Are my reservations valid?

[Rob_B]

I'm looking to change from a RMHD and go to a Droid Turbo. I have a couple of reservations about doing this . I live in Rochester NY (One of the first cities to go live with 4G LTE service) but for the areas I spend 90+% of my time in I usually get 3G coverage sometimes even dropping to 1X. This signal is inside or outside, no major difference (Currently 1X = -97 dBm & 3G= -101 dBm). Verizon coverage maps show full 4G & LTE data coverage when I input my address. Sure their out is the disclaimer that "YMMV" .
I'm worried that with the VZW plan to push VoLTE and the turbo having a single antenna I be experiencing my old HTC Thunderbolt all over (early adopter glitches and very little support from manufacturer or carrier). Most of the time concurent acess to voice and data is nice but not really a deal breaker if it isn't all the time everywhere I am. I just don't want to shell out full retail $'s (still have UDP ) and be stuck with what on paper looks like a great phone (so did the Tbolt at the time) that gets pushed aside and forgotten when the next iteration device fixes the hardware misses first time around.
My RMHD is 2 years old now, battery isn't what it once was (also I have no landline) and its screen is at times blue flashing or fading to horizontal lines then black. I need a reliable, minimally tethered to wall power replacement. Are my concerns valid or am I worrying about too much?

 

[Hgouck]

You might want to consider buying a Maxx out right instead of going with the Turbo. The Turbo is a great phone but until VoLTE is proven accurate and strong you will be experiencing dropped calls. Also the Maxx has two antenna so you can do voice and data simultaneously. Battery life is good (will last through the day without problems) and since you bought it out right you are not locked in to a two year contract and can upgrade when something better strikes your vancy.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[doogald]

The turbo had a cdma radio for calls and data. You'll be fine with it. When volte comes to the phone, don't add it to your plan and you can continue to use it for calls and data on cdma, data on LTE - just not at the same time.

The Maxx is a great phone but it's restricted to 16 gb now and I'd be afraid of a two year commitment to it. It's already 16 months old and it was using less than state of the art technology when it came out anyway (from a cpu and gpu point of view.) I have a Maxx (32 gb), I love it, plan to keep it until next year, but I think I'd go with another phone if I had to buy one now - a gs 5, a g3, or an HTC one. I think the Note 4 is way too big, but that's another choice if you want to stay away from the turbo and the size is OK for you.

 

[ckelly33]

When volte comes to the phone, don't add it to your plan and you can continue to use it for calls and data on cdma, data on LTE - just not at the same time. .

Everyday it seems I read something new about VoLTE. Is this 'add it to your plan' accurate? If I add it to my plan - isn't that a change that will require me losing my unlimited data?

 

[Rob_B]

The turbo had a cdma radio for calls and data. You'll be fine with it. When volte comes to the phone, don't add it to your plan and you can continue to use it for calls and data on cdma, data on LTE - just not at the same time.

The Maxx is a great phone but it's restricted to 16 gb now and I'd be afraid of a two year commitment to it. It's already 16 months old and it was using less than state of the art technology when it came out anyway (from a cpu and gpu point of view.) I have a Maxx (32 gb), I love it, plan to keep it until next year, but I think I'd go with another phone if I had to buy one now - a gs 5, a g3, or an HTC one. I think the Note 4 is way too big, but that's another choice if you want to stay away from the turbo and the size is OK for you.

I was thinking along those lines. I really only have 3G now so I'd be getting an up to date device that would hedge against Verizon continuing to claim 4G LTE where it isn't. Maybe someday they'll fill in the real holes in the 4G coverage they tout

 

[jasoraso]

Regarding VolTE, I don't think it will change unlimited data, I think it will be more like a feature that is turned on or off.

If the OP has problems getting 4G, and simultaneous data/phone calls are important, then the Turbo (or Moto X 2014 or Nexus 6) shouldn't be considered

One good thing to note, is that it appears Verizon is beginning to transition some 3g bandwith to 4g. Hopefully, that means a more solid 4g signal in weak areas?

 

[bluemoongreg]

Having owned a Droid Maxx for over a year prior to picking up the Turbo, I agree that it would be a solid choice - provided you can live with 16gb storage (only option now) & the internals being a bit dated.
Mine still gave stellar performance & the battery was on par with the Turbo. A relative busted her phone & needed one, so I gave her the Maxx & used an upgrade to get myself the Turbo. While I'm very happy with the Turbo, I was completely satisfied with the Maxx & would not have felt compelled to upgrade under normal circumstances.

 

[Ry]

If you're having reservations but want to upgrade, go with the DROID MAXX.

 

[doogald]

Everyday it seems I read something new about VoLTE. Is this 'add it to your plan' accurate? If I add it to my plan - isn't that a change that will require me losing my unlimited data?

Well, it doesn't affect data on your plan at all. It's a feature, like visual voicemail, call forwarding, etc. You can add or remove from your plan without affecting the contract end date. The only part of VoLTE that is counted against data are video calls. Normal audio calls just use whatever minutes plan that you have.

VZW has a FAQ about VoLTE: Advanced Calling FAQs | Verizon Wireless

 

[ckelly33]

It aggravates me a little that Verizon has crippled what would have been defined a month ago as typical/normal usage (data + voice simultaneously) by only including one antenna for a 'calling feature'.

 

[doogald]

I was thinking along those lines. I really only have 3G

If you only ever see 3G anyway voice and data will not be an option with any phone that Verizon offers right now.

There was just a story yesterday about Verizon testing the replacement of their CDMA footprint with LTE in NYC but they are bit restricted from doing that totally right now, as so many phones lack LTE (41% of devices on Verizon, including prepaid customers, where they just started offering LTE phones earlier this year.) See https://gigaom.com/2014/12/03/verizon-starts-killing-off-3g-networks-to-make-room-for-lte/

 

[Ry]

It aggravates me a little that Verizon has crippled what would have been defined a month ago as typical/normal usage (data + voice simultaneously) by only including one antenna for a 'calling feature'.

They're in a transition period. IIRC iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Moto X, and Nexus 6 are all like this for Verizon.

 

[mobrules]

I came over from the RMHD also. Honestly I don't even notice that data disconnects while on a call. I have a weak 4g signal area but I really don't notice much. I think the 4g signal will get stronger over the next year. They are switching some of the 3g towers/signal over to 4g. Pretty sure this is to accommodate VoLTE.

Called customer service to see if VoLTE rollout would force a plan change. They advised no. But that could change. The rep also advised it could be turned off if desired.

 

[doogald]

It aggravates me a little that Verizon has crippled what would have been defined a month ago as typical/normal usage (data + voice simultaneously) by only including one antenna for a 'calling feature'.

I am almost 100% certain that Verizon had every intention of having VoLTE working in more devices by now but that they have run into trouble getting it working. When they were planning this device, probably last year, they surely expected the feature to be more available than it's proved to be.

The Droid Maxx has it and people who use it complain of dropped calls, poor audio on calls when calling non-VoLTE numbers, and increased battery drain. I'm sure that's much of the reason why the rollout has been very, very slow - the network just isn't ready for the feature in a way that Verizon expected, or software required on devices isn't good enough.

Verizon promised the feature for the Turbo before the end of the year, so I'd start being pissed if January comes without it.

 

[doogald]

They're in a transition period. IIRC iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Moto X, and Nexus 6 are all like this for Verizon.

The iPhone 5 and 5s cannot do voice and data with CDMA and LTE, and they do not have VoLTE available to those phones yet. The two iPhone 6 models cannot do voice and data on CDMA and LTE but you can add the VoLTE feature to those iPhones.

 

[ckelly33]

They're in a transition period. IIRC iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Moto X, and Nexus 6 are all like this for Verizon.

I understand that, but what I was saying is our previous phones could do this without the 'premium calling' added in (with associated monthly fees). For the Turbo (and those others you mentioned) our 'free' capability of data+simultaneous voice is lost and for the pleasure of having it again we will have to pay (no charge for added frustration the dropped calls when traveling from a 4G area to a 3G).

 

[doogald]

I understand that, but what I was saying is our previous phones could do this without the 'premium calling' added in (with associated monthly fees). For the Turbo (and those others you mentioned) our 'free' capability of data+simultaneous voice is lost and for the pleasure of having it again we will have to pay (no charge for added frustration the dropped calls when traveling from a 4G area to a 3G).

There is no extra fee for advanced calling. You won't be paying any extra.

FWIW, simultaneous voice and data is relatively recent on Verizon. It's only been available since 2011, when the LTE network was added (and one or two SVDO handsets, which could do V&D on CDMA at the expense of battery life.)

 

[ckelly33]

That's good news. My idea that advanced calling would cost extra came from one of your posts above that indicated it would need to be 'added' to your account - I guess I misunderstood what you meant.

I knew that V+D was relatively recent - and I rarely use it, but when I do I like it. Most of us reading forums wouldn't be upgrading from a 2011 phone (I've had 3 phones since 2011!) so when I said that I was referring to the people 'here'.

 

[1Coopgt]

I'm looking to change from a RMHD and go to a Droid Turbo. I have a couple of reservations about doing this . I live in Rochester NY (One of the first cities to go live with 4G LTE service) but for the areas I spend 90+% of my time in I usually get 3G coverage sometimes even dropping to 1X. This signal is inside or outside, no major difference (Currently 1X = -97 dBm & 3G= -101 dBm). Verizon coverage maps show full 4G & LTE data coverage when I input my address. Sure their out is the disclaimer that "YMMV" .
I'm worried that with the VZW plan to push VoLTE and the turbo having a single antenna I be experiencing my old HTC Thunderbolt all over (early adopter glitches and very little support from manufacturer or carrier). Most of the time concurent acess to voice and data is nice but not really a deal breaker if it isn't all the time everywhere I am. I just don't want to shell out full retail $'s (still have UDP ) and be stuck with what on paper looks like a great phone (so did the Tbolt at the time) that gets pushed aside and forgotten when the next iteration device fixes the hardware misses first time around.
My RMHD is 2 years old now, battery isn't what it once was (also I have no landline) and its screen is at times blue flashing or fading to horizontal lines then black. I need a reliable, minimally tethered to wall power replacement. Are my concerns valid or am I worrying about too much?

I'm over in Penfield Rob. So far the Turbo has been fine . As for VoLTE we'll just have to wait and see . VoLTE worked fine on my S5 before I picked up the Turbo .

 

[Rob_B]

I'm over in Penfield Rob. So far the Turbo has been fine . As for VoLTE we'll just have to wait and see . VoLTE worked fine on my S5 before I picked up the Turbo .

I'm in Chili. I get 4G when I'm near RIT.

As for simultaneous voice & data, my last 2 phones did this (HTC Thunderbolt & Motorola RAZR Maxx HD) so I got used to it being built in.