Verizon Connection Speeds

 Just about everyone knows that Verizon only says it will get your service to the router at a certain speed.  In my case it is a gig connection, but the fastest I have ever gotten on any device, including a wired connection, is 350 Mbs.  So, I started looking into this from a user standpoint.  

I have been a Verizon customer for all of my time in this house, twenty years.  I pay more for a gig connection, but I don't get gig service.  I have heard of people suing Verizon over this but not recently because Verizon changed its policy to prohibit a customer from filing or joining a class action lawsuit (https://fairshake.com/verizon-wireless/lawsuit/).  They say the service is only to the router, not to any device in the house.  I even understand that, but it isn't that part that irritates me. 

I pay a good bit of money to Verizon each month for a gig connection using a router that I pay them for.  That router is not configured for IPV6 even though it is a IPV6 device.  The one I have is two generations old, because Verizon does not update their routers even though you are paying for the service.  So I don't have the speed I pay for, and Verizon wants me to pay for a faster router to get a faster speed.  If this sounds ridiculous, that's because it is.  

My speeds drop off every day, around mid day and at night.  That has nothing to do with the router speed.  My cameras were dropping signal every day for a month until I had my security provider look into why.  They recorded when it happened and the speed it lost connection.  Good information for me.  I asked Verizon why this would happen and it stopped for a few weeks, but continues to occur.  So it is not just the router that is involved.  

This county is growing like crazy with many new people coming here every day.  They all want broadband and Verizon has actually tried to expand their service to the area, but they are not keeping up.  Covid hasn't helped either.  Now everyone is home or just starting back to work.  My system crawls at breakfast and in he evening when kids come home from school.  Verizon is a victim of their own success, but the users are the ones who get the hit.  

When my contract is up, Verizon will end, but until then, I have adapted.  I'm not going to pay for extra speed I don't get and will test out a few vendors to find out who does it best.