Slow or Non-Existent 4G LTE Service in Charlottesville, VA since July

[YellowJacket86]

Since the last week of July, 4G LTE service has been unavailable or painfully slow at my home south of Charlottesville, VA. The two phones displayed 3G or 1X service. I spent a few hours on two occasions with customer support, who told me they were aware of the problem and working to fix it. I never received resolution, and it has only gotten worse. We are using three devices - Apple iPhone 5S, HTC Thunderbolt and Verzion HomeFusion cantenna.

Both the phones stopped receiving 4G at all for a few weeks. Now they receive it sporadically, and when they show 4G, it is very slow. The HomeFusion service (4G-only) continued to work, but has gotten slower over time. Sunday morning it would not receive at all, and only started working again after a power-down cycle. The service had been pretty reliable after some initial problems (Verizon had to try 3 units before we got one that would work), but lately it feels as slow as dial-up. We cannot play YouTube videos at all, and many apps take forever to update data.

I understand my area was on the list for XLTE, and wonder if our problems coincide with the roll-out of that technology. I would call Verizon about it again, but that ends up costing me a couple of hours on the phone, a useless work-order number, and no resolution. We are seriously considering switching to another cellular provider along with a separate internet provider - CenturyLink claims they can serve us now, and I know they have fiber within a mile of my house....

Any insight or suggestions would be appreciated.