Slow 4g in afternoons?
swible
Enthusiast - Level 2

About noon every day (including weekends), my 4g slows to a crawl. Speedtest routinely gives <1Mbps download. Right now I'm at 0.73. Strange thing is upload tends to stay higher, 2 to 3Mbps (sometimes less than one but more typically in the 2's). Again, it's only between noon-7pm-ish.  Nights and mornings are more what I would expect (10 to 17Mbps).

This just started when I moved to Fairfax, VA. Right now I'm fairly frustrated with Verizon's service.

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Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
Snn5
Legend

More people on the network using the same few towers at peak times will always contribute to slower data.

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Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
Snn5
Legend

More people on the network using the same few towers at peak times will always contribute to slower data.

Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
Weth
Legend

Yup, classic overloaded tower.  What phone do you have?   Newer phones will be able to connect to 2 different frequencies if 1 is overloaded.  

The the only way to fix this is for Verizon to get more frequencies (they are doing that) or put up more towers so less people connect to each tower. 

WIreless is a limited resource. 

Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Wodan, we want to speed things up for you. Do you know of anyone else that has wireless service experiencing this same issue with data speeds in this area around this time? Which make/model phone do you have? When did this issue start?



LasinaH_VZW
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Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
swible
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks all for the responses. I appreciate both the feedback and suggestions.

Re: More people on the network using the same few towers at peak times will always contribute to slower data.

Of course. But what belies that is that it seems very predictable... Starts and ends on a daily schedule like clockwork.If it was truly variance by customer load, there would be some statistical deviation. e.g., some days it would start earlier, some days later. And, bottom line, Verizon advertises certain performance and if the network isn't up to the load, that's entirely Verizon's responsibility. I already believe it's not my phone (evidenced by my phone giving great performance at all other times of the day).  Which is a good segue to...

Re: What phone do you have?   Newer phones will be able to connect to 2 different frequencies if 1 is overloaded. 

I have a LG G2.  That's interesting, I didn't know about the frequencies. I'll have to defer to your advice if my phone is new enough. (But honestly as I mentioned this seems to be the network not able to keep up with the load in my area at certain times of day.)

Re: Do you know of anyone else that has wireless service experiencing this same issue with data speeds in this area around this time?

No but it's not like I'm out polling people (that'd be Verizon who should be able to give metrics data... surely Verizon knows the download speed they're providing; I realize you're customer service but surely you have been provided this information?). That said, I can ask on the website forum for my building.  I'll do that now.

Re: Which make/model phone do you have?

LG G2


Re: When did this issue start?

As soon as I moved to Fairfax VA. I had great service where I used to live (Maine).  (I'm a federal contractor.)  What I'm experiencing now is not the service I have come to expect from Verizon. While I have no illusions about relative volume of data Verizon needs to provide based on the market between Maine and (arguably) the highest volume market (NoVA), The bottom line is that Verizon advertises speeds that I am simply not seeing. I'm tempted to quote the advertising here but I'll refrain. Basically, 0.5Mbps on 4GLTE is simply not meeting Verizon's promises of reliable service.  And I experience that speed every single day during the afternoon.  (I've been spot checking speedtest for the past 2 weeks.)

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Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
swible
Enthusiast - Level 2

Let me clarify... by "the network not able to keep up with the load at certain times of day", there may be some other considerations.  For example, I live right next to a big Hyatt. Maybe their systems do some kind of automated processing that slams the network at those times of day.  Again, Verizon should be able to tell where that's coming from, that's very basic operations analytics and control.

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Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
Weth
Legend

Your phone supports the 2 main LTE frequencies, band 13 and band 4.  That is good.

It is an overloaded tower and it does happen like clockwork, because it is.  People come to work, go to lunch, commute just like clockwork.  Your trigger is the people in the area going to lunch, like clockwork, and using their smartphones all at once.  The network never fully recovers until the commute is done. 

You you are just used to living in Maine, and not to a huge concentrated population like Fairfax, VA area. I know areas in San Diego this same thing happens, and in LA, and in San Fran etc etc. 

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Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
Weth
Legend

I Doubt the Hyatt use cellular data for processing.  What does happen though, in addition the the lunch rush, people start checking into that hotel around noon, they go up to their room and use a hotspot to login to the home office.  When you live in a high density area, this problem is not unusual. 

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Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
Snn5
Legend

My LG G2 hits 75MB/sec down and about the same or a little higher upload speeds on XLTE.

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Re: Slow 4g in afternoons?
BuckeyeMike
Enthusiast - Level 2

So this 4G and LTE stuff doesn't work at all like CDMA ?  How many frequencies do most towers carry in a garden variety set-up ?

I might have discovered why VZW's coverage has turned to unusable garbage compared to previous times. 

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