Incredibly slow speeds on 4G LTE Plan

[Seanana92]

My connection speed has been on a slow but steady decline since the plan's inception over 3 years ago. It peaked at around 10-11MB/Sec download speed on the first month, but since then has been doing nothing but getting slower. It's finally hit rock bottom with speeds that cant even buffer a 244p YouTube video without stopping every 3 seconds to buffer. This is absolutely ridiculous.

I do not live in a populated area; I do not share this connection; and I've restarted both the computer and the hot spot itself repeatedly. I did notice on this attempt to restart the router that there was a message about some software update on the device itself being 'completed'. I don't know what happened on who's ever end of the signal, but this HAS to stop. I have been a happy paying customer for years on my own plan because i greatly enjoyed the power of verizon's 4g lte service, albeit limited data plan and i would love to continue being one . I will be forced to find a new provider however if something doesn't get resolved to return the connection's speed to at least tolerable levels.

-A Frustrated, but Loyal Customer

[stef7]

What area code? What specific device is being used as your "HotSpot".

[sprmankalel]

Do you mean to ask which ZIP code the user is in? Area code is the first 3 number in the 10 digit telephone number and has nothing to do with the data and/or location.

[stef7]

Yes, I meant ZIP code. Thanks.  

[Seanana92]

Apologies, in hindsight i should have listed that. 68601, Device is 'Verizon 4G Broadband Router with Voice' Was issued with purchase with plan. Representatives at the verizon store  we shop at said it was the best 'hot spot' or router they had available for my location and what i use it for.

[Ann154]

Are you outside of the city limits of Columbus to not have access to a landline based Internet service? I have recently over the past few years there have some expansion of the development around the edges of the community and that could mean the usage on the tower could have also increased both from the increase in people and increase in traffic from multiple devices.

[hokiesax]

I've had the same issue in my area.  At this point I had faster service 10 years ago on 3G.  If anyone knows the best way to make a complaint, let us know.

[boringusername]

Not sure what good that would do. If you are is congested any infrastructure improvements would take months perhaps years.for example say your are needs new tower. Well even if Verizon had a location and a deal with the land owner getting approval from the local zoning authorities could take 18 months and that's if the Not In My Back Yard people don't quash it. and once approval is given the tower has to be built then tested. Even getting microcells deployed can be hard because your neighbors will complain about them being "ugly" or causing cancer or your local government is greedy and wants more money form Verizon than Verizon is willing to pay.

[Seanana92]

I live roughly 10-15 miles outside of city limits with next to no development near or around my current location. I do, however, have access to a landline based connection through Frontier. I chose to go with verizon because of the quoted speeds but.. The quality and speed of the connection has just slowly declined over the years for no apparent reason. Weirdly enough, my cellphone, which isnt connected to 4G but only 3G and is ALSO from verizon, has had no speed changes whatsoever over the years. I'd assume they would connect to or ping off the same tower.. So I dont know what else to do other than wait and hope that verizon gets their servers in order, or just drop the contract and try something else. I should not be getting throttled or whatever's happening for the price i pay monthly!

[boringusername]

Seanana92 wrote:

I live roughly 10-15 miles outside of city limits with next to no development near or around my current location. The quality and speed of the connection has just slowly declined over the years. Weirdly enough, my cellphone, which isnt connected to 4G but only 3G and is ALSO from verizon, has had no speed changes whatsoever over the years. I'd assume they would connect to or ping off the same tower.. So I dont know what else to do other than wait and hope that verizon gets their servers in order, or just drop the contract and try something else.

You're tower is likely band 13 only which has limited bandwidth. While few people may live there, they like you probably don't have wired internet and rely on mobile for it. The numbers of people using smartphones has increased greatly over the years too.

3G has a max of 3 Mbps and of course no speed changes because those people that were using 3G only devices have moved on to 4G devices. 3G will be phased out within 2 years by the way.

Also don't know why you'd still be on a contract. Paying extra for no added benefit.