What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
sanydrn
Enthusiast - Level 1

Ok, I'm at a loss with trying to figure out what my phone and the verizon services are doing lately.  Not only have we (my family are all on the same plan) been getting THE WORST data, 3G, 4G access lately but no one can really tell me WHY??  I have had a verizon phone and plan since cell phones came out, which has been years.  I also live in the same area.  So can someone explain to me why have we suddenly (over last 6 months or so) had more dropped calls, spotty service and inconsistent answers from service techs than EVER??  Really, what is going on?

We have 3 phones on our account and sometimes we can't even call each other!! My daughter has tried to reach me sometimes 4-5 times over 2 hours to call me.  She says my phone will ring, then to voicemail but my phone NEVER rings and my husband's phone will disconnect from the network? I have contacted tech support numerous times.  Now it seems I am unable to unblock phone numbers that have been blocked .

Verizon has sent new SIM cards, they have tried to "reset" our network, taken us through all of the troubleshooting steps and even "escalated it to the engineers to check the towers" and there is no explanation.   Also, I have noticed lately that the content on the website changes and differs from the information that I am able to access on the "MY VERIZON app" on my phone. (payments, amount owed, etc)  Just today I noticed that tech coach app is something they are charging for now.  When did that happen?

I know my family isn't the only ones who are frustrated, I have heard fellow coworkers beginning to complain. So, I thought I would check out this forum to see if maybe there is an area wide issue.

What is really funny, after reading several posts I began to see that often times it is the verizon customers that actually know more about how to fix and solve issues, not the reps. Smiley Happy

Labels (1)
Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
RLR9X20
Enthusiast - Level 3

Tell me about it. I have had verizon wireless since the first big bag phones. In the last few weeks network bandwidth has dropped to nothing and sometimes my 4G connection is 10 kb/s. They claim to have sent an engineer out to my local tower and he sent back sorry I just have a weak signal and nothing they can do. Like it just got weak all of a sudden and I don't call 3 bars of 4G a weak signal. Anyway the latest is the vzw rep said due to the weak signal causing servers to keep trying to complete a download and using up my data I should switch to the unlimited plan. As soon as I switched my data slowed even more and now I find out I am paying more for "unlimited" 10GB of data than I was for 12GB plan because they throttle data back at 10GB where before I got to use all 12GB at 4G speed for $10 less. I was told today by a salesperson at independent vzw store that he believes they did away with the 12GB plan and don't be surprised if I can't revert back. If so I will have to go to plan B which does not include verizon wireless lol.

Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
rcschnoor
Legend

RLR9X20 wrote:

I was told today by a salesperson at independent vzw store that he believes they did away with the 12GB plan and don't be surprised if I can't revert back. If so I will have to go to plan B which does not include verizon wireless lol.

Verizon only advertises tiered plans online of up to 8 GB/month but if you call in or stop by a corporate Verizon store, you can get larger plans. They may not have the 12 GB plan, but they have a 16 GB and larger I believe.

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Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
IONA64
Enthusiast - Level 1

Correct.  Their service is severely degraded in my area.   I only show 1 dot signal strength most of the time (except if I am at a Verizon store), very rarely have 4G coverage in my area.   The worst part is that the reception inside my home is almost none existent.   If I get a call, many times the call will drop.  If I make a call out, almost always people cannot understand me as my voice keeps cutting out.  This has been going on for some time now.  I called to report the problem and spoke with someone who transferred me to a higher level support.  They created a support number and texted me the status of the investigation, which acknowledged a signal problem in my area.   After several status texts, I received notification that the problem was resolved.

Unfortunately, it was no better.   I am not alone as my daughters who both live within a 6 mile radius have the same problems.   They have reported the problem also and have received the same canned reply.  They suggest several options, none of which seem to work.  I have a neighbor who has ATT and when he comes to my house, he has no problem whatsoever making or receiving a call.   As soon as I go outside, the qualith of the call improves.  It is obvious the signal problem still exists and as far as I can see, Verizon does not really care.   As soon as 2 of the phones on my plan are paid off, I am switching back to ATT.  I have never seen such poor service as I have seen from Verizon.

Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
MRGREGORYTOMPKINS
Enthusiast - Level 2

Wow I'm struggling really bad in Yamhill County Oregon too. Their service has really gone in the toilet lately I've filed numerous trouble tickets and told the call center Im so fed up with them I want a technician to come out and actually fix the problem. So far I just get the call centers telling me according to their silly maps I'm in a good 4G LTE area but that is not the case. Calls dropping left and right and speed pathetically slow. Even text messages will often not send! I'm thinking time for a class action lawsuit against these guys! This is not "America's Best Network" its total garbage and they're expensive too!

Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
sanydrn
Enthusiast - Level 1

Of those that have replied, do you have an Android phone or an Apple.  I was complaining about the phone issues to a manager last week and she flat out said that I needed an apple phone.  I have a fairly new Samsung android, so does my dtr and spouse.  I am wondering what it may have to do with anything. 

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Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
rcschnoor
Legend

It means she is a fan of iPhones, nothing else. There are people on these forums complaining about service issues all the time with both iPhones and android phones. There are others who don't have problems with their phones, both iPhones and android phones.

I have 2 android phones and 2 iPhones on my account. All 4 phones are working just fine.

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Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
RLR9X20
Enthusiast - Level 3

Just to be clear I am not an angry customer. I have been with vzw since they have been in business and it has always been reasonable service. Other than filing a fcc complaint after a Black Friday false advertisement I have never had an issue with service until a few weeks ago. The engineer saying basically "tough luck" turned me sour and the 4G 0.5 Mb/s connection with 50 kb/s ftp file transfer is not worth the charge being applied and no way am I going to continue to pay it. Then being told the "unlimited" plan they recommended for all my devices is actually a 10GB plan they just charge more for didn't sit right. If not fixed I will just drop back to the $45 plan and cancel all the rest.

Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
rcschnoor
Legend

RLR9X20 wrote:

Then being told the "unlimited" plan they recommended for all my devices is actually a 10GB plan they just charge more for didn't sit right.

This is a bit misleading. A phone can use 22 GB of data before being re-prioritized. The hotspot on a phone along with any other hotspots/jetpacks/etc... you have on your plan would get their OWN 10 GB of data at 4G speeds. You have 5 phones with hotspots, that is 5 x 10 GB = 50 GB, not 10 GB just for the hotspots. Data actually used on the phone would not be subject to that 10 GB threshold, but a 22 GB threshold before POSSIBLY being re-prioritized.

The unlimited plan is not a "10 GB plan they charge more for" UNLESS you only have 1 device and that device is a jetpack. Otherwise, you would at a MINIMUM get X number of lines x 10 GB for your total data allowance ONLY for jetpacks/hotspots. Other data actually used on phones/tablets would of course be on top of that amount and still be at 4G speeds until AT LEAST the device had consumed a minimum of 22 GB.

Other than that, I can see how some may not like the new unlimited plan offered by Verizon. Problem is that people were asking Verizon to offer unlimited plans like the other providers were offering and Verizon's unlimited plan is patterned after the current plans offered by other providers with a limited amount of full speed data followed by data at speeds much lower than 4G speeds. Sometimes you get exactly what you ask for.

If you want a jetpack without any throttling, you may want to look into Unlimitedville.com which has an unlimited plan without any data throttling. They are much more expensive than those offered by the big 4 providers right now, though. For example, the plan utilizing Verizon's network is $250 for only 1 jetpack with unlimited data without any throttling.

Good luck.

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Re: What is going on with Verizon Wireless lately???
RLR9X20
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for your reply rcschnoor. Yes I have a jetpack. Yes it is my sole internet connection. Yes it is at 12GB of data already and has been throttled back. I didn't exactly ask for it. It was recommended as a solution to the poor 4G connection causing servers to timeout and restart downloads eating up my data. No one at the time mentioned that jetpacks have a 10GB cap on them. I was told by vzw it was 22GB. If it is throttled at 10GB then it is a 10Gb limit on it for all intent. The previous 10GB plan and subsequently the 12GB plan did not have a cap on it and cost less therefore it costs $10 more for 2GB less unlimited whether you wish to look at that way or not. I have been in IT since there was IT and have solved many router, switch and firewall problems and the initial problem is an obvious verizon network issue. I am glad your phones are working on your local tower. I wish I could say the same. On the bright side I have work orders in for site surveys by both land cable and satellite providers and may the best company win. Either option will be more expensive but at least I will be able to use the data I am paying for. With main data supplied by another provider a minimum smart phone plan will be fine. If it was a really big problem I would just let the FCC take care of it like they did the last time