We definitely want to make sure you receive the best service in your area, VerizonCommunityuser99. Please tell us, does this happen both indoors and outdoors? What signal status (LTE, 5G, SOS) do you typically see in this area?
~Izzy
The data slowness happens indoors and outdoors. My phone is only 4G phone with LTE and it shows three out of four bars. My phone is a 2020 iPhone SE running the latest version of iOS.
Thanks for that information, VerizonCommunityuser99. When did you first notice an issue with your data speeds? Are voice and text affected at all? Can you please run a Speed Test" https://www.speedtest.net/ and let us know what you see for the results?
-Lauren
@VerizonCommunityuser99 wrote:The data slowness happens indoors and outdoors. My phone is only 4G phone with LTE and it shows three out of four bars. My phone is a 2020 iPhone SE running the latest version of iOS.
Hi, I looked up your phone's specs and one potential issue is that it doesn't support Verizon's mmWave high-band 5G (n260, n261). So if your area is using that for 5G UW, your phone can't use it and will be in LTE mode instead. 4G LTE runs anywhere between 20-90 Mbps down depending on network traffic. When people are awake, it's probably going to be in the 20-50 Mbps range, but it still depends on how congested the towers are and to some degree, your service plan. The only customers who don't get deprioritized much or at all are the folks on Unlimited Plus or Unlimited Ultimate; anyone else is subject to some level of lower priority on the towers based upon whatever plan they have.
just did a speed test from that location and got 1.85 Megabits down and 4.93 up.
the gps coordinates are N 44 04.9672 W 093 13.5890. When I am at home which is about 25 miles west of this location might download speed is 112 down and 33.5 up.
@VerizonCommunityuser99 you mentioned in your first post that the slow speeds happen mostly around a downtown area. If you're not on Unlimited Ultimate, you're subject to some level of deprioritization on the towers depending on your service plan. Also, because this problem is mostly occurring in a busy urban area, there's a lot of traffic on the towers there (network congestion) during the day. If you were to speed test there late at night, the speeds would probably pick up considerably.
Thank you for those additional details. If you restart the phone in that area to calibrate with the local towers does it improve your speeds?
-Melissa
Hello,
restarting my phone at that location also did not help. It has always slow there no matter what time of day it is.
I just checked the coverage map, and Owatonna, MN shows up as predominately 4G LTE only, which would explain why data is often slow. A 4G LTE cell has much less capacity than a 5G cell, so in a downtown area, the towers must surely be maxed out a good part of the time. When a tower is running at capacity, it is unable to output as much signal to every device connected to it and will also make everyone's device hooked up to it run a little slower since it has to handle so much traffic simultaneously.
I shouldnโt have said downtown when I opened up this thread because people are concentrating on that this is a small town in the Midwest downtown maybe has a couple hundred people and when I am at home which is 20 miles west of there and even a smaller town, which also only has 4G and I get over 100 Mb down.
With cell phone towers being more spread out in rural areas, could just be possible that when you're at home, you're closer to a tower and therefore pick up great signal and speed, especially if there aren't that many other people around. The town, despite not being a dense urban area, may not have a tower(s) nearby, or else there is something obstructing the signal. Have you tried using an app like Cellmapper or OpenSignal to see where the tower(s) are located? They're not always accurate as they're crowd-sourced apps, but will at least provide some estimates of how well the different carriers are performing.
Not to worry, VerizonCommunityuser99, I think we have enough details here to dig a little deeper into this. Please be on the lookout for a private message from us so we can better assist, and have access to tools on your account.
-Joseph
Hello. We'd like to troubleshoot while you are in the problem area. Are you at that location at this moment?
~Maria
Hello,
I am not currently at that location. I am usually only there a few times a week.
VerizonCommunityuser99, thank you so much for your response. Please tell me more. Which plan do you currently have?
-Natasha
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