Waiving ETF with bad reception
Joebadreception
Enthusiast - Level 2

I've called Verizon a couple times about bad reception and they don't seem to care at all.  They've said that most likely nothing will be done which is a big 'screw you' from my perception.  Reception is okay outside, but in my office it's horrible.  So clearly it's possible to have decent service here, they are choosing not to help.  It's not just the building attneuation because the other people with ATT, Sprint, and TMob have great service in here.  And I live in a major market (Los Angeles).  I've heard that there are ways to get out of a contract (18 months left) without paying an ETF if there is bad reception is your area.  Is there a specific route for this that I should take?  Me, and everyone here that has Verizon, are interested.  Thanks in advance for your help.

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Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Snn5
Legend

My experience:  4 years same house great reception.  Last year I upgraded to a new phone, dropped unlimited data, got back on Verizon's straight and narrow non-black-sheep plans.  14 months later, 8-9 network tickets later, and 4 replacement phones to include 4 new SIM cards and one network extender later, they tell me to try another carrier and no ETF.  I am trying to stay with Verizon due to great rural coverage, but they tell me I am in a fringe area with poor 3G and voice and strong 4G data and I live in an XLTE area but get 1-2MB download speeds.  Boost Mobile only goes to 8MBps and was spanking my XLTE.  Yeah, I dont understand that either.  So, long story short:  You have to literally kill hours on the phone and in store and on chat, reset phones many times, wait for replacements and generally make them hate you more than you hate them.  It isn't worth the fight to get out with no ETF.  If it isn't working for you, cut loose, sell your phone after paying the ETF, make some cash back there and use it on your new phone at the new carrier or use it to pay the ETF if that carrier doesnt buy out the ETF.

Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Joebadreception
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks for the answer.  That's really disheartening.  There are 5 towers within 3 miles, and the service is great outside of my building (I'm in the country's largest media market).  So I think a relatively simple solution exists without having to put in new towers-just a little rearranging.  I'm also a little peeved that the customer service person said that most likely nothing will be done.  I hate that they're not even willing to try.  Very bad customer service.  For me, I'm willing to go on 10 calls if that means I'll get the ETF waived.

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Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Snn5
Legend

10 calls?  LOL.....better set aside some vacation days.

Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Weth
Legend

Verizon is promising wifi calling coming soon if you are able to connect personal devices to office wifi.   No date yet and only matters if you have a phone capable of wifi calling. 

Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Joebadreception
Enthusiast - Level 2

Haha, I intend on taking vacation!  It's more a matter of principle.  Though by the time I hit my fifth call I may be singing a different tune.

The wifi thing doesn't help me as I don't want to be on my office's wifi because it's hyper-secure and don't want to give my company control over my personal cell phone.  I pay for cell service and I intend to use it.  Also, there are text messages that won't go through wifi.  I've actually missed the phone call from my dad telling me he needed to start cancer treatments because of the crappy service.  Then I got the text he sent related to the same topic sent two hours after he sent it.

If I lived in a really rural area then I would understand the service issues, but I don't. 

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Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Weth
Legend

I understand on the secure wifi. But just for info, when wifi calling does go active, text messaging will go through just as if it was a cell signal. It will work like the T-mobile wifi calling does now.

Our work site has added personal device wifi for personal phones when deep inside the building or basement which gets no cell signals from anyone.

It is not easy to get ETF waived as Snn5 indicates.

Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Snn5
Legend

Verizon Messages+ can send text/MMS via wifi, if that helps.

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Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Snn5
Legend

So can Hangouts if set to default message app.

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Re: Waiving ETF with bad reception
Joebadreception
Enthusiast - Level 2

I thank you for the workarounds and the hope that Verizon adds some kind of WiFi to fix my issues, but I don't want workarounds.  In exchange for my cash, I expect service.  I called and they said "we don't guarantee service in buildings".  I'm fine with this policy because you never know who works or lives in a Faraday cage, but considering all the other major carriers have service here, so should Verizon.  I'm giving Verizon two more weeks of me calling them and waiting for a fix before I move myself and everyone on my plan to another carrier.  Everyone here in my office has said the same thing.  We're tired of waiting for Verizon to deliver on their end of our contract.  Thank you both, but it appears that there isn't really another solution other than workarounds for this.