Need to report an antenna / tower that is malfunctioning
rpettit21
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hi, I live in a remote area and rely on my Verizon JetPack for internet service.  Last week, around April 15 give or take a day, I noticed that internet performance degraded when my camera was on during Zoom and Teams calls, but performance is fine when my camera is off. 

I've done a lot of investigation and ruled out my own devices.  I can run calls over a similar configuration to the AT&T network and they perform just fine.  I believe I have isolated the Verizon problem to a specific antenna.  My device attaches to this tower:

MCC / MNC / Region:  311 / 480 / 53812

eNB ID: 210664

When my device is communicating with Cell ID or on this tower, performance appears to be just fine.  I can send video, receive video, share my screen, etc.  But when my device is communicating with Cell ID, the trouble starts.  If I run a ping test while on a video call, latency ranges from 35 to 50 ms (which is great performance), but will crescendo to 230+ ms, then 1,400+ ms, then I get request timeouts, then 1,400+ ms, then 300+ ms, then back to normal.  People cannot hear my audio and my video gets choppy when this happens.  It will spike like this while I am broadcasting video over the call; it does not do this when I am only receiving video and not broadcasting.  When I am not on a call, I get the occasional spike to 105 ms latency but it a single ping in a sample of 100 or 250; it does not last for long.

Signal strength on Cell ID appears to remain constant, with RSRP0 in the -88 to -95 dBm range.  Note that signal is considerably stronger on or, in the range of -77 dBm to -82 dBm.  For some reason, my connection starts on one of these antennas but is transferred to during a call, and then performance fails when sending video.

I am on calls a lot throughout the day, and having video on is important.  I hope this is enough information to investigate.

 

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Re: Need to report an antenna / tower that is malfunctioning
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

rpettit21, thank you for sharing this helpful information. We appreciate your efforts and the steps you have taken to further investigate this matter. Making sure you have the data speeds you need is important. Allow us the opportunity to further investigate the details. Can you please provide us with the Make/Model of your Jetpack device? Have you tried to connect your Jetpack to a different device and received the same experience? 

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Re: Need to report an antenna / tower that is malfunctioning
rpettit21
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hello, and thank you for the reply.  The jetpack is a MiFi 6620L.  I have connected it to different laptops with the same result.  I have also connected those same laptops to a different provider using a different LTE modem (a Netgear LB1120 connecting to the AT&T network) with no such problems.  I have ruled out WiFi signal interference as well.  I have disconnected all other devices to rule out any other forms of interference.

 

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Re: Need to report an antenna / tower that is malfunctioning
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Thank youfor this information. Have you ever experienced this in the past while using the Jetpack? Do you notice this difference occuring at certain times of day?

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Re: Need to report an antenna / tower that is malfunctioning
rpettit21
Enthusiast - Level 2

This is a recent problem.  It started about three weeks ago, and became a persistent, daily problem starting April 19.  The problem is most commonly associated with Zoom and Team calls where I have my local video enabled.  If I disable the local video (meaning my camera is off) the Verizon network performance is stable and really good.  With the video enabled, I have noticed signal strength remains constant but the network latency varies from -33ms to over 1,500 ms and I will simply drop packets.  

My first video call of the day tends to be stable.  It varies widely after that.  Late morning and early afternoon calls are among the most problematic.

I have run a lot of other experiments to rule out any possible source of interference in the house, and also to intensify signal strength and quality.  One rather bizarre thing I have noticed is that the stronger the signal (in dBm) the more frequent the latency problem seems to be.  

Thank you again for your help with this.  

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Re: Need to report an antenna / tower that is malfunctioning
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

rpettit21, we appreciate the additional details. We understand the importance of making sure your services are working smoothly. Can you please Factory Data Reset your Jetpack and retest your servcies? Please keep us updated on the results.

 

Here is a helpful link with steps on how to do so https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-122340/. 

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