Might be just different places. Temecula CA and Palm Desert CA are not "out of the way". The Verizon signal was so wonky at Lake Skinner east of Temecula that my phone could not determine it's location. Temecula a town of 120,000. We were just east of it. And in Palm Desert we are right in the middle of a very large populated area. I have been a Verizon broadband subscriber since they came out with Verizon Broadband. Works well in most areas, but there are lots of places in the west where there is no service or poor service. Until 1 1/2 years ago I kept my internet satellite working to try and fill the void. I finally stopped the sat dish service when it really got slow and expensive.
Hard to imagine you were in the middle of a major population center without being able to get a signal. I would have first questioned if there was something odd happening with my phone. Did you ever contact Verizon to see if there was really a gap in their coverage in those areas?
Verizon broadband is present, but speeds have varied quite a bit. My phone has gone from one dot /bars to three. Last night we watched two TV shows using it. The really poor coverage was last weekend. Since this RV park was completely full last weekend I suspect the speed had to do with high demand. But of course that does not explain the range of 1 - 3 dots. In the 5 months I have been using this iPhone 6S I have found it to have very good "pulling" ability. Sometimes Apple products are not so good, but this is works well. Better than my Motorola Maxx I had before it. No I did not contact Verizon. We just watch DVD's when we don't have an internet connection.
I've found the "bars" or "dots" on the phone's display screen to be relatively poor indicators of signal strength. A much better way of understanding your signal is to see the absolute value in dBm. On an Android, the information is in the About Phone/Status display, but I don't know where it is on a iPhone. If you're not familiar with seeing the signal strength displayed in dBm, the signal gets stronger as the negative number gets smaller. So -90dBm is ten times the signal strength of -100dBm. Most phones will work fine with signal strength as low as -110dBm
To see the numerical value of your signal on an iPhone do this: Dial *3001#12345#* then press call Once field test app opens hold down power/sleep button until the "slide to power off" shows. Now hold down the home button. The Field test app will close. Now you can just tap where the dots are and you will see the -xx for signal. Tap again to switch back. You will now just have to tap the upper left corner to change how your iPhone displays the signal. -40 is the best possible signal no signal will be -130. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Signed up with Verizon last month. I'm disappointed with coverage and signal strength. 2G with occasional 3G at Fort Griffin State Historic Site near Albany, TX. Weak 3G at Monahans Sandhills State Park near Monahans, TX. My wife has AT&T and had 4G at both Parks. We head to Davis Mountains State Park tomorrow. I already know neither of us will have any cell signal in the park. I have not been impressed with Verizon's cell coverage. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
