Verizon 5G Home Internet

[ooglia]

I started using Verizon 5G Home Internet in January 2023 after using AT&T DSL, Xfinity cable and T-Mobile wireless Internet, all with poor quality technical and/or customer service.

I had equal signal from both the east and west sides of my home on the second floor and chose east because it was an easier Ethernet cable run, the house completely wired for Ethernet with no use of Wi-Fi. 

Technical problems were similar to T-Mobile, slower speeds of about 100-200 Mbps and longer latency (40-100 ms) than promised (up to 300 Mbps and 20 ms) and multiple dropped signals with the ASK-NCQ1338FA router.  Signal strength as measured by the router and my Verizon cell phone were 5G, -100 to -110 db, and 4G, -80 to -90 db, not great, but no problems with the mobile phone reception.  After consulting with multiple service representatives on the phone and receiving widely conflicting answers, I decided to get in touch with corporate around April 2023.  They told me that my strongest signal was to the west, not the east with a tower only 3000 feet away, line of sight with no obstructions in a suburban area of Chicago.  I asked them why I wasn’t told this when I ordered the service as it is easier for Verizon to tell me where their best towers are than to figure that out on my own.  They said “Gee, that’s a great idea” but I doubt that it has been put into practice.

The quality of the service did improve for about 10 months, regularly 300 Mbps and 20 ms.  However, in the past 4 months, the quality of service has dropped with ping/latency averaging about 45 ms with a range of 20-800 ms, speed varying between 70-300 Mbps, and 5-6 drops per day with approximately 88% availability. 

In June 2024 I spoke with 4 or 5 customer service people for over 4 hours who again gave me widely varying and contradictory answers.   Some said the service was fine and some said occasionally it appeared to be less than expected.  One promised to send me an LV65 router because mine was old and would call me back, but neither happened.  When I called back, I was told that the LV65 was inappropriate, but they would send an appropriate unit.  An E3200 Wi-Fi extender was sent, obviously useless for my problem.

I finally filed a Notice of Dispute, my first in 22 years with Verizon on June 25.  Between that date and July 9, the Executive Relations Team at Verizon made 2 calls to me, and I made 11 to them.  After their first call to me I called them back around 8 times without a response after which I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.  When I finally spoke to them (Jocelyn with many, many excuses) directly on about July 2, I was told that there was no obvious problem on my Internet line and further evaluation would be needed. 

On July 7, I received an email stating that Verizon’s signal from a tower only 3000 feet away no longer “successively” reaches my address.  There was a statement that the LV65 would not solve the problem.  At the same time when I go to Verizon’s website and see if there is service at my address, it now says that 4G is available.  Okay, why is 5G not available when it was previously but 4G is?  Probably Verizon has added more and more users which effectively degrades the signal and they have not upgraded the tower(s) in this area.

I asked for a better Verizon router or alternatively, recommendation for a non-Verizon router and/or antenna that would help solve the problem.  I also said that I have a contract for 5G service and have not been receiving that service and apparently will not receive it in the future except as very poor-quality.

The bottom line is, is there another router and/or antenna combination that will allow me to receive a decent signal from any local tower and how is Verizon going to adjust the contract we have for the poor service I have received?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Ira 

July 10, 2024