Forum Discussion
Network has become unusable, and no one will help...
I used to have an amazing experience with 200MB or better download speeds over the last couple of years on T-Mobile in my NYC apartment. As an employee and ex-employee I have continued to promote T-Mobile to my friends and family.
A couple of months ago, something changed. I show 5 bars of 5G and 5 bars of 4G service back and forth, but there are practically zero services. The internet if I can even get it to register with a speed test, is 1 MB download speed at best - It's unusable, and phone calls connect, but the other party can't hear most of what I'm saying most of the time.
This is on multiple lines on my account in my location and on my wife's phone on her own account also at this location. The issue is all around my neighborhood - approximately a 2-3 block radius in every direction. Even my brother has these issues when he comes to visit.
Something has changed on the network - not sure if it’s 2 towers competing or what…
Multiple calls to care and they keep troubleshooting my phone and sending resets to it. They're not listening to me when I tell them it's multiple lines on multiple accounts. They asked me to factory reset my phone (more than once) and like an idiot, I complied with these requests. Considering it's on multiple lines, and only an issue at my home leads me to the conclusion that it is NOT an issue with my Galaxy S22 Ultra, or my wifes iPhone 12+, or my LG V60+ or my brothers Pixel 7, or my Galaxy Watch 5 (with plan). Still, every call ends up with the same troubleshooting.
They asked me if I have wifi and if I can connect to it. I said yes - my wifi works great. WiFi calling does NOT work any better though. And, I pay for phone service with high-speed data so I don't have to use my home WiFi. Still, I tried but no dice with making calls over WiFi calling.
I finally grudgingly threatened to port out, and they instantly put me in touch with the next level of tech support. After an hour of rehashing everything, they opened up 2 network tickets. One for me, one for my wife.
I haven’t heard a peep from anyone, and the service is still unusable.
So, what are my next steps? It's not just my home, so others must have complained in this area.
You need to go to the next level ..
PUC complaint or BBB complaint
These will get you to an executive response team, and possibly help you port if they can't resolve.
Field Ticket: 68843477.
I spoke to another representative in Technical support who wanted to go back through all the device troubleshooting. I again mentioned this is an issue on multiple devices, and therefore must be network related. Still, I let her do her thing. It didn't help.
She said the towers in my area were all fixed now and my service is fine… But, on my end, nothing has changed. Service still stinks. 2 Blocks downtown there's a tower and my signal is amazing in that location (I hit 400mbps) and 5 blocks north another tower which hit similar speeds. Here at home in the middle of these 2 towers my service is mostly unusable most of the time. It wasn't always like this though.
Same issues with me.. nearer the tower had good coverage but very pockets of coverage then too. For example near the Sprint HQ acquired by T-Mobile, the service is not poor, but abject pathetic. If I were in T-Mobile employee, I will never canvas for them. Simply atrocious T-Mobile is.
Verizon speeds from friends are decent. They don't have pockets of coverage.
All it takes is add more cell towers.. how long tmo? Call Elon musk.. he will screw you more.
SRK wrote:
Verizon speeds from friends are decent. They don't have pockets of coverage.
All it takes is add more cell towers.. how long tmo? Call Elon musk.. he will screw you more.
While I can't speak for Verizon, T-Mobile's main issue in many areas are … 'pockets of coverage'. If I recall a few years back, CNET basically described T-Mobile in Los Angeles as that, and in many ways .. they were correct. Legacy 4G LTE sites were overloaded in many areas, 5g N71 was clinging on with a death grip, and 5G UC were like hotspots. In many areas - especially other cities, T-Mobile still has large coverage issues.
How long … that's a good question. In some places, I've had tickets filed for +8 years. The executive response has typically been middle finger.
SRK wrote:
Same issues with me.. nearer the tower had good coverage but very pockets of coverage then too. For example near the Sprint HQ acquired by T-Mobile, the service is not poor, but abject pathetic. If I were in T-Mobile employee, I will never canvas for them. Simply atrocious T-Mobile is.
Verizon speeds from friends are decent. They don't have pockets of coverage.
All it takes is add more cell towers.. how long tmo? Call Elon musk.. he will screw you more.
even if TMO DID up and decide to add more towers thats years in the making..tons of permits and logistics that’ll bind it up for a good couple years before the first dig even starts. and thats if they were all for it..if its not on their list of needs then as pointed out above..it’ll be a very long time.
