of my remaining devices are 3G (however the 4G iPhone 5S on my account that my niece possesses one hundred miles away only shows 1 bar of signal strength) and are doing well but I can't shop for anything that Verizon has that's 4GLTE because it cannot function. If you read my post you'll see that my twenty mile trip to take my Blackberry Classic back to the Verizon store and got a refund only indicated 1-2 bars signal strength except when passing one Verizon 4GLTE tower where I received 5 bars for a mile, then it went back to 1-2 bars. That was the final test so anything that you tell the public isn't true about their devices. This was a Blackberry so the Lollipop issue didn't apply.

I've read hundreds of blogs of people being told that the antennas of the phones do not function and to exchange their phones. All of this failed. I live in Schererville, Indiana, 46375, where Verizon has had the strongest signal in the past but now there is no reliability. I'm a heart patient now and I need my GPS so I must go to AT&T (which I hate) because my odds for surviving a heart episode is better with them. The people who visit my house with their AT&T phones have 5 bars of signal strengh.