I Like Verizon, But.....

[mr__ed]

I've been using Verizon cellular service for years, and have always been satisfied with their coverage, customer service, etc. However, for the past several months there have been periods when no service at all was available. Most of the problem occurs during the mornings, when it becomes impossible to place a call since there's no signal. Being handicapped, it's become a safety situation.

It appears that the problem has gotten worse when I moved from Tucson to Amarillo a few months ago, so it may be a regional situation. I'd like to stay with Verizon, but if it becomes necessary to switch, so be it. My question is: Have any of you other Verizon users had a similar situation? Thank you.

[mr__ed]

Just found out how to check sim card status, as Gdetrailer instructed. Right now it reads about -105 dBm, which is good. I'll check again when the problem appears. Thanks again

[gotsmart]

mr. ed wrote:
Thanks again for all the replies. Keep in mind the lack of coverage only occurs during SOME early mornings, and is perfect at other times.
BTW, there were no problems this morning (Jan 8). As I mentioned, I will probably visit the local Verizon store in the near future.

Another problem you are describing is related to capacity planning. It may very well be that Verizon's local node is being overwhelmed at certain times of day by more cell phone usage than it was designed to handle. If this is the case then Verizon needs to increase the local network capacity to keep up with usage.

[Gdetrailer]

mr. ed wrote:
Thanks again for all the replies. Keep in mind the lack of coverage only occurs during SOME early mornings, and is perfect at other times.
BTW, there were no problems this morning (Jan 8). As I mentioned, I will probably visit the local Verizon store in the near future.

That is what I have had happen when dealing with not enough cell tower coverage. Sometimes could get signal if I was standing at a big picture window to the south.. Sometimes that didn't work and stepping out on the porch would help.. Sometimes nothing worked..

Moved to a DIFFERENT service carrier that had MORE towers around me fixed the problem..

I recommend that you review the cell tower map link I gave you, in your case, both Verizon and ATT have very poor coverage in your area if you are outside the highly populated center of Amarillo.

Verizon only has 8 towers and ATT only has 6 towers.

You only get about 5 miles of usable coverage per tower for LTE 4g so you have to pick the service that has a tower closest to your location that you will mainly be at. Of course, the closer to the tower, the better it will work.

I will add, that there are ZERO Sprint or T mobile towers anywhere near Amarillo according to that map..

You ARE in a cellular "dessert" so to speak sort of like I am.

You could try a new phone with Verizon, may or may not help but do be aware doing so will most likely lock you into a multi yr contract which means if it doesn't work you are stuck with that choice for the length of that contract.

On edit..
You can also check the real signal strength, on most Andriod phones you can see that under SIM Card Status.. It will be shown in a negative value of dBm, lower the number, the stronger the signal is and the batter chance of the phone working..

In my case, my ATT phone is registering -120 through -123dBm where I am typing this and I have one bar showing.. my phone works at that level but is on the edge of not..

If I move 2 ft to the door I get -116dBm and 2 bars of signal.. Much better..

On a rainy day, I might not be able to use the phone, rain kills the signal.. Sometimes the phone will work, but no Internet connection on those days..

I know you are new to the area, but I would recommend you check with some of the "local" folks around you (not the Verizon or ATT stores as they are just trying to sell products)to see what service they are using and how well does it work for them..

[mr__ed]

Thanks again for all the replies. Keep in mind the lack of coverage only occurs during SOME early mornings, and is perfect at other times.
BTW, there were no problems this morning (Jan 8). As I mentioned, I will probably visit the local Verizon store in the near future.

[Gdetrailer]

ford truck guy wrote:

mr. ed wrote:
I'm also wondering if the problem has to do with the implementation of 5G. Probably not, but it appears coincidental.:h

Could be.... Im from the burbs outside Philadelphia PA... Have a coworker that has that issue, went to Verizon and it was a setting between 5g on her phone.... may be worth a question at the local Verizon store...

I have had ZERO issues with Verizon for MANY years

I highly doubt "5G" is going to be the problem, 5G has considerably LESS coverage per cell tower which will require a all new network of cell towers much closer spaced..

OP most likely "landed" in a Verizon "dead zone" and the only cure to that is moving to a new carrier that has better cell tower coverage..

The maps I posted tell a telling tail of not much coverage to the West and East of Amarillo.. One Tower North and not much coverage to the south.. If OP is East or west of Amarillo proper they have NO coverage..

[time2roll]

Sjm9911 wrote:
Internet wifi calling didnt work for me, that includes buying the 200 $ cell extender from verizon that they said was like a portable cell tower in your home. I still dropped calls. They did refund the 200$ after i brought back there unit, that was conected through there router on there fiber optic network.

Yes there is something wrong with the Verizon service, your wifi, router something. This should be a slam dunk.

BTW I am with T-Mobile, COX internet, Google nested router and wifi.

[jorbill2or]

You said you moved to a new town Amarillo, and it got worse. I would venture where you are now Verizon has a bad signal. There are many solutions but the easiest is ask your neighbors what carrier are they using ? And how does it work? Verizon doesn’t work great everywhere , no cell service does. You need to find the one in your neighborhood that has towers and capacity. So ask around close to you. If your neighbor uses Verizon with no issues then you can suspect the phone .
The cell carrier that works best in my house isn’t the best one Necessarily for you.
This isn’t about what works for other people other than those in your specific location.
Now if you were asking what works in the most places as I travel , that’s a different question.
Btw WiFi calling isn’t exactly what you had. WiFi calling is using the phones WiFi to connect to your home WiFi router and make calls on the internet provider not on the cell network. You don’t need a “box” to do that, if your phone is new enough that is.

[Sjm9911]

Internet wifi calling didnt work for me, that includes buying the 200 $ cell extender from verizon that they said was like a portable cell tower in your home. I still dropped calls. They did refund the 200$ after i brought back there unit, that was conected through there router on there fiber optic network.

[time2roll]

Poor reception at your home? Do you not have internet/wifi service at home that would support wifi calling?

Nobody gets a decent cell signal at my home but the wifi calls are perfect every time.

[mr__ed]

OP here. Thank you, all who responded. You've given me some good ideas. I hadn't considered my phone (Samsung smart phone, Android) may be at fault. The fact that it works well most of the time led me not to consider that possibility. As one of you mentioned, a trip to a local Verizon store may be in order. BTW, my phone isn't that old, maybe a couple of years.

There IS a landline in my room, although not as readily accessible as my cell, so the cell phone is more desirable in an emergency.

[ford_truck_guy]

mr. ed wrote:
I'm also wondering if the problem has to do with the implementation of 5G. Probably not, but it appears coincidental.:h

Could be.... Im from the burbs outside Philadelphia PA... Have a coworker that has that issue, went to Verizon and it was a setting between 5g on her phone.... may be worth a question at the local Verizon store...

I have had ZERO issues with Verizon for MANY years

[Sjm9911]

I had to switch when i moved. I got spotty reception and dropped calls. They may have rented( shared a tower with another carrier. The main carrier has priority, so as more people use more data, your connection can go down. At least thats how it was explained to me. I had good service in the winter, but after that real bad. They think it was the commuters going to the beach. I switched to att, and its almost as good, plus it works in my house.

[Lwiddis]

No issues for me.

[gbopp]

I started with Verizon when it was 360. We never had problems.
Nowadays it's the same. Good reception with no outages.