I have an S20FE phone that worked on 5G until this past week. Two days ago I noticed my indicator was for 4G LTE, and the area I was in has a Verizon tower within a couple hundred of feet from where I was. I reached out to the local store, a 5G tower is nearby, could only connect at a 4G LTE level. It is seeing something, because while driving to the local store, the lock screen showed 5G, when I unlocked it--4G. The customer rep in the store connected me with the Verizon customer support group, he did some basic troubleshooting, and requisitioned a new SIM card, since mine was circa 2021 (the time I got my S20FE). I replaced the SIM card, same thing in my area--- no 5G, just 4G LTE. I reached out to Raj in tech support, he changed a few things, had me power cycle several times, and no change. He said I was on an older 5G plan (it is Do More, as of 2-3 years ago), and switched me to a newer plan, which is supposed to "provision" my phone to the newer 5G---still the same thing. I get a semi-decent 5G signal otherwise, better on the second floor,. There are 4 towers nearby, I know 3 are supposed to ge 5G. I have an app on my phone that brings up a map, signal strengths, etc. and it didn't lock onto anything. He opened a ticket with their tier2 engineering group to see if there are service issues in the area.
He suggested if there is no resolution that I update to the newer S24 if there is no resolution. I can't justify a new phone, and even if I pay it off and get a trade-in allowance, I would be under a contract...which I don't want to do.
Has anyone else with a S20 FE 5G been having 5G issues? thanks!
Solved! Go to Correct Answer
I, like many others, have been switched to the 4G LTE Advanced platform until the 5G issue is resolved.
From my experience in these forums, you have lots of company with once having consistent 5G service, and now it's shut off. Verizon can't tell us because such information is proprietary, but I think they are doing something with their network in general to improve things. My 5G light shut off in November 2023 after being on 24/7 before, but lately I've had pretty decent luck with getting 5G if I open an app needing internet access. (I'm prepaid, so my phone doesn't stay in 5G all the time due to deprioritization.) Certain towers have gotten huge boosts to data speeds just this month to where it makes my cable ISP look bad sometimes, so I'd hang in there.
Dave7887, we understand how important it is to get the speeds that you are anticipating. You shared that it changed a couple of days ago, do you recall any other changes that happened during that timeframe? What troubleshooting steps did we complete with you?
-Andi
Raj, from customer service called, the problem still exists ---he said engineers are working on it, possibly a system-wide issue, I'm not the only one with this trouble, and he will update me.
I could cite some examples, although I've " heard it through the grapevine that Verizon is keeping customers at 4G LTE , and 5G will switch in if users have a demand for faster speed.....such as large file downloads, streaming large video content, etc.
OKay, I've tried watching videos over LTE, no 5G. The area I live in has 5G, and I've confirmed cell site locations by using an open source program "Network Cell Info" which is rather accurate.
Since customers are paying for 5G, I'm sure they want to see a "5G" indicator on their phone . ...Just a thought on this
I, like many others, have been switched to the 4G LTE Advanced platform until the 5G issue is resolved.
I suspect Verizon has taken care of the situation, and resolved it. Bandwidth, software provisionling? 5G indicator turned on when in a good 5G signal. It seems to be resolved.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
