After storm reduced service and device location incorrect

[AquaticsLive]

I have a couple tickets for these items already, but wanted to ask the community if anyone knows a fix for these issues or ways to explain it better to support so it can be fixed. 

Okay so Friday we had a really bad thunderstorm that is three days ago from the date I am typing this message.  The lightening was very bad.  Anyhow my Verizon service completely stopped working I got the X on my screen for awhile then it reconnected, but now I have only one or two bars and can't make phone calls without turning on Wifi.  I contacted support on Saturday morning to let them know about the issue.  The opened a ticket and then 30 seconds later they closed the ticket and said that my service is less then optimal.  Then said they would send me a free LTE extender to help.  I live on the east side of Des Moines, IA and I have always had great service at my address.  Now when I go for a walk in my neighborhood my service is so weak that I can't stream music.  That really bums me out that I can't use my phone the way I am used to. 

While on the support chat we noticed that my LTE location was incorrect.  If I turn on Wifi my location is correct but when Wifi is off it thinks I am in another state.  So they opened a new ticket for that and its still pending so if there is an update on that I will post the update.  If anyone has a clue on that please let me know I reset my phone and removed the SIM per stuff I found online, but still thinks I am in Nebraska.  Google maps works fine though with the GPS so thinking it is something that saves the location data to the phone or maybe I acquired an IP that isn't in my area.

Any tricks to help to get Verizon to fix the service issue, I am thinking the extender will help inside my house, but seems pointless since wifi calling works on its own.  But the main reason for the ticket was to make my service work in my own yard and when I got for a walk around the block.  My service works great when I go outside of my area.  I went to work today and my phone is working good at work, but doesn't work at home anymore. 

To me this all sounds like there is a hardware issue like the cell tower antenna got struck by lightening and it may still work but it doesn't reach as far as it used to.  I know that is a big guess, but there must be some common sense answer to the problem it doesn't just stop working.

[AquaticsLive]

Okay update not sure if anyone will read this, but just to sanity typing this out.  So I got the LTE extender today and it only works in my house and the request was for it to reach my garage 200ft from the extender.  Well I expected that but the tech said they had to send it to me to move on to the next option.

[AquaticsLive]

So I opened the test page while I was near the extender and then ran it in the garage.  Well not really any usable service there so makes sense.  Just documenting it.  I am hopeful that is will improve.  The tech today said it may improve on its own that if less people connect that the antenna will reach further away increasing bars of signal.  That sounds like a lie to me, but I don't know cellular networks just radio antennas from the USAF.  So congestion would make me think that your speed would be slower, but the db on the phone would be the same the the tech was Andrew said that was not the case.  Not sure if those names are real.

[AquaticsLive]

This is a snip of he explaining that the antenna range is affected by how many people are connected to it. 

[AquaticsLive]

Recap of the conversation is I asked is what the range of frequencies is for my specific area so that I can make the best decision to purchase an antenna and booster.  Tech told me that they don't know them.  I asked if they could contact someone that did. He said that I had received the highest and they didn't know. 

He dropped off and now it switched to a new tech.

[AquaticsLive]

Well they have updated my neighborhood to marginal well at least that is what the tech said.  I plan to shop and get a different provider for my hotspot plan at least and then go from there.  Huge bummer. 

[vzw_customer_support]

We apologize that your session was cut short. We'd certainly welcome an opportunity to continue working with you. We've provided available options to do so for a more interactive experience.

As a friendly reminder, our Contact Us website provides options so that we can continue working with you at http://spr.ly/6608MHPEq.

-Robert C.

[AquaticsLive]

I ordered a AT&T Netgear M6 Pro a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it was the best option that I could figure out to replace my current Verizon hotspot.  I will post an update how that goes.  Just too risky to go without service, and with that I should be able to use wifi calling. 

So what happened in chat was they let me know that since my area is listed as marginal the tickets will not be investigated they close them right away and there will not be any repairs made.  So me opening tickets will not help the situation and only aggravate more people.  So this is the end of your support other than closing out accounts since that can't be done on the website currently is what I was told.  So after they told me that, I am moving on trying to figure out a new game plan.

I also asked for assistance with which antenna bands they use in my area they said that the do not support usage of antennas and won't give me that information to tell a 3rd party to help me choose one.  They told me that it would be a trial an error and just purchase one that says Verizon.  They understand the problem with that because there are many Verizon bands and antennas only work on one of them and if you choose the wrong one you need to buy another one until you get it correct.  I am not willing to experiment that much so gave up on that idea. 

Definitely bummed, but I can't fix things that are out of my control.

One suggestion that one of the support people mentioned makes the most sense that they may have turned off one of the bands that allowed the tower to reach me and updated my area to marginal after doing so knowing that the distance of the bands available has been reduced.  I am not sure if that is true, but it actually seemed like a possibility that actually could be true. 

[AquaticsLive]

Somewhat interesting I got an email that asked if any of the replies fixed the issue.  Well most of the replies are mine.  There are a couple that just say to use support which is what I was doing.  Anyhow so to answer if have any of the issues improved or been fixed and the answer is no.  It has not been addressed and any options to improve the situation like a cellular booster have been shot down. 

A booster would be a great addition to Verizon since it seems their towers can't reach the same distances that they used to.  If they offered boosters that would be a great system to make the network in cities reach more customers that are having difficulties like myself.

[vzw_customer_support]

Thanks so much for confirming those details for me. Please share with me have you had a chance to move the GPS antenna around or near a window to ensure it gets clear signal on the extender?

-Rodney

[AquaticsLive]

No luck so far, I asked if Verizon knew what frquecies that the towers work on in my area so I can purchase a cellular booster.  This is what I got.  Then the chat closed and I didn't not receive any more messages. 

[vzw_customer_support]

Thank you for reaching out. We are sorry to read that you are having trouble with your service after the storm. This is never the experience that we want you to have. Have you recieved any alerts about the second ticket that was filed? If so, what did we advise? ~Roger

[AquaticsLive]

Thanks they closed my ticket saying that for my area of the city that the service is normal and that they watched the traffic and it all appears to be routing as expected.  They said to fix the location of my phone that I needed to do a factory reset.   I am in the process of doing that.  While its doing a reset I am on Amazon searching for a Cellular booster to install in the garage. 

I am a pretty depressed.  I don't really no what else to do.  I walked around and asked neighbors, and they are experiencing the same issues, I asked them to create tickets too but most are elderly and I don't think think that they will do so.  I looked the the antenna maps so I also have walked to see which one I am connected to.  Really couldn't figure that out yet. 

[AquaticsLive]

No changes yet factory reset didn't fix the location service issue with the tower and my service is still very low. 

The extender does not work with my hotspot devices though so my hotspot is not functional until they fix the issues.  They did acknowledge there is a problem finally so that is nice.

I did screenshots of it so I will add another post with those nice to document it.  I hope that they are being truthful.

I will connect up to them daily and hope for the best. 

I walked down the road today to a different cell tower about 1/2 mile away, but that tower must not be a Verizon's my bars didn't increase at all near it.  So backup plan is to figure out what companies use that tower and see if I can get a cheap plan as a temporary solution until Verizon makes the repairs it sounds like this is going to take a long time.  At least for emergency services would be good to have a cheap phone and well I would love to listen to my tunes out in the garage or mowing the lawn.

I am hopeful that they may fix it, but being realistic that it may take a long time.