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I get no bars inside my apartment. If I am lucky I can get two if I am outside the building. I spoke to Verizon and they stated I could buy equipment for $250.00. Seriously? It is cheaper for me to cancel my contract and find another service. The rep from Verizon stated that his 'map' shows this is a good area. Still trying to find a decent provider to change to.

I never have any issues with Verizon. I live on the west side and work all around Madison, Monona, Verona and Fitchburg. I have never had any issues with reception, service or internet. Phone battery sucks but other than that I like verizon.

I'm standing outside of the Verizon Wireless store and I can't send a text, use the internet, or make or receive a call because I have no service.

Avoid Verizon in Madison and after the customer care fiasco avoid Verizon period. Numerous dropped calls, reception non-existant or a dismal one bar... Catching only every other word prior to call dropping... yet informed there was NO problem... v frustrating and unhelpful. 0 to one bar reception... when the planets align...

Phones do not work in our house unless we stand next to the front door. Husband has a Samsung, same thing. Verizon suggested a $250 booster. Shouldn't need that in the middle of a major city.

June 6, 2011 - Downtown Madison not far from the capitol. I'm here for a conference in a hotel across from the shopping mall on E. Washington Ave. and I am finding that I can only get a signal late in the evenings. During daylight hours of my first full day here it was "searching for signal" literally all day. Phone was completely unusable. I even tested it during a 4-block walk (going west) and still no signal. Coverage map on Verizon website shows coverage for the area - it's at the intersection of three interstates and a state capitol so it makes no sense.

3G is down altogether. Normally, at Amfam reception for 3G is weak. On my days off downtown near more towers, my phone will easily last all day sitting off the charger with light use. On some workdays when I work out here, the battery may drain to 30% by noon. This is due to the phone working hard to get the 3G signal. Some days are better than others. I can often tell a bad day because the phone will be very warm even though the screen is off and it is just in my pocket. Downtown where coverage is good, I do not experience these issues, so it seems clear that they have bad coverage here. Today, however, there is no 3G available at all.

0 - 1 in the apartment (Brighton Square). Two to three bars if I go outside. This does not work with my job. I get calls at random times. But, this is new. For the last month or two that I have been in Madison, I have always had excellent service. Wondering if a tower is not working properly.

1 bar or lower on regular service. 3G will go up to 3 bars, but doesn't hold out for very long. Calls aren't very clear. Might switch to AT&T for iphone 4. Some reason all I hear is bad things about AT&T, but on this site it seems to get double the rating of Verizon in Madison.

Decent but reliable Verizon coverage here in "downtown" Fitchburg. Inside the Great Dane Pub and the apartment / condo neighborhood right behind it, I'm getting consistent 3 bars with my Blackberry Tour. To my surprise, my friend's AT&T iPhone 3GS gets a full set of bars when standing right next to me in this area, but once we venture down Fish Hatchery Road, he drops to 1 bar and I get 4. Go figure. Overall, my Blackberry Tour / Verizon coverage has been modest across of all Madison so I can't complain. I can get coverage inside Costco (Middleton), Sam's Club (Madison), and even inside the elevators of UW Hospital. Once I travel to more urban areas (Houston, New York, Chicago, Seattle) it's full bars the entire time. Definitely don't regret going with the Blackberry Tour over the AT&T iPhone 3GS.

Terrible Reception - ANYWHERE in my apartment, AND outside of my apartment, my building, even outside. Frequent and almost constant dropped calls. Also phone is almost constantly "search for network".

Been with Verizon for nine months since leaving USCell. USCell reception much better so far. Just got back from NY where my signal was constantly -80 which was outstanding. Internet and email were actually broadband-like speed-even Bberry's native browser was peppy. My battery did not drain as quickly searching for a signal as it does in Madison... so I know that Verizon is capable of crystal clear service.

After being downsized and having my company cell phone (Razr with AT&T service) taken away, I needed a new phone for interviews and job hunting, not to mention getting help with unemployment benefits. I looked on Consumer Reports and took their advice that Verizon had the best service. I got an enV2 and loved it (full QWERTY keyboard, huge screen, great speakerphone, VZ navigator) - until I got it home. No service in the house. None at all. After going through a week of running outside into the driveway or back yard every time the phone rang, I decided to swap for a phone with less gadgets and more reception. Verizon helped me into a VX8350. Basic clamshell design, but supposed to be bombproof and have great reception. Not in my house, though. Even to get one bar, I have to go thirty feet away from my front door. This is not very helpful for phone interviews and the like. Also, it is nearly November, and it is getting very cold outside. I hope because I've been communicating with Verizon that they'll let me out of the contract since it is well within the first 30 days. A worker at Verizon told me that my area (certain part of Fitchburg just off of S. Fish Hatch) is NOTORIOUS for terrible Verizon reception. My boyfriend has AT&T and has three or four bars in the house. I guess I'll go that direction too.

Verizon has okay native coverage on the Edgewood College campus. Even though I usually only get 0-2 bars, I can make calls about 95% of the time. I don't have any problems outside but when I go to the lower levels of buildings, I will hang on to a weak Verizon signal and not be able to make calls, but if I go down one more floor and lose the Verizon signal completly, my phone will jump over the the closer US Cellular tower and I'll be able to make / receive calls just fine. I think that Verizon could use a tower closer to this area, but their coverage isn't bad enough for me to switch providers because overall I get awesome coverage just about everywhere I go in Wisconsin.

It seems that depending on the day - not the weather - Verizon could have ok service or no service. Never is the service great. What's worse is the phone is programmed to always look for a verzion signal. It will not roam until the signal is 100% dead with verizon. The signal could be so weak that it's detectible, but good luck making calls. I recently went to washington dc and I had perfect service in the subway, 500 feet underground. Why can't the state capitol of wisconsin have equal service above ground? I also have experience with us celluar and they have great service all over wisconsin. I chose Verizon because I wanted the treo phone, which us cellular doesn't carry. When my contract is up with verizon, I will have to sacrifice technology for service quality and switch back to us cellular.

Verizon service in this area stinks. I recently moved here from Pittsburgh, where service was fantastic despite much hillier terrain. I am constantly dropping calls in this area. My fiance also has Verizon, but she can force her phone to switch to a "cell only" mode. When she does that she gets all five bars and will not lose calls here, but she can't send pics in that mode. I can't get the RAZR to do the same thing, so it is pretty much useless when I am here at home.

Dropped calls all the time on Verizon. 1-2 bars coverage maximum inside. Can't maintain a phone call for more than 5 minutes, and even that's with miserable voice quality. Sprint and AT&T phones get 5 bars inside same house.

Very marginal signal in downtown Madison. My 2-yr contract just expired and I'm so ready to dump Verizon!

I have very very poor reception, unreliable service. voice mail delivery commonly delayed by days up to one week. service calls are returned after several days to inform me of the following: 1) Indoor reception cannot be guaranteed (I love to sit on my front porch waiting for calls to come in January nights). 2) Foliage interferes in the sommer with propagation of the signal (do I need agent orange to improve reception?) and 3) additional towers are going up soon (This I have heard for 7 years and no improvement of the signal quality was noted). In one month my two year contract will end. I will be free to terminate this waste of money and toss my and my wife's Verizon phone, one of the long anticipated highlights of the year. Can you hear my anger and frustration?

In side my apartment I tend to get allot of droped calls unless I stand on my porch, sucky service over all, down around plateville service is almost next to none. Also, long connection times when I try calling people around here, up to 30 seconds sometimes

No reception inside home. Frequently dropped calls.

Verizon gets no reception at all along the length of Monroe Street. When I lived on Monroe, I could only talk to people by hanging off the edge of my third floor balcony and screaming into the phone. Now, in the Vilas area by the zoo, my service is slightly better, but I still get terrible sound quality and drop every third call.

In most places in Madison, I get good reception everywhere. But outside my home near Raymond and Verona, I get only one bar, and sometimes dropped calls. Inside the house, we're lucky to get one bar, and we have many dropped calls. We complained to Verizon, and they said our number of dropped calls was normal, and they do not cover inside buildings. They said the signal strength was adequate outside our home. And gave me a $50 credit. I recently purchased and installed a Wi-Ex Cell Phone Signal Extender to try to enhance the strength of the signal indoors (who wants to stand outside in the winter to use the phone?!). As long as we stand a foot or two away from the enhancer, the signal strength is five bars, but that's only if the antenna in the attic can get a signal. We still get dropped calls. The closest tower is US Cellular, which is what we get on roaming.

I get 4 EVDO Bars and 2 1X. Only issue I have is when I get too drunk and my battery dies at Taco Johns and I try to make a call without realizing my phone is off.

My phone does not work in my house and has not for two years. Verizon's service, tech support and reception are all awful and I will not using their service again.

Brought our Verizon phones from Ann Arbor, MI, where we got great reception and were very suprized at the very poor reception here. Verizon's excuse to us after repeated phone calls to their cusotmer servie: "It's hilly in Madison, that's why you get poor service". Hilly? Not where I live. We got better reception driving through the Appalachians, and THAT's hilly. They just need to install more towers in this area. We're gonna swith when our contract is up.

Switched from uscc after 6 yrs cuz they offered crappy expensive phones. Verizon is ok, better phones but still expensive. At house I manage 2 bars which is good enough for talking and using "Get Crap Now!" (Daily Show is good though) service. Video streaming takes the place of reading material when on toilet. I drive along 151 corridor to columbus north along 73 up to green lake every day. Service becomes very spotty north of columbus. It"s still functional, if your not moving. Lots of dropped calls. fyi... verizon streaming services are not available north east of sun prairie. Also, if live on portage rd near village ln, very poor reception, if at all.

The signal is so weak that it looks for service carrier constantly.

Strong reception always, with the exception of inside campus buildings. Otherwise, reception is always 5 bars and calls are clear and never drop.

Northbound on Rosa Rd.from Regent Street, reception is usually lost as one descends the hill.

Phone as been working great thaks to Robert Shorette at Mobile One Wireless in Madison. I had a hard time getting the phone to work until I took it to Mobile One and they fixed my reception problems in about 10 mins.

Bars mean nothing as long as you can use your phone. That is what is important

Reception around Hilldale Mall (University Ave and Midvale) is generally good. Sometimes when calling from within the apartment I've had people complain they hear themselves echo'ing, and I've heard echos on occassion as well (this is when I've called a land line, so its almost certainly either my phone or Verizon).

Terrible coverage here, and even poorer building penetration.... enough to drain a battery in a matter of hours. I can't imagine that any employee of Berbee finds Verizon usable while at work.

I lose my call whenever I drive on Thompson Dr. through this stretch. Guaranteed, every time. I have to drive all the way to East Towne before I pick up a signal again.

Step one foot away from Buckeye Rd. and all reception is virtually lost. This has not been fixed in over 18 months.

This is one of the many holes in the Verizon network in Wisconsin, and I will be posting many more. If a tower were placed here, then I might actually have coverage in my house where I need it.

Usually get one maybe 2 bars. Not sure if it is the phone or the service.

Works good enough...Never has dropped a call in my room. The building itself is thick stone, so it gets pretty good reception considering.