I had the same problem with Verizon. I had to go 5 miles before it would work. I later found out we didn't have towers in our area. (this was about 10 years ago.) After repeated phone calls, they would not do anything about it. They said we had our service too long. Years ago we only had the 30 min. a month plan that was used strictly for emergencies...and my husband rarely used it would work until he was about 5 miles from home. Of course, we didn't know that at the time as he would call me when he first got off work and he had a 35 mile drive. Long story short....the manager at where we were sold the phone told me "Well, I didn't sell the phone to you." No, your EMPLOYEE did and they should have made it right. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND VERIZON!!!!!!!!