Canada -- Slow slow data service

[Hank77]

On a two-week trip around mid-south Alberta Canada in July-August 2019, I used my Verizon Jetpack so-called "Unlimited" (actually unlimited up to 15G, then speed is severely limited).

Just wanted to advise people that Verizon's cellular data service in Alberta is frustrating.  Not talking about phone-text, but Internet.  It's not so much a problem getting signal.  Signal is available, often a good strong signal.  The problem seems to be that Verizon's Canadian partners (Bell, Rogers, Telus) may be putting Verizon users at the back of the line. 

Whatever the reason, the experience is maddeningly unpredictable.  Most of the time, Internet reception was extremely slow even with a good strong 4G signal, and even when I'm below my monthly 15GB high-speed quota.  A one-hour video took about 3 hours to download for viewing later. Loading a normal web-page could take 4-5 minutes.  Sometimes better, sometimes worse.  Occasionally in the same location where such slow speeds happened in the evening, I would get a "window" of familiar, high-speed 4G in the early morning hours. 

I'm just glad Canada is included in my plan.  If I'd paid the high extra daily surcharge I would've really felt ripped off. 

Next time I'll look into buying a local cell-data plan from a Canadian provider. 

[bearone21]

canada +mexico are included in your plan but with no guarantees of how well they'll work.

[DavidLin]

I have had a few recent trips to Toronto and Vancouver. In fact I'm working this from Vancouver. I have had a similar experience. I'm nowhere near my 500 mb limit. And occasionally I get a few seconds of normal data speed. The remaining time it is very slow to non-functional slow as in apps fail to start and web pages won't load even after a few minutes of waiting. It's extremely frustrating. I'm not sure it has to do with Network congestion/priority for a couple reasons. First I'm experiencing it now at 140am on tuesday. Second, I've noticed that if I turn off data and turn it back on, I'll get a moment of normal speed. When everything works and web pages load. Then it fairly quickly degrade back to slow and non-functional data speeds. It's terrible.

[mama23dogs]

As far as I know Verizon does not offer any service in Canada. You are roaming on partner towers they have agreed to a reduced rate with your US carrier.   

 I have friends and family in Canada, they both say that Canadian coverage is lousy and Canadian cellular plans are horribly expensive 

[vzw_customer_support]

I know we rely on our data to work especially when traveling DavidLin. I am sorry you are having issues. I would like to make sure that we help. I know it has been 2 days since you posted. Are you still in Toronto? Has your service ever worked here before? Is anyone else having this issue? Please tell me more.  AmberF_VZW

[HankFan]

I am here in Toronto now -

I was in Vancouver and Toronto last year when I had a different carrier (AT & T) and had zero issues on the Rogers network that AT & T partner with here. I've had some people tell me to try turning off Global and getting on GSM. Going to try that. Difficult to commute in a place I've never been with no data coming through Google Maps.

[vzw_customer_support]

Thank you for those details. If you run into any going forward, please let us know. CourtneyM_VZW

[neild3]

I'm having a similar issue -- I've been in Toronto for the past 6 weeks, and the data is consistently being throttled.  If i turn data off and on again, I get like 1 minute of quick data before it returns to become very slow or even non-functional.    Any way you can help?

[KH-OrnEsh]

Due to the age of this thread, it will be locked in order to keep discussions current. If you have the same or a similar question/issue we invite you to start a new thread on the topic.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi there neild3.

We certainly want you to be able to stay connected while you are in Toronto. With usage outside of the US including Canada and Mexico you are allowed 0.5 GB of International High Speed Data per line per 24 hour session. 

• • After the 0.5 GB of data usage, speeds are temporarily reduced to 2G speeds.
  • The speed reduction is per line (not per account).
• You can purchase Additional International High Speed Data or choose to do nothing and the speed resumes.

I hope this information is helpful.

ErinW_VZW