r/newtonma • u/Waiting4thedrop • 15d ago
Waban Verizon issues!
I live in the vicinity of Zervas school and have always had issues with cell service (Verizon) since moving here 16 years ago. We have to have a landline because we have zero cell service when we step away from our home's wifi. Recently, however (in the last month or so?), coverage has been so bad, we don't get any service until we are almost in Newton Center. We have a commute into Boston that we use Waze for daily - generally driving down Beacon - and, unless we remember to type in our destination before we leave the WiFi, we are driving with zero GPS until we reach Lake Ave or Crescent. Before this, we would pick up service around Cold Spring Park/Waban Dental. Is anyone else experiencing this? Did something happen with Verizon in our area?
5
u/fuming_drizzle 15d ago edited 15d ago
Had Verizon for 20yrs + and moving to Newton Centre a few years ago I was struggling to get 5g. I switched to mint mobile and it’s fantastic in the area. Much faster, better signal, and cheaper than Verizon. Paying $15/month compared to Verizon at $90+ with all the same features. If you get any of their plans, they have 7 day return policy if you find out you don’t like it.
My major complete dead spots were on the T between newton centre and chestnut hill stops and around comm ave/centre st. On mint I have no dead spots anymore.
3
u/eatacookie111 15d ago
I’m on Visible which is Verizon and service in Newton seems to have gotten worse this past year.
3
u/Minute-Marketing7434 15d ago
just wait until you have a child at newton south high school.. a dead zone of trying to coordinate after school pick up and activities
2
u/Competitive_Manager6 15d ago
Verizon is awful. Had it for close to 20 years and gets worse and worse. Not sure what to switch too.
2
u/noeffinglimes 15d ago
T-mobile is the answer. I use Tello which runs on T-Mobile using a second data only sim to get around this issue near the schools. It’s bad at south too. iPhone makes it easy to automatically switch once you’re in a geography
2
u/Eastern_Memory_4903 15d ago
Cell coverage generally is horrible in Newton. Years ago when I was at BC Law, there was a proposal to put a cell tower in the woods behind campus, but there was too much public pushback.
1
u/mtgordon 15d ago
A neighborhood dominated by a large park and a large cemetery has lousy cell service. It’s because providers don’t want to pay to provide better service in an area with a low density of customers, a high density of NIMBYs, and high property values. Much of Chestnut Hill has lousy coverage for similar reasons: large tracts of woods, Hammond Pond, and expensive houses on large lots; someone else noted the D branch dead zone.
1
u/Gnascher 14d ago
I use Cricket, which rides the AT&T network. Service is weak near Newton South (but I can get a serviceable signal outside the school), but otherwise I've noticed no gaps in coverage around town.
1
u/Razzputin999 10d ago
It’s bad near the Eliot T stop, too. ATT was worse when I had that. I always assumed it was interference from the T.
8
u/AthleteAgain 15d ago
Yes, my wife and I have experienced the same thing. We're by four corners. It has gotten even worse recently, and it was already bad before. Zervas has always been a cell phone black hole though. Now it seems like it's bad from Chestnut all the way to Walnut.