If many people are using the network at the same time in the same place, your service may be impacted. For example, if you are near a location like a stadium with tens of thousands of other people, it's a good possibility there are thousands of other Verizon Wireless customers using their devices at the same time.

Severe weather and seasonal conditions like heavy snow, storms or even trees in bloom can also affect your coverage.
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These seasonal changes can make it harder for the radio signal to reach you.

Physical barriers such as mountains, hills and buildings may also block the signal.
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In addition, building materials like metal panels, concrete walls or certain types of glass can absorb or reflect signal.
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This is why your experience may be impacted in basements or other interior rooms, or large buildings such as hospitals with large amounts of electronics.

A minimum of 4 satellites is required for any positioning, but often to get an accurate position a GPS receiver will need to see as many as 20 satellites. GPS signals also do not travel through structures (walls, buildings, trees, etc.) and will often rebound on hard surfaces, meaning indoor positioning is much more difficult to report.

GPS typically can only work outdoors.

Performance issues can also occur when your device doesn't have an unobstructed view of the cell site. This could be because you are too high, too low, too far or even too close to the tower.
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Antennas are positioned to provide coverage to the largest population possible and may not be aimed in you direction. Current wireless technologies have varying broadcast ranges which determine how far the signal can reach.