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Hi - my wife and I both have iPhone 12 Pro Max phones, so they're the latest. We live in a very marginal/no signal Verizon location (Ignacio Valley, Novato, California). I've always had trouble getting WiFi calling to work, as it seemed like sometimes it appeared and sometimes it didn't depending on whether the phone was seeing a weak Verizon signal.
We got a 4G LTE Network Extender - easy setup, works great for outgoing calls, 4 bar signal strength through the whole house, #48 always shows connected to extender. However, even when I'm sitting a few feet from the extender, calls seems to not ring and go to voicemail.
I'd appreciate any thoughts or ideas.
Thanks!
Ram5thwheel,
what exactly have you tried regarding the recommendations to correct the issue?
>port forwarding for network extender
>closed access setting
>reserved IP for the network Extender
>keeping WiFi turned off on phone connected to the extender
>at least 4 satellites are needed to determine location (though separate from call/txt issue)
# Going on 3 days now with no issues
bbanic27, your efforts in working toward a resolution are appreciated. I rely on my phone for many tasks, so I know how urgent a resolution is, but receiving service in a certain location, home or building can be difficult based on many factors. The network can change in an area for various reasons, such as population changes or changes in network capacity to name a few.
It sounds like basic troubleshooting was completed and it was determined that indoor solutions are needed for the area. A Network Extender https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-215974/ or Wi-Fi calling typically help in these areas, but there still can be limitations.
Our network engineers continuously evaluate these types of areas for improvement.
-David
@vzw_customer_support wrote:bbanic27, your efforts in working toward a resolution are appreciated. I rely on my phone for many tasks, so I know how urgent a resolution is, but receiving service in a certain location, home or building can be difficult based on many factors. The network can change in an area for various reasons, such as population changes or changes in network capacity to name a few.
It sounds like basic troubleshooting was completed and it was determined that indoor solutions are needed for the area. A Network Extender https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-215974/ or Wi-Fi calling typically help in these areas, but there still can be limitations.
Our network engineers continuously evaluate these types of areas for improvement.
-David
David-
which comment specifically are you calling me out on? I’ve made quite a few. It seems to me that your observation was validating the point I was trying to make in a previous comment. So if I’m misguided in some way, please enlighten me. We all want the same thing, which is to resolve people’s calling issue.
bbanic27 -
Per your recommeneded changes regarding --- "change the LTE Extender setting in Verizon (web browser version) to “Closed Access” only add your personal cell phone numbers".
I have created the list and added the primary number on the account to the list. However, I cannot add my number to the list. It tells me that there is a system error when I try to add it. The only difference with may number, which is a Verizon number, is that mine is on a Prepaid account. Do you know of anyone with a Prepaid account that you can test to see if there number will go in. Verizon says ANY Verizon number can be added to the list.
Thank you for working with our team. Remember, your service concerns are our concerns too. Our goal is to address and resolve your service concerns and we won't leave any stone unturned while doing so. Let's continue working together. -Robert C.
Verizon takes protecting our customer’s personal and account information very seriously. Since we will need account-specific details from you, we’ve sent you a Private Message on this topic:
-Robert C.
We understand how urgent it is that the Network Extender concern is fully addressed and resolved. It is problematic that the extender is causing issues with receiving calls. You mentioned that this has been an ongoing issue but it hasn't yet been escalated. This is certainly odd and we want to find a solution as quickly as possible. Has a network ticket been filed when working with technical support? This is how service issues are escalated. If so, please provide the date of the most recent ticket and what recommendations were given.
This is an astonishing reply from vzw_customer_support that is regrettably consistent with all of our experience. It requires our knowing (somehow) the internal workings of Verizon tech support. The only way we have had to communicate with Verizon support on this issue is through the very obscure secure chat sessions to which we have to be invited by a support engineer and which mysteriously and silently terminate. We'd have NO idea what happened in the background - did the engineer open a ticket? Escalate? Who knows? Verizon support through this community is opaque. I'd suggest providing a high-level, escalated contact reachable by email to us through individual direct message. Verizon should assign a high-level person or team to investigate this recurring issue among many customers. That person or team should be dedicated to solving this problem for all. Until Verizon does that, there is no hope that we'll ever get these extenders working. Absent that, Verizon will experience mass defections to other carriers.
Agree 100% with Makertzman. I have had various tickets opened about this. I do not have the ticket numbers. I was told by Verizon general support, when they opened the tickets, that I would hear back from upper level support in 3-5 days. I did not hear back in most cases. One time when I did get a call back, after doing various troubleshooting, the call dropped and I never heard back from anyone. Another time when I called I was told the ticket was closed and they could not give me an explanation as to why it was closed so they opened up another one. I have spent many many hours on the phone with support. All wasted time. I was hoping that this forum/thread might be a way to get this fixed. However, that has not been the case.
Verizon does not manufacture the Extenders. I think the manufactured might need to be contacted.
Can everyone who paid $249 for the Extender get their money back?
Unfortunately, getting my money back will just leave me with no Verizon coverage at my home. At least with the extender I can make outgoing calls reliably - the problem is incoming.
I did discover that T-mobile has excellent coverage at my home. I've been a Verizon customer for as long as there have been cell phones - I'm certainly wondering why....
Replied to Verizon PM shortly after getting it asking them what they need from me. We'll see where this goes.
We want to be sure we help in any way that we can, and we would not want to lose you. Please share details of your service issues, are all services impacted? What ZIP code are you in? Do you know other Verizon users near you with this issue?
To whom are you directing your questions?
Per the message below from Verizon today on this thread:
From Verizon: We want to be sure we help in any way that we can, and we would not want to lose you. Please share details of your service issues, are all services impacted? What ZIP code are you in? Do you know other Verizon users near you with this issue?
My response: The above appears to be a very generic response from Verizon. The service issues are detailed in this thread and we all have the same issue. In a nut shell, many Verizon customers who have purchased your Askey LTE Extender have their incoming phone calls going directly to voice mail with no missed call message and no rings. The zip code is irrelevent. We can all dial #48 which lets us know that we are fully connected to the Extender. We all have four serive bars on our phone. We can all make outgoing calls etc. All of our phones work fine when we away from our homes. We need someone from Verizon to figure out why our calla are going directly to voice mail.
Excellent response and summary, ssprill. Every time a vzw_customer_support person posts here, it appears that he/she has NOT read the entire thread and treats it like a totally new and isolated problem and they start the exact same diagnostic steps that we've all been through with Verizon to no avail. When are we going to see evidence of escalation to treat ALL of our problems as what they appear to be - one major systemic issue.
Recieved a PM from vzw_customer_support last Friday 6/18/21 at 10:20AM EST stating "Reaching out to you regarding the issue with your Network Extender. Please reach back to us so we can continue looking into this matter." I replied back right away asking them what they needed and I still have not heard back from them. This seems to be the case over and over.
Mekertzman, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you have gone through. Please share with us some details on what steps have been taken to avoid any repeat troubleshooting?
To whoever at vzw_customer_support asked mekertzman what steps I've gone through - are you kidding? Have you read all 8 pages of this thread that i started (and others on this community forum on the exact same issue)? You are making the point that I and others have made - you get "assigned" a message and never read the thread, so you come in completely without any context or history. At this point, I think many of us are somewhere between entertained and insulted at how you're handling this.
Verizon, if you're really serious about addressing this issue, then assign a senior engineer or engineering team to it and have that person or team reach out with a private message to myself, ssprill, onewhofew or others who have been active on this thread and have put in hours of our own time trying to diagnose and fix it. If you do that, maybe together we can solve this once and for all.
Finally, do us a favor and do away with the sincere apologies and how important we are as customers. It's time to show us with action.
That is a good question. Usually when phone calls directly to Voicemail, that indicates that the calls are being forwarded. To stop the forwarding you would dial *73. Have you enabled the Wi-Fi Calling feature? Does this happen when you're at home and disconnect from the network extender?
Not sure who at Verizon Support posted this or who they were messaging, but please read the thread before asking these questions. You are right, this is a good question and nobody at Verizon has been able to provide an answer. If you had actually read even 2 pages of the thread you would see this only happens when connected to the network extender, ie its has nothing to do with call forwarding. There are many descriptions of what is happening and the steps we have all gone through in troubleshooting.
Just as a quick update to the forum, I responded in the forum to a question asked by support last month and never heard back, I have sent 3 PMs with no response either. I will continue to PM them in hopes someone responds to the PM and will update if anything new comes along. In the meantime it reads like everyone is still in the same situation, has anyone been able to get their extender to function properly, ie not sending calls directly to v-mail without ringing?
As a side note I was trying something new in terms of troubleshooting on my own and got my phone to show in the Network Extender Admin page by rebooting the extender, after about 5 minutes it went from 1 connected device back to 0. I tried #48 and after a few of seconds the admin page went back to 1 connected device and I got the standard you are connected through Verizon network extender. Coincidentally I got a call right after and my phone rang. Has anyone else noticed similar behavior? It was almost as if the extender lost my phone even though it had 4 bars and was within 10ft.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
