Verizon overloaded?

[PhilAndTee]

Anyone else having speed issues with Verizon? We don't have the high end plan, we do have unlimited data, but it is lower priority than the better plans.
Over the last month or two it's gotten really slow. Less than a meg regardless of signal strength. Right now it's somewhere around 250k. Yes k not m.
We have been traveling, so it's not just one area. Same problem from the SW to the SE, currently in Florida.
Are they just adding new customers and not upgrading their systems?
Been with Verizon for a long time, but now I'm considering switching to t-mobile.

[twinboat]

We are in SW Florida and are experiencing slower then normal speeds on 4G service.

Wonder if it's a way to push towards 5G.

[TandW]

Verizon recently bought up Straight Talk, renaming it Total Wireless and are now pushing a $30.00 start-up plan.

[docj]

I have an unlimited prepaid Verizon hotspot which has pretty low priority and I'm not seeing the problems you are reporting. I also have a Pixel 6 Pro with a high priority, postpaid plan. I just ran speed tests on both devices. The hotspot reported ~40 Mbps and the phone measured ~63 Mbps. I don't question your measurements but I don't think they represent a national trend.

[johnhicks]

Usually a device chooses the band with the strongest signal. When everyone's device chooses that band, it's constipated. If you can choose a different band, perhaps with a weaker signal, bandwidth may go way up. For example, here in SW Alabama Band 66 is seriously clogged, barely reaching 100k-200k. People say Verizon doesn't work in the park. I've been running on Band 4 for a couple of months, never dipping below 20Mbps.

[PhilAndTee]

I did forget to mention, it's during peak times. Right now I'm getting 32 megs download. I looked back through my ookla test logs and I've gotten over 100 megs a year or so ago in Tampa, not that way here now. Well, for me anyway.
We have a really old plan though, maybe they want us to upgrade, I dunno.

[B52Rnav]

Our experience in traveling over the last year, in general VZW coverage has declined, but on a good connection speeds have gone up. Current location, about 60 miles NW of Houston, VZW is 5G most of the time and 100+ Mbps. ATT is abysmal and TMobile is about 50Mbps. Location, location, location.

[TampaDave]

Verizon is worthless and overpriced. Couple years ago it was your best option by far for getting internet out on the road. Not anymore.

Reality is, if you really gotta have internet, you should have a backup (other than the campground wifi)

Pre-starlink we had Tmob primary and AT&T backup and never got skunked. Since starlink came out... and we kicked verizon to the curb (which in itself was a nightmare... I hate those people) ... life has been grand, that's all I can say.

[Yosemite77]

Verizon’s 4G service has definitely gone downhill. On our trip out west last summer, I noticed this in multiple locations, and the same thing is going on locally as well. I’m assuming that they are trying to push people towards 5G.
FYI, their 5G maps are deceptive at best. Friends with 5G phones have trouble getting a reliable signal, even though the Verizon coverage map indicates that it should be good.

[NLOVNIT]

Even though Verizon has been heavily advertising their internet in my area, I'm loathe to even give them a shot. I'm lucky if I get 1 bar 4G on my cellphone where I'm located. Several years ago, lightning took out half the tower which services my area. They won't repair it, yet more & more businesses/people are piling on it. I've seen they have been installing remote boxes on utility poles in other neighborhoods, but not mine...yet. Unfortunately, to switch, I'd not only increase my personal bill by a LOT (because I'd be a single line plan), but it'd increase the charges for the rest of the people on the family plan of which I'm part.

[brobox]

Here is my experience last year living in Ft Myers and dealing with Verizon Snowbird traffic every year. After 2 seasons with no service and no support I left and will never look back. It a long posts with many chiming in with the
same problem. Before https://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/t-m...on-562127.html
And after
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/t-m...er-583685.html

[baraff]

Not sure if it's really relevant but here in the Chicago 'burbs we just dumped Comcast for Verizon 5G Home and I am seeing speeds in excess of 200Mbps. This test was taken on my 7 year old MacBook Air using their new 5G router.
We are getting twice the speed we used to get with Comcast at half the price. Very happy here.
I will say that Verizon's rural coverage is not what it used to be, noticed that on the last few trips. It's wonder if they're decommissioning 4G towers amid their 5G expansion.

[docj]

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

Even though Verizon has been heavily advertising their internet in my area, I'm loathe to even give them a shot. I'm lucky if I get 1 bar 4G on my cellphone where I'm located.

Lori:

The bars on a phone are entirely illustrative and convey very little actual information. Modern cell phones are usable over a signal strength range of more than 50dB. That represents a change in signal strength of a factor of 100,000. There's no way that a simple bar chart display can even come close to depicting this. To make matters worse there's no correlation between the displays on different models of phone, so two bars on one model phone might be the equivalent of 3 or 4 bars on another model. The bottom line is that the display does little beyond telling you that there is a signal!

Furthermore, cellular signals are entirely digital. If a signal is "adequately" strong then increasing its strength is unlikely to result in any improvement. Having more bars isn't likely to give you faster downloads or anything else.

The actual speed you realize from any given tower is highly dependent on the equipment on that tower, where you are relative to where its primary beam is directed and how busy the tower is at the time you access it.

Joel (AKA docj)

[MemByTheMile]

Location location location

How much capacity does the tower have and how many people are on it.

Where I sit right now, Verizon is 2/4, but 5 miles away it was 380/30.