Verizon, Can You Hear Us?

By Mike Green www.mwellandgreen.com

We pay a premium price for cell service, and as of late last spring, our area can’t connect.

If your cell phone carrier is Verizon Wireless and, like me, you live in a Gunbarrel or Heatherwood neighborhood — or even if you’ve just driven through — chances are, your call has been dropped. And dropped. Then dropped again.

That’s if you’re lucky. The rest of us speak to listeners who can’t really hear us as our calls cut in and out, leaving us on the line but with no choice but to hang up. Many residents have to get in their cars and drive to find a signal, or wear a tin foil hat in a single, magical location outside to make a call. It’d be quaint if it weren’t so debilitating. These are neighborhoods, not remote getaways. Like so many of my neighbors, I work from home, which makes my cell phone an integral tool. Not being able to have even a brief conversation makes conducting business incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

We’re all getting fed up – to quote a Verizon rep I spoke with via a landline: “There is quite a stir in that area.”

When we call to complain and finally speak to a Verizon representative after what seems like hours on hold, we are treated to a song and dance. We’re told to use our home internet to place calls or to try purchasing a $250 extender “which may help” the issue. If you’re exceptionally patient and well-versed in Jedi mind tricks, you’ll get to speak to a supervisor. I’ve learned new lingo I never wanted to know: once you speak with the supervisor, your call is raised from “tier one” to “tier two.”

Note: If you want to skip from tier one to tier two, call (866) 221-4096. Also, you can use this link to “directly” email Tami Erwin, Executive Vice President, Wireless Operations, with your complaints and your demand that something be done.

On tier two, you’re treated to the same song and dance, but it’s delivered with more authority, and perhaps an offer to discount your extender purchase or even send it to you for free.

For the super-humanly patient, a third level exists: the supervisor’s supervisor. This person will tell you three things:

1) Our area is in a valley.
2) Our area is at max capacity for the towers that support this valley. This news makes sense, given that the Gunbarrel area alone saw more than 525 living units completed and filled in the last year and a half alone.
3) The tower that provided minimal coverage to you was redirected to accommodate the increased traffic generated by new developments.

Is this a capacity issue or a signal issue?

I believe it’s clearly the latter. Capacity is the number of calls that can be carried in a signal area; what we’re experiencing is a low signal. We could have all the capacity in the world, but if you don’t have a signal, you won’t be able to utilize any of that capacity.

So where do we go from here? And furthermore, does Verizon have a plan to fix the problem?

Idea: neighbors working together?

Many people of the neighborhood have spent countless hours attempting to reach the women and men who can answer these questions — to no avail.

Neighbors, let’s work together. I’m tempted to suggest that the more of us who call tier two, the better. But just today, I called again. Verizon told me it’s a capacity issue, freely admitted the tower was adjusted to serve the new traffic in Gunbarrel, then supposedly filed another “trouble ticket.”

Let’s flood the corporate offices with complaints and a community petition. Let’s reach out to government officials and attorneys. Some have suggested selecting a single day to all call and complain, and while I like the idea, I worry about its ultimate effectiveness since, as I’ve already discussed, customer support does not have any real power here.

Join me in contacting the city, state, and FCC, all of whom are listed below. Together, we will get their attention. Verizon, can you hear us now?

The following are links to ready-to-use websites or forms you can use to make your feelings known:

Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Consumers Resources

Colorado State Government Consumer Complaint Office

Boulder County Complaint Process

Boulder City Consumer Complaint Form

(NOTE: See also a previous Reporter article about the similar frustrations of Verizon users in North Boulder, followed by numerous reader comments.)