After outage, usb modem can't get signal, but phone works

[littlekites]

Hi everyone,

I've been steaming about this for a while, and I hope someone here can help. I currently use a UM175 for internet usage through Verizon at my house. I also have a Verizon cell. On July 25th there was a tower outage for the entire day. My phone was not affected, just the internet. The following day when the tower came back up, my internet speeds were much higher than normal. This lasted a couple of days, then the speed and connection stability rapidly started to decline. As of August 5th, my internet has been dead. The signal strength is downright horrible now, at -110dbm, with a ping of about 1024. Verizon replaced my modem, which didn't help, tried telling me it was my equipment - not when it doesn't work on 4 separate pieces of equipment, it isn't - and is now admitting that maaaybe there was a problem at the tower. It took me several days of frustration to get to this point, and now I'm at their "7-10 business days and we'll get back to you" point. I am frustrated as heck right now, as I have little confidence in their support given what I had to go through to get to an engineer. (the engineer that called tried telling me it was because I was an old Alltel client at first. Yeah, I don't think so.)

Here's the thing - I have a signal for my phone. *Why doesn't my internet get one now?* Previous signal strength for the internet was between -75 and -85dbm with a ping of 170 (and even better when I hooked up an external antenna), and then PFFF. Gone.

Anyone have any suggestions/ideas as to what's going on? I'm dying without my internet here! (and also, posting this from work. Shh!)

[TelcomJunkie]

The CDMA voice signal is transmitted separately from the EVDO one, hence the addition of the two different signal strength meters on newer VzW phones. Reliable phone service doesn't mean good data connections anymore (Unless you use 1XRTT still).

A RSL of -110 on your EVDO card is horrible and it leads to a real simple diagnosis, either your modem went completely tits up, or it's a tower/network issue. Since they replaced your modem, I'd strongly wager an issue with the tower. To get it fixed, the issue really has to get to the right department and it's never simple getting through the telephone CS brick wall.

[littlekites]

You aren't kidding about that CS brick wall. I can't tell you how many I've talked to that have told me my IE settings are wrong. I've found, on the EVDO.com forums, a user that appears to have had the same problem I am. Someone on the forums looked into it for them and said "you didn't have a tower down just the span to the EVDO hardware at cell". Sadly, I have no idea what this means, but I posted there as well in the hopes someone else does, and can tell me what I need to do about it.

[TelcomJunkie]

Originally Posted by littlekites

You aren't kidding about that CS brick wall. I can't tell you how many I've talked to that have told me my IE settings are wrong. I've found, on the EVDO.com forums, a user that appears to have had the same problem I am. Someone on the forums looked into it for them and said "you didn't have a tower down just the span to the EVDO hardware at cell". Sadly, I have no idea what this means, but I posted there as well in the hopes someone else does, and can tell me what I need to do about it.

What they mean by span, is the connection between the cell site hardware and the switching facility that processes the calls. In your situation, the site would have at least two spans going to it, one for voice and one for EVDO. There could be a problem with the EVDO span, the hardware at the site itself or an issue on the backend. All you can do is call and keep reporting poor coverage issues, I won't even mention the phone too much and if they aren't helpful escalate it to a supervisor.

[littlekites]

Originally Posted by TelcomJunkie

What they mean by span, is the connection between the cell site hardware and the switching facility that processes the calls. In your situation, the site would have at least two spans going to it, one for voice and one for EVDO. There could be a problem with the EVDO span, the hardware at the site itself or an issue on the backend. All you can do is call and keep reporting poor coverage issues, I won't even mention the phone too much and if they aren't helpful escalate it to a supervisor.

I did try to escalate it and they told me I couldn't do that unless there was a ticket. Except there's supposed to BE a ticket, yet no one can tell me what it is.

[RadioRaiders]

I'm always stunned how little CS (Customer Service) is coordinated with the NOC (Network Operations Center), not necessarily in verizon, but with ALL cellular operators. That's something that really needs to be improved. If a cell/site is down somewhere, or there is some other network interruption happening, CS should be informed immediately, because they will be feilding calls from customers who are affected by this. CS can't always just keep telling people to re-start their phone or to exchange it for a new one

[littlekites]

Originally Posted by RadioRaiders

I'm always stunned how little CS (Customer Service) is coordinated with the NOC (Network Operations Center), not necessarily in verizon, but with ALL cellular operators. That's something that really needs to be improved.

It seems like such a common-sense thing to arrange, yet NOBODY seems to do it.

[bikebryan]

Originally Posted by littlekites

It seems like such a common-sense thing to arrange, yet NOBODY seems to do it.

That's because it's not as easy as you seem to think it is.

Many times the problem is fixed before it can be posted. Other times the site goes down but nobody notices UNTIL customers start calling in. CS will troubleshoot as best they can then escalate to TS. TS does their thing and it finally ends up as a reported outage - but by that time the problem may have been noticed elsewhere and already fixed.

Also, how do you notify every CS rep? Trust me, they can't do it via email as reps seldom get to look at email between calls (usually too busy). There are usually reported outage pages and alerts but they only look at those systems on an as needed basis.