Bought a place in lake limerick area of Shelton, Wa. Closest VZW tower is on mckewen rd. But all the way around lake limerick (e st Andrews, ballantrae) the signal is 0-1 bar outside and totally unusable. Unable to receive anything when on walks around the lake let alone inside a building. If there was a public safety sms or anything important (like a storm) cellular from Verizon just doesn’t work even though the area is shown to have coverage. T-mobile just put a new tower in the neighborhood so their signal is good (and may eventually have to change). We’re running the latest software on iPhone 15 & 16 pros along with cellular iPad. It’s been this way for 2 years, but really not any easy way to report network issues to Verizon. Tired of seeing SOS on my phone.
Lakes are problematic with Verizon; you're not the first one I've seen reporting having no service near a body of water. It's some quirk of the network. The other guys technology is different, so if you've done a free trial with them and they work better...
Thanks for the suggestion. Even though the tower's about 1.3 miles as the crow flies, there's quite a bit of terrain along with a dense commercial forest (trees) between the neighborhood and the existing tower. If the wifi or power goes, it leaves many without any emergency communication. T-mobile , or whomever they lease their tower space from, just put up a new tower that I'm told from other residents gets a great signal with no line of sight issues. Might have to try another provider.
Another issue that bothers me is that there's no automated or easy way to report network issues. ATT used to have an app called "Mark the Spot" that if you ran into an issue, you open the app, it runs the network diagnostic and sends the results back to (or if you're out of signal, would send asap). Didn't even know this "community" was here until a couple of days ago.
You're welcome. 1.3 miles is a little ways away for a non-rural area. Most varieties of 5G have a hard time traveling that far, especially if there are obstructions in the way. Not all towers have a backup power supply, so if the electricity goes out, a cell phone tower may also go out.
It's my understanding all carriers rent tower space these days.
If your phone supports dual SIM and can do eSIM, all the large carriers have a free trial where you can install a "test drive" sort of eSIM to your phone for 30 days. You obviously can't do the Verizon one, but if your phone is capable, can check out the other 2 companies to see how they compare.
Re: reporting network issues - to the right in the forums page, go to the box "Get help from Verizon" and use the "Check network status" link. The "Check network status" link is also at the bottom of Verizon's main website.
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