Phone will not roam

[duke69111]

I called Verizon Wireless again and got a knowledgeable tech this time.  He informed me that Verizon does not have a roaming agreement in that area; therefore none of my phones will roam.  Verizon's maps are tough to read/understand, but they are clearly wrong/incorrect in both areas.  The voice map is the one that is the most inaccurate as it show coverage for almost all of the area that is the problem.  The data map is a little more accurate.

Does anybody know who I could contact or speak to about the roaming agreements and getting the maps corrected?

[#2]

Hello Community!

Thank you for all of your responses! duke69111 I am more than happy to get the coverage map inconsistencies lifted up for you. Could I have the exact zip code or city you were in? Also, keep in mind the coverage map does give the following disclaimer as well:

"These Coverage Locator maps depict predicted and approximate wireless coverage. The coverage areas shown do not guarantee service availability, and may include locations with limited or no coverage. Even within a coverage area, there are many factors, including customer’s equipment, terrain, proximity to buildings, foliage, and weather that may impact service. Some of the Coverage Areas include networks run by other carriers, the coverage depicted is based on their information and public sources, and we cannot ensure its accuracy."

I understand this is a useful tool when traveling, and accuracy is important. Once we have the exact location we will have the map reviewed.

Thank you!

Katie H

VZW Support

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[duke69111]

Hi Katie,

Thanks for responding and I hope you can help.  I completely understand that the maps are just approximate, but it basically shows the entire area with coverage and almost the entire area does not have coverage.  The Zip Codes were service is pretty much non existent is as follows.  I have listed the zip code where there is no service and the primary city in each zip code for reference.  The voice map is entirely inaccurate and the data map is only slightly better, but not much.  This looks like a lot of zip codes but they all backup to one another to create the area that has the problem.  I would of circled the area on the map, but the map is not large enough to zoom out and still see the highways.      

66754 - Mapleton, Ks

66732 - Elsmore, Ks

66775 - Stark, Ks

66772 - Savonburg, Ks

66010 - Blue Mound, Ks

66779 - Uniontown, Ks

66716 - Xenia, Ks and Bronson, Ks

Most of 66775 with the exception of inside the city of Moran, Ks and parts of Highway 54 west of Moran. 

Outside of about a 7 mile radius of Fort Scott, Ks in 66701 (Going northwest out of Fort Scott on highway 7, service stops about a mile or two from Devon, KS). 

Essentially service is patchy to non existent in all of Bourbon and Allen counties with the exception of Fort Scott and Iola and if you get off of US 69 and US 54.  Even on those two highways its hit and miss. 

US Cellular is dominating all of these areas with solid indoor coverage.  If Verizon has no interest in placing towers in the region for service, please, please, I beg Verizon Wireless to sign a roaming agreement with US Cellular.  Can you confirm that Verizon does not have a roaming agreement with US Cellular in the area as the previous telephone tech assumed?

Thank you for helping to update the maps and I hope we can get some service in these areas soon.  If you need any additional information or help please feel free to ask as I am greatly interested in finally being able to use our phones in these areas.  Also, is there a way I can followup on any changes to the map or addition of service within these areas? 

Thanks,

duke69111

Message was edited by: Joshua Adamson

[duke69111]

Well its been almost a year since this was last visited and nothing has changed, nor have I heard back from Verizon.  In my opinion its getting worse.  I spent some significant time in these areas again, as it was Christmas time (December 23-26, 2012).  This time I used my head and snapped some screenshots for proof on my Galaxy Nexus with the map open to show my location and the view of my signal meter.  Here are the photos:

Moran, KS - I used to get two bars, as you can see I have 0

Fort Scott, Outside the Wal-Mart - Only 1 Bar of 3g

135th St. & Highway 54, just northeast of Redfield, KS - 0 Bars

US Highway 54 & Highway 3 - Uniontown, KS, Its the blur to the left along Maple Road, Map did not pre-cache and there was no data to even load the map.  0 Bars

Bronson, KS - 0 Bars

Moran, KS Again - 0 Bars

East side of Iola, Ks - Full bars 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a couple of shots from November 21, 2012.

Toronto, KS - Full 1X, but no 3G, that's weird. 

Moran, KS - 0 Bars of 1X, normally get 2 in Moran

[budone]

VZW does not (Nor any other carrier for that matter) guarantees coverage everywhere. As for roaming, if there is not a roaming agreement between VZW and another provider, you will not roam.

In looking at other providers, they all look spotty at best

[duke69111]

While I agree with your statement that Verizon does not guarantee coverage, what their excuse for when they used to have decent to good coverage and now it's almost non existent.  I am really trying to figure out why service has diminished over the past couple of years.  

Also part of the purpose of this post.  If Verizon has no interest in servicing these areas, then sign a roaming agreement with U.S. Cellular, who has no problem in these areas and provides great service.  My problem is that half of my family plan lives in these areas and they are kind of SOL.  I like the reliability of Verizon for my use, but its useless for them a lot of the time. 

Alltel covered these area with very good coverage and since Verizon bought them out, service has got increasingly worse year after year while U.S. Cellular has done well.  I don't really have any interest in switching to U.S. Cellular, but Verizon is not helping my position any and the conversations have come up.   

[budone]

USCC was one provider, I could not really tell the coverage as you can not enter an address. I suspect USCC wants such a high price from VZW to roam that it is not economically smart for VZW to enter the agreement. Also they may have an agreement. But if you have even the weakest of a VZW signal, you will not roam. You could manually set the phone up with USCC, PRL if you can find the info and use the phone that way while visiting.

Do you have a different phone than you did last Christmas?

Also, do not base an opinion on the number of, or lack of bars. What is the phones signal strength? It is listed as dBm. If you are -100dBm or less the phone will work fine. Data will stink but the phone will work. I have been up to -103dBm and have held a connection. -105dBm and above, you have no service

[duke69111]

No, I had the same Galaxy Nexus and LG Envy phones last Christmas as this Christmas.  I'm not sure if the cost is to high to sign an agreement or based on their service maps, they just don't know its a problem.  None the less I am trying to bring it to their attention if not...       My hope is that they are trying to get 4g going to the area and that is part of the problem, but I doubt that's it. I wonder if 4g would provide a stronger signal that would travel farther. 

I attached the data coverage map for US Cellular for the area.  As you can see if you click the image, its pretty good. 

[budone]

Next time I would get the USCC PRL and set your phone to search for it first, and see what happens. That is if you can access that area of the phone.

[duke69111]

I'm not sure how to get the USCC PRL?  Any Ideas?

I recall earlier this year, when I had no service at all Voice or Data (my phone would not call out); my phone was automatically trying continuously trying to update the roaming and US Cellular was the one picking up (It was similar to the message you get when dialing *228 on Verizon), but could not update because they were not my carrier.