I first subscribed to Verizon 5G Home Internet when I was offered a six-month free trial, and I really liked it. A month after the free trial ended and after returning my equipment, I decided to call them and sign up as a paying customer. Everything was great for about 11 months. However, in December 2023, the problems began—mainly, my internet speeds dropped from 150 to 200 Mbps down to 5 Mbps, and no higher than 20 Mbps.
It’s now May, and except for a brief period of a few weeks in February 2024 where I thought the problem was fixed because it appeared to be fixed, the extremely slow performance is back.
Since December, I have dealt with eight different call-center reps and have been transferred to four different tier 2 reps, which I’m told is as high as you can go in Verizon. Everyone was remarkably polite and sympathetic, expressing a desire to help. Let me be clear—none of them solved the problem, and I’m at my wits' end. I have tried four different gateways. I have moved the gateways to multiple locations in my house, despite the fact that for 11 months, I had fantastic service where the gateway was located. Before you ask, nothing has changed in the neighborhood. I live in a rural area; if somebody had thrown up an office complex or a tower, I would have seen it. Nothing has changed electronically in my house. There are no new devices that could cause interference, and nothing has changed with the location of my existing electronic devices.
Twice, as recently as yesterday, in response to the tier 2 reps' concerns that something in my house was causing interference, I have taken the gateway outside, on an extension cord, in the open and on the side of the house that the representative said was best, and the result is the same. The service is terrible—an average of 10 Mbps and often slower.
The Verizon speed test app cannot be trusted. It consistently gives higher download speeds than are actually possible. For example, yesterday it told me I had 277 Mbps download. This is at best a mistake and at worst purposely misleading in order to cover up a problem that Verizon aware of but is unwilling to acknowledge. When I run the same speed test on six different speed test sites, including Fast, the results are more in line with the actual performance I’m getting. This issue does not occur just at busy times of the day. I have consistently been getting well below 20 Mbps download speeds for the last 36 hours, regardless of the time of day that I log on. It’s not a hardware issue, it’s not a home issue, it’s not a location issue, and it’s not an issue with another device in or around my house—it’s a Verizon issue. Verizon has temporarily solved it, but just when I think it’s fixed and stop running speed tests all the time, it comes back.
One of the support reps I was dealing with asked me if I had considered going with a different internet service, and I replied that I had thought about that, but in January, I allowed myself to be upgraded to their fastest 5G program because it would “most definitely fix the problem.” plus they offered a $200 gift card and an Xbox Series X. I’m obligated to keep the higher-priced program through the end of July. I’ve already spent the $200 gift card and used the Xbox—or I should say attempted to use it because the terrible internet connection prevents me from downloading new games or system updates without it taking hours and sometimes longer. I asked if they would just cancel the service since they’ve been unable to supply even broadband internet consistently since December, and they told me I would have to return the $200 gift card that I’ve already spent and the Xbox Series X, which amounts to me having to pay them even more money than I’ve already been paying them for a service that Verizon is not delivering.
Unlike other internet service providers in my area (I've called and asked), i.e., Cox and AT&T, Verizon will not actually send a technician out to my property to meet with me and see the issue. I’ve asked, but they refuse. They say it’s not possible, but what they’re doing is actually refusing to do something that their competitors will do. The best communication I get from the field tech reps is a text asking me if the problem is resolved and only accepting a yes or no answer.
I worked for Sony for 20 years, and there we had a program that allowed customers who had spent just a fraction of the time that I’ve spent on the phone with Verizon to be connected to the office of the president for extreme problems. Verizon apparently has no such program, so what am I supposed to do? Should I just randomly call executives' offices and complain? They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Do I contact my state’s attorney general? Do I contact the FCC? I don’t want to do any of these things. I want to be able to work with Verizon and have them solve this issue.
Several of the reps have already leaked information they shouldn’t have to me by accident. For example, the fact that my download speeds are slower than my upload speeds—in fact, upload has never been affected and is just as fast as it has always been—indicates that there’s throttling. Obe time, the field technician made a note that the reason for the slowdown as network congestion, and the response to network congestion is throttling. But other than that one time that a rep accidentally acknowledged what was going on, none of the other reps that I’ve talked with are willing to accept this as a possibility. I understand throttling, but what I don’t understand is throttling to the point where the internet is useless. I can’t even stream a high-definition movie; it’s unwatchable, so forget about 4K. I can’t game on the system that they sent me, that I paid for through higher monthly costs, because the internet connection is so bad. Despite them being incredibly polite and kind and sympathetic and expressing a desire to fix the problem, they have not been able to, and that’s a problem. I’ve spent so much time on the phone talking with Verizon that they should pay me a salary or at least an hourly wage. Also I can’t get the hold music out of my head. I’ve made up words to it I’ve heard it so much.
I want this problem fixed, so I’m going to post this to the Verizon forum first. Then I’m going to wait a day and post it to Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn directly to the executive profiles on LinkedIn. Then I’m going to start reaching out to the Verizon executive offices and seeing if I can get somebody higher up to do something. I will continue to be polite. I will continue to be patient. I will continue to try and be sympathetic, but I will not stop trying to get this fixed. One thing that working at Sony for 20 years taught me is that there’s always somebody else to talk to, and eventually, I’ll get to a person who either understands or just wants me to go away and fixes the problem. If this does not work, well I have a lot of corporate connections outside of Verizon and maybe one of them know someone on the Verizon executive team that will help.
I’m not going into detail regarding everything that I have tried to get the situation resolved with Verizon. If you’re a Verizon rep and you believe that you can help me out, I would ask you to look at the detailed notes in my customer service file once you reach out to me and before you try doing anything. I have done the troubleshooting so many times that I think I know it better than the Verizon reps I talk with.
I depend on my internet service for more than just entertainment. I have three disabled individuals in this house, and the internet is not only a lifeline—it is tied to our lives as there are medical devices in the house that are connected to the internet and rely on that connection.
I think it was Albert Einstien who said that the definition of insanity of doing the same thing over and over again but expecting an different result. I’ve been stuck in a Groundhog day customer service loop with very kind and polite ineffective individuals and I’m tired of it so starting today I’m changing the rules of engagement. At the end of each attempt to get this resolved I will report back on each of my attempts and any results both positive or negative in an effort to help any of you experiencing this problem. I know there are so many of you having the exact same issue because I can see the forum posts.
I hope this works.
