did your mobile data became super slow (almost useless) during the freeze or during blackout? (Houston: home, neighborhood)

[Brom]

I have verizon unlimited plan and the mobile data was useless for days during the freeze when there was blackout in my area (Katy). I noticed this again today when we had blackout. I'm checking if this is common or got something to do with my plan. Verizon said per my plan, my data shouldnt slow down during blackout (when everyone in my area is using data). But my data is superslow so I dont know. I'm considering changing plan or cellphone provider.


Id like to know those who dont notice their data is slow during blackout, what cellphone provider you have and what plan.

[WRM20]

Verizon. No issues Inside the Loop.

[Brom]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Verizon. No issues Inside the Loop.

What plan do you have? Im 100% sure verizon slowing my data during congestion like there is a black out evn though my plan says it shouldnt do that until i use 50gb. Im on do more unlimited plan which i pay a lot of dollars for. And i need data during blackout to check news, etc...

[Texas Ag 93]

Yes, I have noticed this as well. Big slowdown during the freeze (it was fine during Harvey). I am also on a Verizon unlimited plan. I live in the League City area.

[Seguinite]

It really makes sense if you think about it. If Katy is in a blackout, 85,000 people are using the phone for EVERYTHING all at the same time... not just the 5,000 people that use it for everything all the time on a regular basis.

As much as I hate Verizon, I don't think they're throttling anyone in particular... but they may throttling everybody by necessity.

[Brom]

Originally Posted by Seguinite

It really makes sense if you think about it. If Katy is in a blackout, 85,000 people are using the phone for EVERYTHING all at the same time... not just the 5,000 people that use it for everything all the time on a regular basis.

As much as I hate Verizon, I don't think they're throttling anyone in particular... but they may throttling everybody by necessity.

Verizon customer service says data shouldnt slow down for places like Katy even during blackout. Maybe in New York, where people live next to each other.

I posted here to check other people's experience.

[kreeyax]

Yes, after we lost power and had no internet our Verizon service was incredibly slow. Pretty sure it was just because everyone in the area was hitting it all at once. AT&T barely works in our neighborhood, so most folks have Verizon.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Brom

What plan do you have? Im 100% sure verizon slowing my data during congestion like there is a black out evn though my plan says it shouldnt do that until i use 50gb. Im on do more unlimited plan which i pay a lot of dollars for. And i need data during blackout to check news, etc...

We are 2 different levels. Kid and I have the highest level of unlimited, he has 5G. Wife has a lower plan.

I can see that slowness would occur in an area with thousands of people on their phones, saturating the connections. No one builds capacity on the assumption that every customer in an area is going to be using bandwidth. Another issue is whether any cell sites went down from power loss, reducing capacity.

In general, Verizon has the best coverage and performance in the Houston area.

[DanielWayne]

If some towers went down due to to power, then there would be a lot of roaming. This seems like it would overwhelm the towers that were still operational.

It took about 6 hours for a text to go out for me during the storm.

But I could drive 8 minutes down the road near a tower in the next city, and the phone worked fine.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by Brom

I have verizon unlimited plan and the mobile data was useless for days during the freeze when there was blackout in my area (Katy).

Here in Cinco, there are very few (practically no) cell towers for each carrier due to the land planning by the developer. Most people here get by with Wi-Fi Calling and the booster microcells on the major road right-of-way.

When I had power, the Xfinity internet was the only link to the outside world, thanks to Wi-Fi Calling. It was obvious that the microcells and the few cell towers were out-of-power when my home Wi-Fi was working flawlessly. (Keep in mind that most of Houston had at least a stretch of no power for 24-48 hours straight during the 4-day event.).

If the water was turning yellow/brown due to power outages, then its expected that the cell towers will go down too by design (battery backup is only designed for a few hours, not days-on-end). Your cell phone will use up the battery to amplify the weak signal of a far-away tower to its maximum, which does impact battery life! Can any of the few left with Consolidated's landline telephone service tell us about the quality-of-service during the winter storm?