Anyone know how to get VZW to fix a tower?

2toad · EVDO Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 6

Here is the story. Sunday afternoon my parents data card disconnected and wouldn't reconnect. I told them to remove it from the MBR1k and plug it into the computer. In VZaccess manager and Quicklink mobile they get the error "User name and password are invalid" This happens on any computer in their home. I plugged the card into a laptop and drove to the tower by my home. It works perfectly there. As soon as it gets near the tower by their home it disconnects and gives the above mentioned error.

I called VZ tech support to ask for a trouble ticket on the tower. They refused. They told me I had to follow their steps, like clearing the browsing cache... yeah, I know. Anyway after quite a few useless steps the person on the phone told me I had to leave the card unplugged for an hour and then call back if it still wasn't working. I didn't really like that answer but figured, what is another hour in the scheme of things. I waited, still not fixed. When I called back they said that I should try leaving it unplugged for SIX HOURS! I asked for a supervisor or level 2 tech but they hung up on me when I refused to take a call back and told them I would wait on hold until they found one.

On my next call back they took a few minutes to read the notes and then told me that to be sure it was fixed I should leave the card unplugged for 24 hours this time. My parents are in their mid 60's and don't like to rock the boat so they did it. Problem still exists. Today my parents called while I was at work and were told they were going to be pushed a new PRL and it might take up to three days. I've already updated the PRL manually. So that really isn't going to help.

Is there anyone here that knows how to get someone knowledgeable at VZW support? Or even just get a trouble ticket placed on a particular tower? I'm at my wits end here. What would you guys do in my position?

Torrey · Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:54 am Post subject:

If you purchased your Verizon aircard from 3Gstore.com feel free to give their tech support a call 866-3Gstore. I'm sure they've seen this issue before, and have a solution to solve this issue.

wdlgeorgia · EVDO Newbie Joined: 13 Nov 2008 Posts: 9

I would like to know if your problem was with the tower, and if so, were you able to find a path to report it as such? (Yep, I've got a problem that I think is tower related.)

mclass55 · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 17 Feb 2007 Posts: 131

Try out one of the 3g routers from the 3gstore.com. It helped me stay connected and gave me better speeds.

LARRYG · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:19 pm Post subject:

just keeping up with the posts on a casual basis - it seems that I see the invalid user error fairly frequently and the solution that works is to reset the ESM?

how does this kind of error related to a specific tower (or not?)

is there a user name database that towers access either remotely or have a downloaded local copy?

but that does not fit this particular circumstance where the folks had access originally then did not?

when you move a modem from a router to the computer does the ESM have to be reset?

Bert65 · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:19 pm Post subject:

Erudition · Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:00 am Post subject:

Sigh sounds like another case of the good ol tower not working excuse...

The answer is that they have most likely put a restriction on your internet. Ive been through this sh*t 3 times with Verizon in the past. I would ask the morons on the phone about the block they have on your service... because it has nothing to do with the tower, im willing to bet money on that.

2toad · EVDO Newbie Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 6

I just wanted to give an update to the situation. After being without internet access for a week and escalating to many different managers I was finally contacted by Verizon's network trouble center. The person who contacted me agreed that none of the reps who are trained in tech support know anything about the actual network or their towers.

I explained to him that every other tower worked fine and the only problem was the one by my parents house. He confirmed on his end all my failed connect attempts on that one tower and saw that I was able to connect on another further in town. He sent a "network team" to my parents house. Basically its a van with a few laptops and several different cards and routers. They also confirmed the problem to him. After that a trouble ticket was submitted on the tower and two days later everything was normal again.

I really hope this never happens again because it was such a pain to get resolved. If you have this same situation don't let the first tier support tell you that its going to take a "tower refresh" or any such nonsense. Just ask for a tower trouble ticket and a manager. It may take a while but if you are persistent and loud they can't just ignore you.

LARRYG · Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 3:39 am Post subject:

this is not good. Sounds like Verizon does not know when service has been disrupted/degraded significantly and the average non-techie talking to the wrong Verizon folks (and not knowing they have to get to the "real" network folks) ... has little chance of having a problem fixed.

this would be equivalent to the broadband cable breaking.. and the company does not know it breaks and your phone calls end up with people who say everything is okay on their end.

So Verizon "has the network" per their ADs but the customer service troubleshooting does NOT includes glitches at the towers themselves.