Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
dmc271
Enthusiast - Level 3

Tigon: Sounds like you're already familiar with the boosting gear, but have you tried a 4G yagi antenna?  I use a panel antenna, but I've read of people having good success with 750 Mhz yagis when in extended/no 4G coverage areas.

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
Tigon
Newbie

I've been tempted to try an external yagi with a Wilson LTE (~700Mhz) amplifier plugged into my 4510L.

 

My old 2200 didn't have the port for connecting an external antenna and I felt a wireless repeater would work better supplying my entire household (two dumbphones, one iPhone, and one Mifi).

 

My EVDO RSSI went from -90 to -60 using the amplifier with an omnidirectional external antenna in a heavily wooded area.

 

 

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
dmc271
Enthusiast - Level 3

I've been eyeing the package on sale at SolidSignal here ($299).  I think if I were in your shoes, I'd risk the shipping fees and give it a shot.

 

My 4G connection, OTOH, is limited by an oversubscriped tower:

 

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
dmc271
Enthusiast - Level 3

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
Tigon
Newbie

dmc271: Have you considered using a Yagi to isolate and connect to individual towers?  A few users on EVDO Forums recommended trying that when their devices would only pick congested towers.

 

I've had a trouble ticket open for over a month now with no official response from Verizon. 

 

Verizon should offer more transparency regarding available bandwidth at these towers if they're going to use "congestion" as an excuse for providing substandard service. /pipedream

 

 

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
dmc271
Enthusiast - Level 3

Tigon wrote:

dmc271: Have you considered using a Yagi to isolate and connect to individual towers?  A few users on EVDO Forums recommended trying that when their devices would only pick congested towers.

 


Good suggestion, which I've actually considered.  But, when I asked the VZW rep about which towers had 4G, I was told that they don't release that information. I suspect that there's only one 4G tower in my area.  I totally agree with you about the need for more transparency.

 

About a week ago, I left a very negative review at the following VZW survey site:

 

https://survey.verizonwireless.com/vzwsurvey/

 

The local VZW store manager called me back within 48 hours, and he said he'd send a local tech to look at my setup. (Still waiting for this person to show up.)

 

Maybe you should do the same?  It can't hurt at this point.

 

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
dmc271
Enthusiast - Level 3

 

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
Tigon
Newbie

After 39 days, Verizon has finally offered a resolution to my service ticket.  They say I'm "too far from their local towers to provide minimum data service."

 

Here I thought ~300ft towers had to be anchored to the ground.  Little did I know they must get up and walk around since my 3G service worked just fine for over a year and a half leading up to the 4G launch.

 

 

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
dmc271
Enthusiast - Level 3

I received another call today from the manager of my local VZW store. He said that he sent a local tech to correct the tower issues. Apparently, something was wrong with the "10G pipe" and it has now been corrected. My speeds are back to normal.

 

I'm very thankful to the local VZW manager, and at the same time very upset with VZW's online and phone support, which was very quick to dismiss the problem to my location's supposedly poor signal and/or limited cell capacity. Clearly, this wasn't the case, and the problem was quickly correctable. It just needed someone who actually cared to make things right.

 

Tigon and others: Maybe try visiting your nearest VZW store to voice your complaints. At least leave feedback at the link I provided on the previous post.

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Re: Slow speeds during peak evening hours (overloaded tower?)
Tigon
Newbie

dmc271: I don't suppose Verizon offered any additional technical information regarding what they fixed?

 

I submitted a review through Verizon's survey site and a store representitive called me the next day.  While he was nice and apologetic, he couldn't offer any additional information outside of their official tech support channels.

 

 

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