Connectivity issues?

Aha! Someone else mentioned that he thought the OTA update created this issue. Unfortunately both my original Charge as well as the replacement they gave me, were given the update. If I had known, I would never have allowed the update.

So I wonder if this is really at the heart of the problem.

I thought doing the hard reset would take the update off but it did not. However the hard reset did seem to fix the issue. :D Now I am happy!
 
Yes it does wipe everything off. To do it using the hardware buttons...

#1 Turn phone off

#2 Press the volume up, home and power key all at the same time

#3 When u see the samsung logo, release all the buttons

#4 Scroll down to clear data ( I think that was the option) using your volume key) select it by using the home key

#5 I believe the option for this step is the reboot.

Hope that helps.. those were the directions given to me by VZW tech support. The other forums out there say to use the Volume Down and Power combo but that didnt work for me.
 
Thanks. Did the update but unfortunately no change at all. When it drops to 3G the data cuts off. There is a deeper issue with these phones and/or the way the towers talk to these phones. Otherwise it's a huge problem that will deeply impact the sales of 4G phones.

Verizon will have tons of returns on these...and not just the Charge, all of the 4G phones.
 
Delco, I'm in the Plainview/Syosset area, near the edge of 4G. I usually get 4G in the house, but on occasion (like this morning), I'll drop to 3G. Naturally I lost all connectivity when that happened today. I rebooted the phone and it recaptured 4G.

Man oh man, not good.

aha. gotcha. Hope it is fixed, and all of the island should be covered well by xmas no?
 
aha. gotcha. Hope it is fixed, and all of the island should be covered well by xmas no?

Not sure about the coverage down the road. But a hopeful sign just this afternoon, I dropped to 3G and maintained connectivity! If that continues I'll be one happy camper. That was really the only reservation I've had with this phone.

I'm just hoping this wasn't a lone instance of this. I guess I'll know better tomorrow.
 
Wow...I'm in Massapequa and was planning on picking up either the Charge or Revolution this weekend. Ken, please keep us updated on this issue. My plan was to give my Fascinate to my wife and get one of the 4G phones hoping to get grandfathered into unlimited data but I may have to rethink everything.
 
I've had zero problems whatsoever with connectivity, other than the sales lady lying about the presence of 4G in my area.
 
Yank, my turnaround continues tonight. I deliberately went in to some 3G areas where previously I had gotten zero connectivity and tonight all continues perfectly normal. In fact the 3G speeds are surprisingly fast now too! On the Verizon forum, a Verizon tech posted a rather involved procedure he wanted everyone to check that is having issues. So I'm VERY happy to see that Verizon is listening.

The fact that many people are not having issues leads me to believe that the problem is on their end. Adding to that, the fact that my phone went from having serious issues with 3G to now behaving perfectly normally with me making zero changes on my end, further points to the issue being on Verizon's end as opposed to the phone itself.

I responded to his post by telling him for the first time things are back to normal and was anything done in the Plainview area that would account for this.

BTW, as an aid to those having problems, it would be helpful (and Verizon has asked for this too) if you could indicate where you're located if you are having issues.
 
I'm having this exact same issue. I live in a 4G area, but it will occasionally drop into 3G. I can't seem to get data when this happens. If I switch to CDMA only mode, nothing works or has data. So if I switch to CDMA only, reboot, and then wait a few minutes, the 3G icon comes up and I get 3G data, though its very slow (.5-2Mbps download). I don't know what the normal numbers for 3g are, so maybe that's to be expected. If I switch back into LTE, it syncs with 4G within a minute or so, but its obvious that the switchoff between 4G and 3G takes some time and doesn't always work, and there is no data during that handoff period. So if I lose a 4G signal temporarily, its about 2 minutes or more before I can use data again even if I reacquire 4G. And if I don't, there's no guarantee that I'll get 3g.

Also, 4G works great for me most of the time. But another issue I experience is that it typically slows down to around 5- 8mbps d/l and 1-2mbps u/l according to the speedtest app. Browsing, downloading, and watching youtube in HD all seem to be as quick as ever at those times, so it could just be the app, but I'll occasionally get low 20's/high 4-5's like I'm supposed to. Every now and then I'll get a lower download speed than upload (like .7Mbps or something!), and that usually seems to happen around the times when 4G drops out for a bit.

I'm still on ED1, so its not that. The rest of the phone seems to work great, its just that it has occasional network issues, and its often reading a lot slower than it should be. I really would hate to exchange this phone, as I've put so much on it already and it seems to work great otherwise. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with my device, especially since so many of you had similar problems. Does anyone think an exchange would help? Again, I'd hate to do that if it won't help, seems like alot of trouble.

Ken, can you please link me to the VZW support thread you're referring to? I'd really like to get in touch with a tech who can tell me if this is an issue in my area or with my specific device, thanks!
 
Cruiserdude, I would tell you not to switch, it's on their end. Mine was swapped out during the problem period and the new one was identical in its behavior. In fact I could simulate the problem at any Verizon store by simply taking one of their demo phones and putting it in CDMA mode and back to LTE. That would make the phone drop to 3G and lose the ability to get data. Eventually it would reacquire 4G, but it could take a long time. Simply leaving it in 3G also showed no connectivity. To me this indicated that the problem was either in the phone's design, software or on Verizon's end, not 'my' phone. The fact that many people had no issues led me to believe it was on Verizon's end.

My good reception continues today. I again went to known 3G areas to get the phone to drop from 4G to 3G and I had no issues at all. In fact the 3G was very fast. I would encourage you to call tech support, report the issue, describe it in detail as I did and it does look they do listen.

Here's the link for you:
Re: Charge inability to connect to the 3G network - Page 2 - Verizon Wireless Community
 
Thanks Ken, good to know! If the problems continue today, I'll post on that support thread, and give it the weekend. I have other business at the Verizon store on Monday, if its still acting up, I'll tell them there. And I'll definitely compare my device to theirs before agreeing to an exchange, again seems like a lot of trouble and I don't want to risk getting one with the same connectivity issues, but other hardware problems as well, as mine seems great as far as that goes.
 
so, my phone shipped without the update.. should I go ahead and update it? it keeps asking me to!
 
so, my phone shipped without the update.. should I go ahead and update it? it keeps asking me to!

I wouldn't do it, no. No one has yet found any tangible benefit, and its currently much easier to root with ED1. You can just use the one-click Gingerbreak method, whereas with ED2 I believe you still have to flash it with ODIN. If someone finds an actual improvement, then yeah do it, but until then I'd hold off.
 
cool. ill look into rooting it. maybe just for altered beast and getting rid of the stock bloat apps.

I am just very timid to do so. And I would appreciate it if any one could direct me towards a good site(s) that will demonstrate/explain how to use gingerbreak to root the phone then to flash it with altered beast.
 
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Ken,
Glad to hear your issue seems to be resolved! Great news! I'm still a little hesitant to pull the trigger on the Charge or Revolution though until I'm sure this is no longer an issue for those of us on Long Island. Interestingly, when I went to the Massapequa Verizon store on Memorial Day to compare the phones, I was unable to get the Revolution to connect to the internet. I played with everything else and figured it was a minor glitch with that phone. I think I spend as much time analyzing the purchase of one of these phones as I did when I bought my car.
 
Ken,
Glad to hear your issue seems to be resolved! Great news! I'm still a little hesitant to pull the trigger on the Charge or Revolution though until I'm sure this is no longer an issue for those of us on Long Island. Interestingly, when I went to the Massapequa Verizon store on Memorial Day to compare the phones, I was unable to get the Revolution to connect to the internet. I played with everything else and figured it was a minor glitch with that phone. I think I spend as much time analyzing the purchase of one of these phones as I did when I bought my car.

Yup. That was right in the middle of this issue when none of the 4G Verizon phones were able to connect to the internet with 3G. It does seem to be fixed at this point and a by-product of this fix is that for the first time my battery has lasted 12 hours! Before I was lucky to get 8. So apparently the phone was often hunting for service and I wasn't even aware of it.

I read on another forum that Verizon is preparing an OTA update that will improve all of the 4G phones connectivity.
 
Yup. That was right in the middle of this issue when none of the 4G Verizon phones were able to connect to the internet with 3G. It does seem to be fixed at this point and a by-product of this fix is that for the first time my battery has lasted 12 hours! Before I was lucky to get 8. So apparently the phone was often hunting for service and I wasn't even aware of it.

I read on another forum that Verizon is preparing an OTA update that will improve all of the 4G phones connectivity.

That's great to hear, although it'll probably get rid of root, but the devs can take care of that. I'm still ED1, but if I can get faster speeds, I'll take ED3 or whatever they wanna call it. My 3g/4g switching issues have gone away, doesn't take but a few seconds now and the phone does it on its own no problem. My 4G speeds are better, like around 10-11 download, but still very rarely see what I'd expect, which is low-mid 20's...
 
I picked up my Charge on the 27th, right out of the box the data was not working, we tried 3 different Charges. The verizon guy spent 2 hours on the phone with verizon tech support trying to figure it out. Finally he gave me my phone and told me that ticket had been put in and that they would have it fixed by Monday. Kind of odd for them to go ahead and sell me the phone without a data plan.

As I left the store the signal came through, then dropped, then came through. I live in a cdma only area, and my phone is basically unusable most of the times. Not just data, but no signal at all. My wifes iphone 4 consistently has 3 bars where I struggle to maintain one. Not sure if it is the phone, I will give it one more week simply because I really like this phone, but no data and poor signal strength is a deal breaker.
 
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Zosofrank, where do you live? It seems to be fixed in the Long Island area, but the issue probably varies from one area to another.

I would also consider calling tech support and have them write a trouble ticket. They were responsive when I called.
 
I live in Birmingham AL, we don't have LTE yet, but are supposed to by the end of the year. I am wondering if that is what is causing the problems. I notice that when I put it in cdma only mode, it loses all connection but when I put it back in LTE it will find it after a while.

Makes no sense seeing as how we don't even have LTE here. They opened a support ticket when I picked the phone up last week, but closed it on Monday saying that it looked like it was working.

I can't really call in a support ticket now because as of yesterday I rooted and started running Altered Beast and figure that might throw up a red flag, or if they asked what the version was they would tell me I needed to upgrade to ED2.
 

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