Connection quality has gotten horrible over the past couple of years

[egz_VPI]

Been a Verizon customer for over 20 years, and these past couple of years its been the worst its ever had.  I don't understand how adding new towers over the decades has made signal quality worse.

My house in 22407 gets 1 bar of 4G, 2 if I'm lucky.  As long as I'm on WIFI, I'm okay, but the moment I leave, forget about it. Where I work it struggles to even get one 1 bar of 4G, if it can connect at all.  I rarely see 5G, and I'm not even in a rural area.

If data is bad enough, even the phone connection has even gotten to the point where some conversations are even hard to hear with their voice breaking up.  

Please tell me there are plans to fix things, or I may end up having to switch to someone else.

[vzw_customer_support]

We're sorry to read about the experience you are having with our service. Wer'e here to help. What troubleshooting have you done? ~Peter

[egz_VPI]

I've restarted my phone, and toggle airplane mode.

According to Network Cell Info Lite, my signal strength is between  -120 and -115 dBm, and my bandwidth is 23Mbs/510KBs.  I'm usually connected to tower 112111-22 (Cell 22, 28700438)

[SynthpopAddict]

Hi, I just looked up your ZIP code on the coverage map, and it looks like it would mostly be a 4G LTE area only.  Map says "regular" 5G is available, but in my experience the map can be a little overly generous.  With 3G having been shut down a few years back, I suspect the current towers are either spaced a little too far apart - newer wireless technology offers faster internet speeds, but the radio waves don't travel as far - or else there are other things such as a lot of new development occurring in recent times so the towers can't handle all the extra traffic now or the new buildings are blocking the signal.  Or if it's a hilly area and the towers aren't quite at the right angles for you to pick up signal.

-120 dBm is dead zone land, so I'm not surprised you have to use Wi-Fi to get calls to work.  -115 is about where you start having calls drop; you really need to have -110 or better for decent cellular service.  With the problem being everywhere you regularly go and having persisted for years, I suspect you're better off switching carriers.

[vzw_customer_support]

Thanks for those additional details, egz_VPI. As far as data, are you running into slow speeds? Are you experiencing any issue with text messages? Do you happen to know if any other users in the area are experiencing similar issues?

-Lauren

[egz_VPI]

If I am not on my Wifi, then yes, I get slow speeds of about 5-10Mbps.  I'm sure other people in the area have the same issue.  And I sometimes have issues with my text messages either not sending, or sending late by 10 minutes or so. Other messages also sometimes will arrive late.

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

@egz_VPI  wrote: If I am not on my Wifi, then yes, I get slow speeds of about 5-10Mbps.  I'm sure other people in the area have the same issue.

Thanks for sharing those details with us, egz_VPI. I did take a closer look at the coverage in the area, and our network engineers have identified some opportunities in the area. This is great news because its already on our radar. In the interim our network engineers are recommending what you're already doing, which is to rely on Wi-Fi until improvements can be made in the area. I hope this information is helpful.

-Joseph