WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE SIGNAL STRENGTH?

[Bumps]

First of all I'm not looking to discuss this!

I want a solution to a problem that has gotten progressively worse and I have dealt with the "I want to help you with your problem" answers.  Which, by the way, NEVER HAPPENED! The tech simply quit communicating...left me hanging, even after the ole "please respond to our Private Message". I don't have the time to sit and beat a dead horse, as a barrage of "have you tried this or that" goes on and on. Nothing has changed on our end...only the signal strength, which maybe has been dialed down for some reason, known only to Verizon.

THE SIGNAL IS TERRIBLE ON MY PHONE, MY WIFE'S PHONE AND OUR JET PACK!  DROPPED CALLS, SLOW PHONE INTERNET AND JET PACK IS TERRIBLY SLOW.  I'M TIRED OF DETERIORATING SERVICE WITH VERIZON.

It started with my Note 3 and the last update, which I believe was a year ago. My signal went into the dumpster immediately after the upgrade. I received no satisfaction and have lived with a weak signal...UNTIL NOW!  It has affected our entire house and wireless connectivity, to an annoying degree.  WHAT HAPPENED?

Unfortunately, I will probably get the "I want to help you" reply.   Save it!  I've been down that trail and it goes no where.  Fix the signal and take care of your long time customers, before they begin jumping ship.

Extremely frustrating!

[DROID73]

I have had a similar situation, found the problem here, maybe related.

Download the app from play store called "LTE Discovery" it's Free!

it will show you what band (frequency) you are on, if it is the same problem

likely it will say Band 4 or Band 2. It used to be that LTE was only on Band 13.

I had a -80dbm signal which is good - closer to 0 the better.

My signal will bounce back and forth from Band 4 to 13 every so often...

Now I have -114 to -118dbm on band 4   (nearly unusable - anything -105 to -120 is bad)

Apparently they put support for band 13 on some towers, and

band 4 on others, well band 4 is higher in frequency, and those towers maybe further from you as well,

compared to the ones with B13 on them.

If you drive around town, you may see it jump from 4 to 13 etc...

Hope that helps, I think the only solution beyond getting verizon to do their job, is to get an in house 'repeater'.

I spent a month+ arguing with verizon on this, they kept telling me it was my device, yet I bought a new one, same issues...

[DigitalRules]

Thanks for the app tip!! It is a great diagnostic tool. From my observations, devices seem to favor band 2 or 4 whenever available, even if 13 happens to be stronger.

When anywhere outside my building in downtown DC, the phone is almost always on 4, even though 13 is many times stronger. As soon as I get inside the building (basement), only 13 works. I'm assuming 4's much higher frequency cannot penetrate the concrete/steel structure, but 13's 700 Mhz still makes it inside.

[DROID73]

My theory as to why it prefers 2/4 has to do with the bandwidth being larger on those bands, now that could be wrong, could be Verizon trying to push people off 13, so that is available to those that can't get 2 or 4.

I'm glad I could help there... You are exactly right about the higher frequency, as well, assuming all else is equal, band 4, and 2 are better for densifying a network, not so much for coverage area. If the towers were originally spaced for 800mhz, then they would not do well at 19/2100 etc.

[vzw_customer_support]

Bumps, I definitely understand your frustration in this matter as you simply want your phones to work properly. I’d like to help. Sounds like you have been in communication with our technical support. Can you provide me with the steps of troubleshooting that has been taken thus far? Any trouble tickets performed?

NatashaA_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[Bumps]

Our devices have extremely poor signal in the same home location. We haven't changed our location. ALL the devices we have are experiencing a poorer signal and are noticeably slower.

My Note 3 dropped it's signal strength after the last update (about a year ago and no further updates) and has gotten even worse.  Now my wife's phone and our jet pack have deteriorated to a frustrating degree.

Just maybe Verizon needs to troubleshoot the signal strength or at least be forthcoming with information regarding the signal change.  I know I'm not the only one experiencing signal strength issues.

The correct answer to this issue will be an dramatic increase in our service.  Until then.........................

[vzw_customer_support]

Bumps,

We want you to be able to enjoy all of your devices where you use them most. It's concerning to me that you've had to deal with this for quite some time. We are here to help. You mention that all of the devices have poor signal strength, which services are impacted (text/call/data/all of the above)? Also, I understand that this is happening inside of your home, does your service improve at all outdoors? If not, how far do you have to travel in order to obtain a decent signal strength on your devices?

AmberK_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[Bumps]

Thank you, it concerns us too. 

All devices have been impacted, my Note 3 being the most impacted. Going outside in the past would somewhat improve signal. However, that doesn't appear to help any longer. Signal strength as I reply is...  -114 dBm and  26...4...now 1 asu.  I have noticed a marginally better signal when in the city, however, not what I would call great. I didn't look into settings to see the dBm/asu levels.  I will try to remember to do so next time I am in a stronger signal area.  Also, I can't stress the fact that the last update is when I can unequivocally say my signal went into the dumpster.  At that time I went through all this and received no satisfaction....or improvement in service.  I just have lived with the poor quality of signal/service.

Then my wife's S3 Mini (signal: -108 dBm  32 asu)  and our Jet Pack began to experience issues at about the same time a few months ago. 

The Jet Pack reminds me of being on a dial up connection, complete with time outs and slow loading graphics.  This was not the norm in the past.

What are considered good readings for dBm/asu?  This would give me a reference point.

Being blunt...can you help me or are we simply messaging to appease the situation?...again!

[vzw_customer_support]

Of course we can help Bumps. We would never want you to feel like we are appeasing the situation. We understand the need of having a consistent and reliable signal and service. To further troubleshoot, we would need some additional info from you. If you can reply to the private message sent then we can continue.

ArnettH_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the "Correct Answer" button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[MISS_MYSTERY]

Maybe @Verizon Wireless Customer Support can just post the fix on here or send out tech's to upgrade all the towers, because we all seem to be having the same issue. I've lived in the same house since I started with Verizon and had 4g Full bars up until recently too. Now I'm lucky if I randomly get 3g, with 1 bar, but most of the time it's blank with 1 bar or a greyed out 1x with 1 bar. I went through all the steps of cleaning up my cell and found no improvement. Then started testing the signal strength everywhere else I normally hang out and had 4g with 3 bars minimum, proving even more so, that it's not my cell.