Why is my reception so bad less than 1/2 mile from verizon cell tower?
Allyman
Enthusiast - Level 2

I live in a densely populated area in FL and have a Galaxy S4.  I live less than 1/2 mile from a Verizon cell tower and my signal strength is pathetic.  I'm paying for 4G LTE service and barely get 1 bar of 3G signal strength.  I get dropped calls and often when I instant message, the message fails and isn't sent.  I can repeat 6 - 10 times until it is finally sent.

I have reset all my settings, tried multiple variations of settings, changed my sim card, etc and still get terrible reception.  I just sent my phone to Samsung to have something else repaired.  They completely rebuilt the phone and made it like new with a 90 day warranty.  Reception still is non existent.  I am in direct line of sight with the tower.  No buildings, trees, mountains, etc to block the signal.  My phone gets great 4G reception at the corner, so I know it's not the phone.


My friends come over, check their Verizon phones and get the same lousy results.  My wife's S4 also has terrible reception.  So after months of frustration and calling support listening to ludicrous suggestions, I finally got someone to consent to getting the cell tower checked.  They assured me they would get back to me with the results.  I never heard from them.  Ultimately I called again and am told and engineer actually drove by my house and agreed that the signal strength is almost non existent.  So I asked "what is Verizon going to do about it" and their reply was.........(are you ready for this)........THEY'RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was told that, "like the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, not enough people have complained to the cell tower engineering group, so I'm just not worth it".  However, I guess my money is worth taking.  Hmmmm...I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think that's legal.

Since I work at home, I obviously spend a lot of time there and most of the time I'm unable to use the phone.  Hey Verizon....I signed a contract whereby you provide 4G service and I pay your monthly fee.  Well, one of us is not adhering to the terms of the contract, so how about issuing a credit?  Your coverage map is a joke and deceitful.  It shows that I should get fantastic 4G LTE reception.  Most of your employees are brainwashed in to believing the coverage map and assure me I should have great reception.  Your own engineer proved me right.  I also downloaded several apps that show signal strength etc and on a good day I can get -116 dB of 3G signal strength.  -70 dB is acceptable and that's for 3G.  I have NEVER seen 4G at / in / near my house!  Currently my phone shows -128 dB / 5 ASU.  A soup can with string would probably work better.

So Verizon, after a year and a half of me paying you for something you don't provide, what are you going to do about it?

Labels (1)
Re: Why is my reception so bad less than 1/2 mile from verizon cell tower?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Allyman,

I am sorry to hear of your service issues. I can understand how frustrating this can be. We have a great option to help with reception. It is our Network Extender http://vz.to/IHRT6h. Take a look.

RobinD_VZW

Follow us on twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: Why is my reception so bad less than 1/2 mile from verizon cell tower?
smith6612
Community Leader
Community Leader

If you look at the tower and orient yourself towards your home, are the antennas pointing straight in the direction of your home or are they at an angle?

The antennas only offer anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees of "sight." This is because they focus on that focal point to allow for the signal to travel father, and for devices to be heard from a further distance. Even at 1/2th of a mile, if the terrain, and the tower design don't allow for line of sight or a direct path back, the signal will take the long way. LTE, despite being the lower frequency band, does not like this. If you've ever stood underneath a tower, you might have noticed you don't get full bars of service, but instead it goes between 3-5 bars depending on your position. That's the concept.

I've been in plenty of situations where I'm under a mile from a tower yet reception is garbage. It's for this reason, in addition to issues where hand-off between towers is slow at times. It's just the way wireless works. It could also be possible that tower is new and hasn't been turned up yet.

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Re: Why is my reception so bad less than 1/2 mile from verizon cell tower?
64frustrated
Enthusiast - Level 2

I have the same issue.  I have lived here for 30 years and have had Verizon for most of that time.  Now all of a suddent my reception is terrible. They say too many people are probably using the tower.  It seems that if you charge to provide a service you need to be able to supply the service.  If a plane is overbooked and they have no room for me, they give me my money back and ususally some more too.   Their solution is to buy a $259 network extender.  If they can't provide me service 3 miles from a tower, they need to tell me so and I'll find someone who can.  

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Re: Why is my reception so bad less than 1/2 mile from verizon cell tower?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

64frustrated, I want to thank you for your extremely long loyalty with the Verizon family. The last thing we want to see is you walk away. I rely on my phone for everything and not having service near my home would be extremely troubling. I am here to help and we will see what possible options we have. What is the closest major intersection to your home and zip code? When did these service issues start? What happens when you attempt to use Verizon service (calls, texts, and data) off of WiFi? SantoC_VZW

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Re: Why is my reception so bad less than 1/2 mile from verizon cell tower?
64frustrated
Enthusiast - Level 2

Our zip code is 47803.  We are close to the intersection of Interstate 40 and Interstate 46 (maybe 2 miles?)  and very close to the Interstate 46 exit of Interstate 70.  Verizon tells me that our tower is at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.  We had wonderful service until 6 or 7 years ago.  The staff at the Verizon store were very helpful.  They could see exactly when our calls started being dropped and they were the ones that told me which tower our calls bounce off.  They did several things over a couple week period and just couldn’t improve the signal so they sent us a network extender.  We had no trouble until this spring.  We started dropping calls in different parts of our home, then our whole home and now even when we sit in our driveway on the back of our truck.  Both of our phones drop the calls.  They informed me that the extender is so old that it doesn’t even support the signal our phones get anymore.  I disconnected the extender and hooked my phone up to our wi-fi network as I was instructed.  I still drop calls but maybe only 2 times in a 10 minute calls instead of 3 or 4.  The texts usually go through.  Data is very slow and but only occasionally doesn’t open.  They have told me it probably have to do with how many people are using the tower or that they are working on the towers to update to 5G. We would be most grateful for any help you can offer. 

 

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Re: Why is my reception so bad less than 1/2 mile from verizon cell tower?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Thanks for getting back to us 64frustrated, we know the importance of keeping you connected. To continue assisting, we will want to access your account. We have sent you a private message to continue. RosanneM_VZW

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