Reporting Poor Coverage

[Doxngal19]

Hello, 

We have zero coverage at zip code 76642 Personville, TX. Once the 3 G was removed from the tower (2 years ago), we have zero barson a 5 G network that we pay well for.

This is our weekend home, so it was nice to disconnect when away for a long weekend. However this will soon be our permanent residence.

We will have to transport all of our numbers to a different carrier, as we cannot just do without coverage full time. Please help!

[SynthpopAddict]

Sure hope Verizon does something about the dead zone, but you're most likely better off changing carriers because these things take a long time to get fixed.

[vzw_customer_support]

This is frustrating Doxngal19 when the network coverage and ability to connect is not as expected. Coverage has been reviewed for Personville, TX showing currently 4G/LTE coverage.  Will you have access to high speed home internet in Personville? We are eager to find the best options for you to connect consistently when your move becomes permanent.

-Deb

[Doxngal19]

Starlink seems to be the only internet that works in Personville, TX. Will not know speeds until the move. Why wouldn't a 4G tower give us access?

[vzw_customer_support]

We want to figure out what's going on with coverage in Personville. What's the make and model of your phones? We want to share some troubleshooting steps for you to try while you're there.

~Jesse

[Bnlongfellow]

This has been my service at my house in TAMPA it’s been so awful. Speeds are lackluster unless you’re downtown  

[vzw_customer_support]

Bnlongfellow, thank you for sharing those speed test results with us. We understand how important it is to have fast, reliable service. Does this seem to happen all the time at your home or only during certain days/times? Has this always been an issue in this location or a recent change?

-Andi

[SynthpopAddict]

@Bnlongfellow  - that's horrible!  Just wondering, do you have hotspot enabled on your phone regularly?  If you go over the "premium data allowance" for hotspot usage, then you're throttled at 3Mbps down maximum on 5G UW or 0.6Mbps down maximum on 4G or regular 5G for the rest of the month.  I've seen threads where accounts got messed up somehow and the customer's account was registering all data used as hotspot, even if they didn't have hotspot turned on.

Don't know if you can manually change the band on your phone - seems like Verizon removed the ability last year? - but maybe if you switch to either 4G LTE or regular 5G you might get better data speeds because maybe your phone is somehow forcing itself to be in 5G UW mode all the time and it's not working well for some reason.

[Doxngal19]

SAM GS21U 5G SM-G998U1 UNL

SAM GS21U 5G SM-G998U1 UNL

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 256GB Green

[vzw_customer_support]

@Doxngal19  wrote: SAM GS21U 5G SM-G998U1 UNL

Thank you for sharing your device models. You had shared about the home internet that might be available, is that something that you currently have set up in the residence? Does this impact all services (talk/text/data) or only certain services? 

-Andi

[Doxngal19]

We do not have Starlink set up at this time. 

All services on our phones are unusable. Just the spinning wheel of death...

[vzw_customer_support]

@Doxngal19  wrote: We do not have Starlink set up at this time.  All services on our phones are unusable. Just the spinning wheel of death...

I'm sorry you've been having trouble. So we can do some additional troubleshooting I'm sending you a Private Message.

-John

[Doxngal19]

My attempt at reaching Verizon through the link provided via private message from the Verizon agent.

504 Gateway Time-out

 

[SynthpopAddict]

@Doxngal19, if the link was the type CS uses to verify your account, it has a timed expiration so maybe you got to the PM too late.  Try responding to the PM asking them to send you a new link and you'll have to stay logged in waiting for the PM envelope to light up again.  I'm not sure if the live chat function works anymore, but if you see a link somewhere in My Verizon or elsewhere, could try that?

However, I strongly suspect you will have to get Starlink set up at your home and switch mobile carriers in order to have internet and cell phone service...

[Doxngal19]

We had coverage until Verizon removed the 3G from our nearest tower. Why Verizon failed (s) to add 5G to the same tower is apparently a mystery. 

Now we have nothing and Verizon contends it's foliage based. It is not. Everyone with AT&T have the same coverage they always have had. We have zero coverage.

Verizon tech told me that he wouldn't open another ticket, as it would be redundant. Well, wouldn't that give someone at Verizon that cares an action item? 

It's not just us, Verizon knows this.

[SynthpopAddict]

Yeah, that's really too bad about the service issues, but the one thing older wireless technology had over current tech is the radio waves traveled longer distances before fading out.  5G radio waves go just a handful of miles at best, and that's for low-band 5G where the data speeds aren't any faster than 4G LTE.  The really great 5G super fast stuff (what Verizon advertises as up to 1gig download speeds) only travels ~1500 feet before the signal is lost, so isn't installed everywhere.  I am guessing whatever tower(s) in Personville are either too far away or the 4G LTE cells on them are at the wrong angles for your home's location and you are in a dead zone because of that.  If AT&T works there, it's time to port.  It's Verizon's loss, but is what it is since building new cell towers is expensive and takes time with having to negotiate with others with getting permits, possibly getting onto someone's land, and the time it takes to simply get a tower installed and running.

[Doxngal19]

Yeah, Verizon wants me to buy their internet and use wifi calling.

So they've disable what worked, won't fix it, and want me to buy more.

You can't start a fire, put it out and still pretend you're a hero.

[SynthpopAddict]

Don't buy the Verizon internet for your Personville home because it is based off of cellular service (aka "fixed wireless") and obviously your house is a Verizon dead zone, so their internet and Wi-Fi running off their internet won't work.  Whoever suggested that to you was either not reading your posts in this thread or was after their commission hoping you wouldn't know!  If Verizon had their Fios service in Texas, that would be another story, but if you want to try out fixed wireless internet as an alternative to Starlink, I'd investigate how well the "Pink Logo Place" works in Personville.

[Doxngal19]

We do not have Starlink set up at this time. 

All services on our phones are unusable. Just the spinning wheel of death...

[Doxngal19]

Starlink seems to be the only internet that works in Personville, TX. Will not know speeds until the move.

Why wouldn't a 4G tower give us access?

Do I need to downgrade our equipment to get service in zip code 76642?

[SynthpopAddict]

---

@Doxngal19 wrote:

Starlink seems to be the only internet that works in Personville, TX. Will not know speeds until the move.

Why wouldn't a 4G tower give us access?

Do I need to downgrade our equipment to get service in zip code 76642?

---

Just an FYI: Verizon's 5G coverage is really only present in the bigger cities and the immediate outlying areas around said cities.  So if you are currently on a plan which includes 5G UW access, you won't be getting 5G of any type in Personville on Verizon and downgrading your plan would be a sensible choice - maybe even going to prepaid would be better than any of the postpaid plans currently available.

If Starlink (satellite internet) and fixed wireless internet such as Verizon has here in Texas are the only internet options available in Personville, you may want to look into that pink logo place's coverage because they do have the best 5G coverage of all the carriers so their home internet may be better than what Verizon could offer.  Check with either OpenSignal or Cellmapper apps for less biased opinions on how well all the carriers are performing.  Best of luck with your move!

As for why you aren't getting even 4G service in your Personville home: there are a number of factors affecting signal strength including but not limited to: distance from the tower, elevation of the tower compared to your location, other buildings, hills, and building materials, and amount of traffic on the network.