LTE has been abysmal for the last two weeks

[alienimplant]

I'm have unacceptable service even though my device is showing 5 bars. Everything was fine up until a couple weeks ago. No all my connections are dropping packets. Looking at the Verizon Wireless hops, you can see the the network is responsible for the packet loss, not my device or connection to the tower. This has been going on so long now, I'm beginning to feel ripped off.

Host                                                    Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev

1. x.x.x.x                                               0.0%    70    1.0   1.1   0.6   5.6   0.7

2. 241.sub-66-174-12.myvzw.com                           7.1%    70   50.2  84.4  23.2 495.6 109.8

3. 210.sub-69-83-28.myvzw.com                            7.1%    70   42.4  87.2  26.9 633.3 113.7

4. 249.sub-69-83-28.myvzw.com                           15.7%    70   28.5  77.5  19.4 780.7 131.8

5. 17.sub-69-83-28.myvzw.com                            14.5%    69   34.8  68.6  21.1 714.8 115.4

6. 170.sub-69-83-28.myvzw.com                           14.5%    69   33.9  64.5  25.6 647.7  95.2

7. ???

8. ???

9. ???

10. 4.59.144.25                                          10.1%    69   59.3  92.0  29.8 758.5 144.2

11. ae-2-70.edge3.Washington4.Level3.net                 20.3%    69   57.3  46.7  20.5 237.6  28.4

12. 206.111.0.65.ptr.us.xo.net                           14.5%    69  115.9  98.1  27.2 2298. 306.5

13. ???

14. ae0d0.mcr1.columbus-oh.us.xo.net                     14.5%    69   49.7  89.2  40.0 716.8 125.5

15. 207.238.252.121                                       4.3%    69   69.1 141.9  38.8 2094. 280.1

[alienimplant]

I mean, "Now all my connections are dropping packets."

[alienimplant]

Wow, no response? What's the point of having this forum if no one cares about the VZW network dropping packets on every node?

[Catbird9]

I guess packet loss is not a big issue for many users.

[alienimplant]

Nope. Packet loss of this consistency and magnitude across all these nodes is everyone's problem. If the issue were on my end, you'd see loss at the first hop. The rest is beyond my own control and entirely the fault of VZW's LTE network. It used to be fine. Now it isn't.

[RScott69442]

After 13 1/2 years I dropped Verizon yesterday due to the same issue.  If you look over the board for the past month people have been losing 4g down to 3g or 1x yet every one of their forum people seems oblivious to the problem.  When I switched I had a long talk with the customer rep about it.  Currently I'm sitting at my desk next to a co-worker who is still on Verizon, he's at 1x I'm at 4g.

I didn't want to leave but I needed my access.  If I wanted the service I was getting I'd have gone with a flip phone good only for texting and that's it.

[alienimplant]

This sounds pretty frustrating, but it's completely different from the problem I'm having. I have significant dropped packets even though I have a stalwart 5-bar connection to the tower. I never lose calls. My situation has nothing to do with device or cell tower reliability and everything to do with the connections between the devices in Verizon's own LTE network. It also seems Level 3 shares some of the blame since their hop also shows significant losses.

I can't say with any certainty why this crap is happening, only that it is. We are paying a premium for a service that is not delivering on its promise. I think it's quite possible that the destruction of net neutrality has something to do with it. Perhaps normal users are getting shoved into a congested pipe that can't handle the network load, while high-paying strategic partners are getting the red carpet treatment. At the very least, the network isn't performing the way it should. It's no coincidence that speedtest.net results are acceptable while actual connections to Google and Facebook frequently fall below 1k per second. ISPs want these companies to pay them; in the meantime, we are the hostages. There is no legal barrier to stop them at this point. It's in the news and discussed in numerous forums and tech sites on a daily basis (I subscribe to several).

What I am certain of is that 2.5 weeks ago, the LTE network was a LOT more reliable than it is now, and I'm starting to regret my decision to use LTE for a mobile data solution.

[alienimplant]

Worst day yet...

Host                                                    Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev

1. x.x.x.x                                           0.0%    67    0.8   1.1   0.4   3.0   0.2

2. 66.174.12.241                                        19.4%    67   39.7 184.4  26.3 1400. 253.4

3. 69.83.28.210                                         23.9%    67   45.4 188.1  25.3 1332. 250.8

4. 249.sub-69-83-28.myvzw.com                           41.8%    67   39.9 156.8  19.2 726.8 217.0

5. 17.sub-69-83-28.myvzw.com                            38.8%    67   33.6 153.7  25.1 719.2 205.2

6. 69.83.28.170                                         38.8%    67   47.5 187.6  25.0 734.8 218.7

7. ???

8. ???

9. ???

10. 4.59.144.25                                          35.8%    67   37.1 210.1  28.9 1717. 324.5

11. 4.69.149.146                                         31.8%    66   52.2 220.1  26.4 1802. 312.0

12. 206.111.0.65.ptr.us.xo.net                           47.7%    65   43.4 226.7  31.3 1742. 378.9

13. ???

14. ae0d0.mcr1.columbus-oh.us.xo.net                     54.7%    64   69.4 118.6  48.4 747.3 150.8

15. 207.238.252.102                                      20.3%    64   53.9 279.2  41.0 1535. 339.4

[alienimplant]

Hahaha... 4 bars today and VZW's network is dropping more than half of my packets.

"The BEST RELIABILITY

Only Verizon offers America's most reliable 4G LTE network — giving you the ability to do more:

Watch movies and TV without delay [cough]

Enjoy music without awkward pauses

Seamlessly play multi-player games [I can't even use google.com. Multiplayer games are out of the question).

That means you can experience your work and entertainment the way they were meant to be."

What a joke. Does anyone know where I can start a technical support ticket online? The support section of the site seems to contain no links. If I do it by phone, I can't provide any useful evidence of the problem. They'll just waste my time with questions about my device and ask me to delete half my settings to no end.

[alienimplant]

SOLUTION/UPDATE: Things have been A LOT better lately. I had to go through a couple support calls. The solution was to reset the network settings on my phone and have VZW support "reactivate and also sync with network" from their end. This made an IMMEDIATE difference. I should add that I requested to speak to 2nd tier support immediately, that this was not an issue with my device, and that I had traceroute information that proved the problem wasn't on the device. Tier one elevated my call within a few minutes. After a few days, it went back to being poor again. So I reset my phone network settings again, and this time the service stayed very good. I haven't had a problem since.

What had actually happened is that these network resets altered the the VZW network devices my phone was being routed through. I could see all the switches and routers changing each time the network was reset. So my phone truly was being sent through a new and different path through the VZW network to get to the internet. That is what made the difference. They took me out of a clogged up route.

I hope this helps out someone else, if you've had good service and suddenly it has gotten poor.