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No signal at home...3 years now. I have to pay for starlink wifi to have a phone that works at home

I pay a lot for Verizon, I've been a customer for over 20 years, but in the small town I live in service has gone downhill so significantly that I have to pay for starlink wifi to have my phone work at home, which makes my already expensive service even more spendy...and verizon is again (like 3rd time in this 3 years period of garbage service) raising my rates while NOT upgrading the infrastructure in my area so that I can actually get what I am paying for. Come on now, you don't even offer the home internet in my town (I check all the time), why do I have to pay out the nose for internet just to have a working phone???

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Verizon_Support

Hello, SarahBabyH. Having great service is a must. Help is here. Your many years of business mean the world to us, and we definitely want to provide you some answers. Please tell me more. What is your zip code? Upon leaving your home, how far must you go before you notice a change in your service?

-Natasha

SarahBabyH

83869 is the zip, Spirit Lake Idaho. Generally once I get outside of the city limits I can use my phone again. But even sitting in my driveway...in the middle of town, doesn't load and won't make calls. This is ongoing for the last 3 years since I moved here, and I have had 3 or 4 different phones in this time also. Same issue with my family's phones as well, that's how I know it's not a phone issue.

SynthpopAddict

3 years is a very long time to deal with zilch service at home. If you are having to use Starlink, will surmise you are in a rural area. You've given Verizon enough of a chance...will say the loss in service was due to 3G being shut down a few years back, and the newer technology just doesn't go as far. It's the tradeoff we all have to deal with - faster internet speeds also means the radio waves don't go as much distance.

Your best bet is to ask the neighbors who they use and port to that carrier. Cellmapper can also give you estimates on relative signal strength from all the major carriers, but it's not completely accurate.

SarahBabyH

Yeah, we're semi-rural although the city is creeping up fast. I've stuck with Verizon this long just because I'm in the mountains a lot and it previously was the only one who worked up here in the hills. But AT&T and T-Mobile have really upped their game lately, so I'm looking at my options.

SarahBabyH

Verizon_Support

@SarahBabyH
wrote: 83869 is the zip, Spirit Lake Idaho. Generally once I get outside of the city limits I can use my phone again. But even sitting in my driveway...in the middle of town, doesn't load and won't make calls. This is ongoing for the last 3 years since I moved here, and I have had 3 or 4 different phones in this time also. Same issue with my family's phones as well, that's how I know it's not a phone issue.

Thank you for confirming those details for us today. I'm glad to hear that the service works once your outside the city limits, but we want to make sure you have the best experience whre you need it. I would agree that this isn't a device issue given it has been consistent over multiple devices and that other users are having the same experience.

I did take a closer look into the area here, and it looks like our network team is aware of some opportunities in the area. The immediate solution would be to rely on Wi-Fi calling where Wi-Fi is available. Here's more information about Wi-Fi calling, and how to activate the service: https://www.verizon.com/support/wifi-calling-faqs/

-Joseph

SarahBabyH

I know how to utilize the wifi calling...but it's pretty pathetic that I can NOT use my phone service that I pay good money for at the place that I spend a full 2/3rds of my time...maybe you could cut the cost of my monthly service by 2/3rds since it doesn't work at home, instead of yet another increase!

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