Verizon Wireless Losing It In Southern California?

I am down in San Diego. I recently switched to Verizon from Cingular because I was sick of having calls dropped, not getting reception, etc. Cingular probably got into its bad position by drawing in lots of people with great phone deals, then trying to provide service to way more people than its network could handle.

I'm sure I was just one of a huge flood of people switching to Verizon. I have been with Verizon for about 5 months. Now I am starting to fear that Verizon has gotten itself into the same position.

Last night, I missed an important call - the phone never rang. It was only about 3 hours later, when my voicemail alert went off, that I was aware of a call. My 2235 never registered the missed calls, so clearly the phone never received the call. Either Verizon's signal disappeared for 3 hours (very unlikely) or their network is starting to lose it, at least down here. This type of problem has happened maybe 2-3 times prior in the 5 months I've been with Verizon.

This is not the first thing to raise my suspicion. I got my phone with unlimited Mobile Web. For a while, this service worked quite consistently. Then more and more, the Mobile Web service just became inconsistent. At times, about half of my attempts to use the service, especially at night, would fail. Constantly, I would get "Unable to connect to server" or whatever. This was my first sign of an overloaded Verizon network.

I doubt I am the first person to post on this issue. I wonder how prevalent this problem is. I am starting to regret signing the 2 year contract. I mean, this is really bad - whether you miss one call or 10, or 100, you'll never know it! Has anyone else been noticing this?

[unclechichi]

I have had the same problem as well. I'm a new Verizon customer from Cingular (less than a month) and I an noticing that I am missing calls without getting a "missed call" notification. I'm hoping its my phone (a310) and so I called Verizon and they said I can exchange it for free. So I hope that solves it. If not, I'm bummed... Verizon is the only provider I can get at my house... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Wow, quick response.

I would say it is more than likely not the phone. You can try changing it out, but it seems strange that a handset would have that kind of intermittent operation, i.e. it either functions or it doesnt - it's all solid state. The handset software probably isnt complex enough to make a software bug the culprit.

I must say this certainly is troubling, and especially unfortunate for you unclechichi, considering your reception problem. But personally, it hasnt been much of a problem so far, so you shouldnt feel too bad about it. Hopefully Verizon wont be lazy and will fix the problem before it gets out of hand.

[ILUVSOCAL]

I've used mine allover So Cal, and never missed a call, had one dropped, or any other kind of problems. It works flawlessly.

[larry]

Originally posted by: unclechichi I have had the same problem as well. I'm a new Verizon customer from Cingular (less than a month) and I an noticing that I am missing calls without getting a "missed call" notification. I'm hoping its my phone (a310) and so I called Verizon and they said I can exchange it for free. So I hope that solves it. If not, I'm bummed... Verizon is the only provider I can get at my house... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Calls going to voicemail without a missed call notification are just a fact of life. It will happen ocassionally with any carrier and any phone even if the network is not busy. Wireless is not perfect and will probably never be.

[ttrimmer]

I'm in L.A. and I was thinking of switching to Verizon when my contract with Cingular ends. I'm mainly waiting till after the first of the year to see what mergers if any come about.

[BillRadio]

To Anon in San Diego,
Let's assume for a moment the worst case scenerio. That Verizon is getting overloaded and that's why you are having problems. Historically, Verizon has been able to fix any network issues, but the timing is an unknown.

Here in Denver, they had an unexpectedly good response to their 2000 holiday promotion and started having capacity issues. Mostly we got "All Circuits are Busy". Verizon immediately ordered more trunks from the local telco, and it took about 6 months to cure the problems. But cure them they did. Of course Verizon blamed Qwest for the installation delays...and I believe them.

There have been no capacity problems since. What does VZ CS say?

-Bill

Thanks for all the responses. I havent tried customer service yet, nor do I intend to.

As to Larry's point:
"Calls going to voicemail without a missed call notification are just a fact of life. It will happen ocassionally with any carrier and any phone even if the network is not busy. Wireless is not perfect and will probably never be."

I have noticed this problem with my previous carrier, but I cannot accept what you say. As a moderator, I hope you will please explain yourself. Certainly, having call notification of any sort be delayed for hours is not a minor problem, and it is certainly a problem that carriers should be working to fix. You seem to suggest that the problem is inherent and unfixable - I cant and wont believe that.

Q

To add to my previous response just above: Dont forget (Larry) that I have also noticed a large increase in the number of busy signals when trying to access Mobile Web. No, this problem is definitely not just "run of the mill" stuff, it has become increasingly problematic in recent weeks, by my account.

Q

I've had a couple similiar problems. Here in the LA market and in the Seattle/Tacoma market. It happens from time to time and really isn't anything to worry about. It happens to all carriers. Verizon does pay attention to these things and if they see an impending capacity overload they'll do what's call splitting the cell, where basically they stick another tower in the cell to handle more calls. Something they've done already in Manhattan and many other places. Don't worry, you're in good hands with Verizon.

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Not worried. Just really annoyed. I dont doubt that Verizon will prevent major problems, but at what point do they consider it major?

Forgive me for seeming cynical, but as for being in good hands, I have no allegiance to Verizon, or any wireless company. It is foolish to trust that they are looking out purely for their customers best interest. They do, of course, but only so long as we continue to be their customers. In this business, today's leader is tomorrow's follower. As long as they stay one step ahead of the competition, we feel compelled to stay with them. And they know this. Its business, pure and simple. For example, I noticed they changed their night times to start at 9pm, from 8pm. Everyone else has 9pm. Even so, Verizon is still better, but the margin just got a little narrower. Still large enough though.

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]
Quit whining!

Either do something about it or shut up.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

[karmannghia]

I'd really like to switch over to Verizon from Sprint, but I cannot justify the price.

With Sprint I am getting Nationwide 1100 anytime, unilimited N&W, unlimited PCS2PCS and $150x2 for credit to get phones. All for $60/mo for 2 phones.

With Verizon, the best I could get was LOCAL 650anytime, unlimited N&W, 1000 PCS2PCS, and $50x2 rebates for phones. All for $70/mo for 2 phones.

I've heard so many good things about Verizon, but Sprint works OK for me. And with the offer they have given me, I don't think anyone would pass it up. So until Verizon's plans become a lot more competitive, I am staying with Sprint.

its not really called whining. just letting people know about their experience with a certain phone company and yes the whole point is that, person is trying to fix the problem. yea dumb ___ so please dont post your stupid comments.

Originally posted by: Anonymous [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] Quit whining! Either do something about it or shut up. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

Hmm, I am not sure who is saying what anymore, but if you are referring to my "cynical" response, I dont see a problem with pointing out naivety when I see it. No offense to the naive.

What exactly would you have me do about it? Call CS? Please. Verizon customer service really seems great on the surface. I tried calling them about problems with their Mobile Web service, particularly about the fact that this service doesnt do what they claim (not just access mind you - it has major problems even when it works - what a disappointment). I was told something would be done about it. Oh, I got several friendly followup calls from CS. Oh yes, they cared very much. I have never had my assed kissed so much by any CS group. When it came to fixing the problem, however, nothing was done, and that is all that matters to me. The particular problem, which I was assured would be "looked at," was simple enough to fix - nothing more than a code debug on the vzw.msn.com website. It never got fixed!

So, again, I say forgive me for being cynical. I am just sick of everyone saying "Verizon is best" or "your in good hands," then switching carriers in hopes of something better, only to find that I am just trading one set of problems for another. And, as to my original point (I started this thread) if Verizon has put itself into the same position as Cingular had been in, well, that really compounds things. I have lost all "faith" in this industry. So, as far as I am concerned, they are all the same. Verizon is the best, no doubt, but only for the moment. It is the lesser of several evils. I certainly have no love for them.


As for the following comment:

"its not really called whining. just letting people know about their experience with a certain phone company and yes the whole point is that, person is trying to fix the problem. yea dumb ___ so please dont post your stupid comments. "

Hmm, did you finish high school? This excerpt makes no sense whatsoever. Who are you addressing? (I know, all these anonymous posts get confusing)

Q

Originally posted by: Anonymous its not really called whining. just letting people know about their experience with a certain phone company and yes the whole point is that, person is trying to fix the problem. yea dumb ___ so please dont post your stupid comments.

Uhm, I was not sure what you were saying, but it seemed like you were insulting me. After reviewing this quote some more, it seems perhaps you were defending me. If so, I apologize for insulting you. It was a bit unclear, hence my confusion.

Q

[psycho]

Their Southern california network is going thru some upgrades in its billing, but nothing about systems I know of. I can be totally wrong.

Here are a few things: you don't get missed call notification on CDMA systems if you're not in service. It's behaviour is unlike that of GSM systems.

Second: VZW upgrades their systems constantly....and I mean constantly. They have a network reputation to keep up, and from friends that work for them, I know that they are always monitoring the system. All the problems you have had, they probably know that the local tower might be having problems, etc.

[Hamop]

Perhaps there were just too many people on the network during the time you phone went numb.
I think that might be a characteristic of CDMA. In theory everybody can be on at the same time but in reality the darn thing must have been overloaded with calls. Just a hunch.

[Stryf3]

No offense, but the Kyocera phones are not the best handsets. I've heard of people having problems with them not only with Verizon, but also SprintPCS. Alot of the people that come into my store with problems like what you're describing are using lower end phones. If the signal fades in and out in a particular location, you're obviousl not going to receive calls, or even VM notification in a timely manner. What is the signal strength (typically) in your home?

This is just an observation, and I could be totally wrong.

I've noticed Mobile Web can have a hard time connecting sometimes in certain buildings, even if my phone shows 2-3 bars of signal, so I'm not sure what to attribute that to.

[Stew]

It used to happen to me all the time on AT&T TDMA so I switched to T-Mobile (Get More!) and hasnt happened since. Happens all the time on my friends at&t phone still.

[RobCruz]

Verizon Wireless is the best! No doubt about it! If you used to have AT&T Wireless, Sprint, Cingular, Nextel, Boostmobile (Nextel) you will appreciate the reception you have with Verizon Wireless.

"We never stop working for you!"-Verizon Wireless