iOS 8.1 always in extended coverage

The PRL is the preferred roaming list. I believe that your prl is for an old Alltel plan, as is mine. There have been two people in this thread that have changed to a Verizon plan, and presumably given up their unlimited data if they had unlimited, and have stated that fixed their problem. I'm thinking that Verizon has figured out a new way to throttle those with unlimited data; leave them on an old PRL preferring towers without LTE.

In my case, my iPhone 5S was an upgrade from an Alltel feature phone in January of 2014. It was the second line on a Friends & Family plan, the data portion was $30 for 2GB on top of the normal cost for the additional line.

In October I migrated our plan to the More Everything plan. I upgraded to iOS 8.1 a couple weeks after that and that's when the "Extended" network status appeared. I was still on LTE though and speeds were seemingly unaffected, so it wasn't being throttled speed-wise that I could tell.

-Dave

Dave, you didn't have unlimited data, though. I still have unlimited data, but I rarely see LTE, only 3G, 1X, and No Service. Never happened until I got an LTE capable phone. Can you tell me what your PRL is?

My PRL is currently 15361 on an iPhone 5S, 60 miles west of Minneapolis.

-Dave

I think that is some flavor of Alltel PRL. Seems like the Verizon ones are numbered 5xxxx.

A coworker of mine with an iPhone 5C has the same PRL of 15361. His device has never been associated with an Alltel plan.

This site shows Verizon PRLs both in the 1XXXX & 5XXXX ranges, depending on device types: http://www.roamingzone.com/prl/#Verizon

Mine is 14023, which I know is for a grandfathered Alltel plan. I've seen one other person with 14024 that was also Alltel. Most Alltel customers seem to be on 14023. I've tried to determine when that was released, but most of the PRL sites don't even show the Alltel PRL's. I've checked roamingzone and didn't find the Alltel prls. This flipping back and forth is draining my battery frequently 😟 Right now, its extended lte...

As mentioned, I used to have an alltel plan and my PRL is 14024.

I'm speaking with another agent right now. They said my PRL was updated on 12/11/14 so I have the latest version.

I told them that people in this thread mentioned having their PRL changed and it being a possible fix and she said it is based on my plan and my location. They kept replying I have the latest version of PRL for my area and they can file a trouble ticket with the network team to look into it.

back to square one.

Got a reply from Verizon.

They said it is because of my alltel plan. My PRL 14024 is the highest I can have with my alltel plan.

They said I need to switch to a verizon plan to update my PRL and extended will go away. If i don't want to change to a verizon plan, then I will have to tough it out.

I don't want to change to a verizon plan because my rate will go up.

BrandonW83, thank you for following up with that information. I have filed a complaint with the FCC alleging that Verizon has figured out a way to throttle customers with unlimited data grandfathered on Alltel plans, through the PRL's. I had a Verizon representative tell me that changing to a Verizon plan "might" solve my problem, but if it didn't, I would not be able to return to my Alltel plan. So, Verizon is preferring the Verizon Plan customers, while providing a lesser quality service to its customers that were previously with Alltel. I never had problems with my iPhone 4 and have had nothing but poor quality signal and dropped calls since I have an LTE capable iphone 6+.

It may not be that simple. I am on a Midwest Wireless Plan from 2003. For my plan I have the Regional 1000 which consists of the following. A coverage area of the entire state of MN except the Twin Cities MSA. Under my plan if I use voice (Even to this day I pay 25 cents a min.) I have unlimited nights and weekends, free calling to 5 "Friends and Family" (Five numbers I pick) , unlimited data (Even on 4G LTE), and 1000 any time minutes.

Sometime around 2005 Alltel purchased Midwest Wireless and then in 2008 Verizon bought Alltel.

It makes perfect sense why Verizon would need to maintain a different PRL for me because of the reasons listed above. I should also mention that when I leave the state of MN I pay the "Roaming" rate even though Verizon has a Nationwide calling area.

It was a problem with the PRL. I did hear from Verizon in response to my FCC complaint and a new PRL, 14627, was pushed to both my phone and my husband's. Additionally, Verizon issued a carrier settings update about a week ago, I think. Since receiving the new PRL, I have no more flipping between 3G, 1X, and no service. I have an LTE signal all the time, now. My phone still shows as "extended", but as long as I have LTE, I don't care. Oddly though, my husband's phone shows "Verizon", even when standing next to me. Only difference is his phone is a 6, mine is a 6+.

Just wanted to share my experiences so far with this extended issue. I went to Apple, they stated it was a provider issue. Went to Verizon, they stated it was and has been an apple issue 99 % of the time. after factory reset, SIM card replacement, and two more trips to Apple store, a technician took it in the back to inspect and noted that one of the two on board antennas had failed. Was this due to any of the 8.0 updates? Who knows, Apple will never say I am sure. But solution : replaced phone. ( buy Apple care) so much cheaper in the long run. Phone replacement was free. Any damages of my own would have been a 49.00 deducable. Can't beat that .

Spent 3 hours at the Apple Store. After 3 phones and 2 SIM cards with the apple genius on the phone with Verizon I got nowhere. Now I have to go to the Verizon store store because I know for certain it's not a hardware issue. One tech at Verizon told me before that if I switch to a Verizon plan (I'm on an old Alltel) that it may fix the problem. No guarantee. But if I switch and it doesn't work that I can't go back.