Poor cell service on Staten Island (NY). Posted problem 9 months ago. No help from Verizon.

[ru899091]

Dear Verizon Wireless -

I have been working on the campus of the College of Staten Island for approximately 1 year and the Verizon signal/reception here is horrendous to non-existant. Many of my co-workers - especially women concerned with safety - have switched to ATT or are considering doing so.

Here's some description of how bad the reception is:

When I need to be on a telelconference using my cell, I have walked all over campus staring at my bars to get some decent signal. Even then, there are times when moving even as little as a foot results in a dropped call. When I try to use my cell in our workspace, I will place it at the window (there are no tall buildings nearby) and use a headset, which works ok but not great. If I get a call, I grab the phone and run to 1 of 3 spots in our building where I seem to get a decent signal; one of those places is outside at a particular section of wall. As you can see, this is a very touchy situation where every little movement can result in a dropped call. I'd say about half of my calls are dropped.

Here's some of my attempts to resolve this problem:

1) reprogramming my phone by dialing *228 (anytime I do this, I go through both option 1 and 2.

2) removing my battery for a few minutes, reinstalling, and restarting

3) searching for updates to my phone (none exist)

4) scanning the web in general and your website in particular for discussions of this topic. I did find that several areas on Staten Island have very poor Verizon reception.

Looking at my settings menu, there seem to be some things I can change, but I have no idea what the options are so I've done nothing so I don't make the situation worse.

My phone:

Samsung SCH-U365

Thank you for any help. I really prefer not to switch carriers.

[vzw_customer_support]

We really don't want you to consider leaving us either ru899091! I'm sorry you get such bad service inside of your job. I appreciate all the details and everything you've already tried. Being this mostly happens inside the building, this can happen due to structural limitations. Do you have these issues in any other place such as your home, outdoors, etc.? Based on what you described, it seems to be more the location, (campus), and not the network or device. Have you tried another device? Please keep us posted.

Thank you,
VanessaS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[ru899091]

Can you not simply look into your coverage and tell me whether you have a weak spot in your network at this location? If you cannot, then you can provide me no help and you may as well tell me so.

Why is it Verizon "help" does not fully read messages and only asks questions but offers zero solutions?? I've been posting about this problem all year and Verizon won't even attempt to solve it or simply provide a conclusive answer.

Read what I wrote: this happens ALL OVER CAMPUS, not just inside buildings. These are 1-4storey buildings spaced VERY far apart. There are 10s of acres of open field in between and I get dropped calls EVERYWHERE.

This only happens on THIS campus on the VERIZON network as anyone I know w/problems has Verizon and those without problems have other carriers. I have zero problems at home or other places, barring a few dead zones I may drive through periodically. This problem at this particular campus is unique, which is why I'm writing. My device is fine. The service is not.

Please try answering my question and don't just talk in circles.

[vzw_customer_support]

ru899091,

I am sorry to hear that you are still having issues with your device on campus. Signal can vary based on structures that are around campus. As you stated you are having this issue indoors and outdoors. Foliage can play a large part in your signal strength.

RobinD_VZW

Follow us on twitter @VZWSupport

[ru899091]

Again, you're not answering my question. Can you or can you not help?

There is no foliage in winter and there are barely any trees to speak of. It is acres of open grass. This does not happen on other campuses or even in large cities with skyscrapers. My other office is in Manhattan and I have zero problems there.

It's not my device. It is all Verizon devices on this campus.

Can you or can you not provide me an answer to this problem that affects everyone with Verizon in this location?

[#6]

Look lets put it this way. You have spotty or no coverage on campus period.

However I am not Verizon Tech Support. call 1-800-922-0204 and speak to them to open up a trouble ticket.

You posting it here is getting you no where. I would have called if you are speaking the truth a year ago.

Not all carriers have coverage every where. It is not guaranteed nor should it be expected.

Years ago when our offices moved from a high rise building 20 stories high where the service was excellent, we got moved to a core building and service was terrible. This went on for years.

Finally today Verizon has high 4G LTE in this same area. It just took time. And of course we moved again and was away for years

That is just the way it is.

Complaining here or getting angry here is a waste of time.

Call up and report the issue get the incident number and have them get updates to you.

Or simply change carriers.

Choices and more choices....

[ru899091]

Elector - Thank you!!!

I never knew about submitting a trouble ticket until now. I went to VZW customer support on it's website and here's where it directed me. I thought I was doing the right thing. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Sad that the VZW folks on here don't know what you know.

And I totally agree service is not guaranteed. But I think the best way to do business - as a customer - is to inform the company about the problem and given them an opportunity to resolve it before going to another company. I would think that service on an urban college campus would be important to VZW. Unlike many other settings, new students will continually get this bad service and change providers, continually reducing VZW's customer base.

Thanks again!

[#8]

Ha ha the problem is Verizon themselves normally write to forum posters to message them and give location information, zip code, etc. and yet you still have to report it personally over the phone.

I have found on the phone after you report an issue on tower problems they are pretty good at getting the issue fixed.

have a great time down there and wait for the snow...