Cell service has gotten worse over the last week

Hey there @Gkilg650, we understand your frustrations with dealing with poor cellular connection in your area and we'd be glad to help.

First, we'll need to collect additional information from you:

• What's the address and/or zip code where you experiencing poor service connections?
• What's the make and model of your devices and have you tried resetting the network?

This information will better help us obtain a solution and locate if they're any known outages in your area at this time.

Look forward to helping you!

Lynn, AT&T Community Specialist

Our zip code is 37015 and we have two iPhone 12s, one iPhone 12 Pro Max, and one iPhone X. Yes we have tried resetting the network. 

Thanks for responding back to us @Gkilg65!

After further research into the zip code you provided, currently today on Friday 7/30/2021 all network towers are fully operational with no reports or cellular interference in the Ashland City area. 

Please know that when residing in a rural/wooded area, the cellular signal may not be as strong compared to a high-populated area/city. You can Get Help With Dropped Calls and Network Concerns by checking the towers that is closets to you.

When experiencing any cellular disruptions such as dropped calls, low signal, or data connectivity, it would be best to Enable Wifi on your smartphone to keep all your wireless features going without reoccurring problems.

Since you mentioned of have 3 iPhones, It is also recommended to update your devices with the latest software including Updating Your Device Carrier Settings. 

Lastly, if all else fails, you can utilize our Device Troubleshoot & Resolve Tool by selecting which iPhone model you have then go to Get More Help > Fix an Issue > Device Issue and click onto which step for further instructions. 

You can access the highlighted articles above for more details and steps. 

We hope this info helps, and reach back to us if you have additional questions!

Dwight, AT&T Community Specialist 

Obviously, I know that the cellular signal is worse in rural areas as I stated that our signal has not always been the best because of where we live. And being in a rural area, we do not have access to good WiFi otherwise we would have our phones connected to it all the time. All of our phones are updated so it’s also not that. The problem is that where we once had good enough cellular signals to make/take calls, browse the internet, and send messages using cellular signal, we cannot anymore. Our calls are constantly dropped, we have to move all over our houses to find a spot where the people we are connected to can hear us, as well as be able to search the internet. It was definitely not like this before a week ago, and we know that AT&T just had some kind of 5G update and that is what I believe made our cellular signals weaker. So thanks for not being a great help. 

We had a similar problem.  4wks ago our internet data stopped working altogether when we used to enjoy 1-5mbps downloads.   Everyone that visits our house has the same problem - no internet.  Phone and text still work.  I finally spoke to someone at ATT support that noted that the tower we connect to is "severely degraded" after the storm.   So we are out of luck since they are waiting for hardware and the tower is scheduled for restoration in "early 2022".   So we have no internet at the house until then.   

And I love when ATT support suggests "it would be best to Enable Wifi on your smartphone".   Like we would complain about internet on our phone if we had internet at our house.....Cell phone internet is usually the ONLY option for most rural customers.   Satellite claims to work but if you've ever actually tried it -- you know the problems.   Getting Cell service at our house was the greatest ever because we now had reliable internet -- for the WHOLE month.    But now we are back to driving into town for internet for the next 6 months at least.   
Good luck with your problem.   

I just want to add my frustration to what you guys are dealing with.

I’m in a very rural area and started noticing problems with our cell coverage about a week and a half ago when we suddenly went from being able to use our phones anywhere in our home to only showing one bar and not being able to make or receive calls.

On Tuesday the problem hit my wireless internet that I have through AT&T when I ran a speed test and discovered my ping was 800+ and speeds rarely get over 2 Mbps d/l. Ping nor u/l or d/l have gotten better since then. Crazy that it’s worse than satellite internet now!

I’m conflicted as to whether or not my actual issues are because of a new cell tower that has been built in my town for several months and just last week had workers on the ground at the tower location. This coincides with when my issues began but calls to AT&T are a dead end because a)they show no outages in my area and b)system doesn’t even indicate a new AT&T tower in my area even though there is.

I’m not the only one in my area with these problems, but as it stands now, I’m at a loss as to what to do. If this issue is permanent, I have no idea what I’ll do. My whole work infrastructure was built around having this wireless cellular internet at my home. Only other option is satellite internet which will *not* work for video conferencing, anything needing a low ping, etc. Two other carriers show service at my home but unless the coverage has upgraded in recent years I don’t think it’ll be reliable enough for my internet needs.

Basically this is my long winded version, telling you guys I feel for you as I’m in a similar boat! 

Do any of you have a signal booster (signal okay outside but crummy inside the house)?  If yes the recent loss of signal might be that your booster only boosts 3g and maybe att has already sunset 3g on your tower. 

That’s good thinking, Hope! Maybe that is the issue for some! 

I know in my case though, I don’t have a signal booster because I never needed one. My signal was strong enough without it until now. 

It’s a frustrating mess! 

We don’t have a signal booster either. And like JLM23, we have AT&T WiFi as well as on our phones and both were affected. Our phones seem to be doing a little bit better now but streaming anything with our hotspot wifi device is still an issue. We are really holding out for Cumberland Connect to come to our area and install fiber which might not be until next year but it will be well worth the wait I hope! Satellite internet isn’t too good around here either so that’s why I’m waiting for cemc to come. 

Yesssss! I agree.. AT&T has become a total mess where I live. I almost never have any data service which is frustrating because it's hard to search things online or do anything that requires data use. We've called several times to no avail. I remember when we first switched from T-mobile to AT&T back in 2012 I believe, service was excellent. We didn't have to try go all over the house to get a bar of service. Now it's the complete opposite. My bf has Metro by T-mobile and can you believe that's he has at least 3 bars where I have not a single bar?? I have none in the kitchen but he has service. I have none in my bedroom but he has service and I'm like are you serious right now??? AT&T is supposed to be top notch but I can't play a video on YouTube but he's pulling up a video with no problem and playing it instantly. I can't even do that on my phone. This has seriously become a problem and it's obvious that AT&T has messed up somewhere and that something is wrong. Something is VERY wong.