Home Fusion-LTE Internet Installed is a hotspot on Unlimited!!

[MRAKRAK6530]

I live in a somewhat rural area and like many others use this as home internet. I have had this for about 5 years and with the exception of being data limited, it works VERY well. I was very excited to find that I could move this onto the Unlimited plan and was told that after 22G the data would be "prioritized"...which I thought we could live with. Unfortunately this in not the case at all. The real issue is that Verizon treats LTE Internet Installed Cantennae as a hotspot...even though it is bolted to the side of my home. This means that after 10Gig on the Unlimited plan we are switched over to 3G. The problem with this is that the cantennae is not backward compatible, and will not work with 3G, therefore after 10G our home internet will not work! (Do you know how quickly home internet will reach 10G with a family of 4 !!!) I've called Verizon dozens of times to find out why they would treat my home internet as a hotspot and render it inoperable after 10G. No one had an answer, and they led me to believe that a change in this "hotspot" designation would not be coming anytime soon. I've been loyal and with Verizon Wireless since 1998 and can't believe that I am being treated this way. It just makes NO SENSE to treat this device as a hotspot and to make it not work after 10G....very disappointing.

[DONDAN4219]

I am having the same issue. It seems as though Verizon is treating these routers and home solutions like the jetpacks now, even though it's not "technically" a hotspot device, they're considered "home and office solutions". They don't see it like I do, they see it as a device that has tethering capabilities. After the 10Gb, they'll (supposedly) throttle you to 3G speeds on ANY data device, which is very misleading and unfair to us rural customers who have no other option other than these crappy solutions. I have several of these, one I use, and several other that my family members use. The supposed "3G" I was supposed to receive after the 10GB was nothing but a lie. But here's where the real problem really is. I made several phone calls to upper-level tech support, and got nothing but the run-around. I finally managed to get transferred to the business department, have no idea how that happened, probably because they wanted me to sign up for a business account, but they were the most helpful with my situation surprisingly. I spoke to a nice representative who finally realized what the problem is. The Novatel Tassman router and cantenna both have only 2 radios inside it. One is the 1x, or voice radio, and the other is LTE, or data radio. What happens next explains exactly why you are receiving those terrible speeds, just like I am. Verizon actually sets the network to trigger the 3G modem inside a device once the 4G allotment has been used. I actually thought it was on the network side, but that only applies to prioritizing customers during network congestion. So basically Verizon doesn't throttle the speeds on the device itself when it kicks back to 3G, it triggers the 3G modem inside the device and disables the 4G one. The Tassman doesn't have the 3G modem in it, so it picks the 1X, and that's why you are experiencing "2G" speeds instead. They offered to exchange my router for a new jetpack that has the 3G modem in it. You would think that Verizon would just set the throttle on the network side, instead of triggering different modems inside the device itself. Very [Removed] with Verizon.

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[DONDAN4219]

The cantenna and the tassman are pretty much the same. Cantenna doesn't have 3G modem either.

[JOANSGARDEN]

Well maybe. I have a jetpack modem, which I believe is compatible with 3G and 4G. When I got it, there was no 4G in my area and it worked fine. Now though, that it's throttled I get speeds of 0.12mbps, just as all you other folks are getting. That's not 3G. I was OK with going to 3G, but not this!

[mborozny]

Thank you, DONDAN4219.  It's interesting all the pieces of this cantenna service story that Verizon has not fully disclosed.

[VIRFOR14]

Your story sounds very similar to ours.  We live in a rural area and have been Verizon HomeFusion (LTE Internet and Phone) customers for a number of years.  We are currently on our second Cantenna.  We also recently switched to the Unlimited Data plan. We were previously paying for 50 GB of data so we were very excited when Verizon offered unlimited data at a lower cost.   We expected an occasional slowdown in speed during peak usage periods once we reached 22 GB, but we never expected to see speeds of .14 and .008 (speedtest.net).  Tonight I could not get any webpage to open so I decided to investigate a little to see if anyone else was having the same issue.

We have noticed fluctuations in speed during the day/month, but we were not aware that after 10G on the Unlimited plan we were being switched over to 3G and that our HomeFusion unit was being used as a mobile Hotspot.  How did you become aware of this?  Has Verizon offered any solution?

[DDJ712]

I, for one, am feeling swindled. I first realized what was happening when they sent a text warning me we were close to the 10GB and we'd have reduction of speed to 3G. That didn't take long with a teenager in the house, so then wham!...home internet stalled out.  Verizon hasn't offered a solution that I'm aware of. I've looked into AT&T's similar offering but haven't jumped ship just yet: I'm hoping Verizon will remedy this as we've been loyal customers for awhile.

[SHAMAT97]

One of their customer service reps actually told me it was changed April 13th to function as a mobile hotspot in my account. I have sent emails to the CEO and top executives about this problem after speaking to 10 different customer service reps that cou do anything to fix it. Their executive relations office has called me several times and is supposed working on it but they are just giving me the run around. I suggest everyone having this problem with Verizon's bait and switch tactics to file a complaint with the FCC.

[BPL506]

Same thing here.....  Home Fusion for 3 years now, Time to start looking at other options since Verizon does not care about us.

Today's speeds 0.38 download - 0.22 upload.

Verizon, you should at least give us true 3G speeds 2.0mb+, after all no where did you or you sales people define them when signing us up for Unlimited Plan!!

[mborozny]

BPL506, It wasn't until I talked with one techical support rep almost 2 weeks ago that it was disclosed that 3G to Verizon=.6 Mbps. Sounds like you are getting the speeds we are getting on weekends.

[dshellhause]

Would love to get .6Mb....my speed test.net stalled out around .06 Mb.

[ROBWAT39]

I am having the same issues and with my connection too. I have contacted Technical Support and they have escalated my ticket for further investigation. I called them this morning for an update and i was informed that I am not the only one experiencing this issue with the Cantenna and that they have had numerous people call in.

I am getting around 100 kbps until I reset the router and then I will get between 500 and 600 kbps for a little while and then it will drop to the 100 kbps average, sometimes even less than that.

Supposedly it's a network issue with the Cantenna (I am guessing they cannot reliably connect to 3G). 100 kbps is more like 2G and that is not acceptable, especially if Verizon says we are supposed to get 3G which is at least 600 kbps.

If this continues, then Verizon is going to have some real problems on their hands. I have had issues with their decision to cap us a 10 GB at 4G speeds from the moment they announced the Unlimited Plan. When I switched I was told the line was going to be considered the same as a cell phone with 22 GB and then prioritization after that. I was involved in a very deep discussion about this in another thread on this forum.

I am pretty upset with all of this and if Verizon doesn't fix it, I am considering contacting an attorney to begin a class action lawsuit.

What they need to go is consider this like a cell phone line, not a hotspot.

Oh, and I don't want to hear from any Verizon rep or someone who loves to support Verizon's stance on this, because until Verizon fixes this, anything you have to say in support of Verizon is absolutely meaningless. What I want to see is a solution that gives us the service we are paying for. I don't think that is too much to ask for.

[ROBWAT39]

I am totally on your side with this. I am very unhappy with this and Verizon needs to fix it.

Class action lawsuit comes to my mind if they don't.

[rcschnoor]

ROBWAT39 wrote:

I am totally on your side with this. I am very unhappy with this and Verizon needs to fix it.

Class action lawsuit comes to my mind if they don't.

Lawsuit may come to mind. Class Action, not so much...

Why you can't sue your wireless carrier in a class action - CNET

[ROBWAT39]

That's unfortunate.

Bad media coverage could possibly help. Might be worth sending an email to my local Fox news affiliate (Fox 5 iTeam)

[rcschnoor]

There is nothing keeping you from filing your own lawsuit. I would imagine the most you could hope for is to be put back on your old plan.

[MRAKRAK6530]

I feel the frustration with you and many others. You may notice many VW representative responses here, and they all start out with "Your relationship with Verizon Wireless is important to us"....the problem is, that our relationship is not important to them. If it was they would have offered some solution, either here or sitewide...which hasn't and isn't going to happen.

Our ONLY recourse is to leave Verizon, and pursue Unlimitedville, 4GAS Internet and similar type companies until we find what works for us.

Verizon is so big they do believe that they don't need us, and they know that they are so big that resources to fight any lawsuit is a drop in the bucket. We were lied to, "bait and switched", and certainly not given "unlimited done right"....and in the Verizon could care less.

[SHAMAT97]

I urge everyone who is having problems with Verizon's Bait and Switch tactics used with this new plan to file complaints with the FCC and FTC. The only way regular consumers like all of us can fight a company who thinks they are to large to be touched is to join together and fight as a group. Also if you plan to sue Verizon a lot of times you will have to already have filed a complaint with FCC and FTC or court will throw case out.

[dianeln]

We switched to the Verizon unlimited plan after being told our LTE Internet Home Fusion, attached to a non-mobile cantenna, would not be slowed as it is not a mobile hotspot. Nowhere on the Verizon website is it listed as a mobile hotspot. We are paying for it as a separate line.

   First conversation with rep.

We have discussed your change to the unlimited plan which includes an LTE Internet device connected to cantenna. Your device has unlimited access to your new plan. Your device will access to at least 22Gb of 4G LTE speeds and may throttle down after that depending priority of usage.

   Second conversation with rep. after text warning of slowing to 3G after 10GB.

The text message is a notification that the line 7098 is close to being switched to the 3G speeds after the allowance. It should be 22GB NOT 10GB per line. (per rep. Taylor)

I feel totally deceived. Our internet is practically unusable. As for streaming unlimited data, what a joke!

[DanF39]

Sad to see that I am not alone with my Home Fusion. Ditto to the sudden limit being imposed after two months of none. I notice on my change of plans summary no mention that the device is now considered a mobile hot spot. I did read all the fine print before changing plans. If the restriction imposed was explained at all, I would not have changed plans. 40G is far better than 10G. Unlimited [Removed] I am NOT getting 3G speeds either. It took me 37 minutes waiting for the verizon wireless web page to load.

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[smith6612]

EDIT: So I posted to the wrong thread thinking it was empty. Oh my! 😮

Anyhow. Even with the presence of an unlimited data plan, Verizon doesn't provide unlimited hotspot, or for that matter, unlimited HomeFusion. Which is a bit unfortunate for those without real Internet options. Maybe the rollout of the 5G network in the next couple of years will change that.

For those without a choice, I believe Verizon and also AT&T sell Rural or "RV" data packages. They are intended for those who cannot get Fixed line broadband access, and are in areas where the towers are not really congested. These have to be asked for. It's possible a Verizon rep may help if they are familiar with the billing codes. These packages can range up to 250GB a month, possibly larger, and cost less than the normal retail rates.

[JRRinNC]

Looks like a few of us are now finding alternatives.  After a bit over a week with unlimitedville (pink plan works well in my area) I'm very pleased -- SO much better speed and reliability than I ever had with Home Fusion on Verizon.  Not pushing them, just finding they are working well for me.  If anyone else here wants to try them out, feel free to use HHKQUZU as a referral code for an initial discount.  One thing I'm surprised at is that I expected I'd need to connect an antenna outside like the Cantenna to get good speed, but I have the Mofi modem with it's small antennas inside and still getting better reception than the cantenna... go figure.  I suppose that's just because of the location of the "other carrier" towers in my area vs Verizon, but always thought Verizon would have the best coverage in my rural area -- glad I tried one of unlimitedville's other lower cost "colors" first. 🙂