Droid Charge EE4 issues/concerns

[Bravozero]

I thought I'd make a thread pertaining to any issues or concerns from the latest update for the Droid Charge, EE4.

I'll start off by saying that since this update, data connection has been VERY fickle, to say the least. I used to have great 4G signal near my residence and I live in a finished basement, and if I lose 4G it would stay in 3G or lose all signal even voice. Going down the road, the data connectivity would ether be 4G or 3G, period, even in areas that have excellent signal. Overall it wasn't perfect but it was pretty good.

Then I updated to EE4, and my data connections have become inconsistent. I rarely have 4G in my basement apartment and even 3G has issues. I had not seen 1X until this last update, and it seems to come up more often than it should. If the phone has 4G, then it's actually faster than before. But its a matter of how long I can keep it. If I'm in 3G and I go to make or receive a call, it will sometimes not connect after the call ends, and it will end up in 1X in a "well lit" 3G area. Then it will drop the 1X connection with no data at all, then back to 3G.

I've also noticed too that voice calls tend to cut out a bit on their end, meaning there are times where I can't hear or understand the other caller, which rarely happened before the update. I called Verizon and they've gone through all of the technical steps to see if it can be fixed and nothing worked (of course, the stuff they told me to do is basic crap that I've already done like factory reset, etc.). They've made a note in my account that if I need to return the phone they can give me another one without hassle, they just advised me not to update the new phone yet.

 

[jhowle9475]

these issues are not related to your phone. They are issues with the network as a whole. Since verizon is in the process of upgrading equipement you are gonna see thing be a little crazy. With the EE4 update i'm sure they added no codes and such and i would just be patient. I even see the things your talking about happening here in texas on 3G as well as my daughters Cosmo slider. It's no issue with your device.

 

[FearTheGhost13]

I personally have noticed my reception on all ends to be better since the update. Can't say I've noticed any bugs as of yet. But this kind of thread is always a good idea as it can lead to a wealth of information for those that are having issues and how to fix them (hopefully). I'll be sure to update if I encounter anything abnormal.

 

[ellje]

I downloaded my update on Saturday, and I've been playing with the Charge a bit this weekend.

So far, for me... I'm only seeing improvements. I'll give it some time before I can give my full recommendation.

So far:
Better GPS. I never had problems before, but I lock on even quicker, now.
Better Call clarity. I have had issues with beeping or people not being able to hear me, before, but randomly. None of that, yet, but I'll give it some time


I just ran 4G speed tests... haven't done this in a week and a half. My speeds are WAY slower right now than I've ever seen before. I'll try these again tomorrow at work, but I'm only getting ~8-9Mbps, wheras I was seeing 16-17Mbps before. Not sure if this is an EE4 thing, or simply a different time of day and a week and a half between my last test. I'll report back.

 

[barrycinti]

I personally have noticed my reception on all ends to be better since the update. Can't say I've noticed any bugs as of yet. But this kind of thread is always a good idea as it can lead to a wealth of information for those that are having issues and how to fix them (hopefully). I'll be sure to update if I encounter anything abnormal.

It seems like there are a variety on results from the update. Below are my observations

- all signals are either stronger and/or more stabler than before
- no longer have to use my network extender since the update, have used it for a long time with my BB in the past
- no longer 'stick in 1X when it rarely drops to that mode
- in the past if I left mobile data on my phone would get warm even without use
- with every thing turned off except bluetooth, my battery goes from 100% to about 60% in 12hrs of up time, way better than the past

One thing I did is before I had the update is call VZ support and complain about my signal. Maybe they boosted the signal in my area if many neighbors complained about signal problems?

It could be the update has tweaked the radio so that it actual gets a signal now and therfore is not running full tilt to acquire a signal?

 

[Bravozero]

these issues are not related to your phone. They are issues with the network as a whole. Since verizon is in the process of upgrading equipement you are gonna see thing be a little crazy. With the EE4 update i'm sure they added no codes and such and i would just be patient. I even see the things your talking about happening here in texas on 3G as well as my daughters Cosmo slider. It's no issue with your device.

I have to agree, yet disagree. My girlfriend has the Fascinate and she gets excellent 3G coverage in areas where I'm SUPPOSED to have 3G but drops to 1X instead. I've thought about the different radios in the standard CDMA phones as opposed to the eHRPD on the 4G phones, it's almost like Verizon's towers are having communication issues with these new radios. My Droid X had solid 3G signal everywhere, not once in the almost-year I had it did I ever see 1X.

So I agree that it's Verizon's network, but I also think it's these 4G phones with the newer radios.

 

[ellje]

Hmm... I'll have to, sadly, confirm that my download speeds have significantly dropped since I last ran a speed test. I used to get 16mbps download consistently, now I'm lucky to get 8mbps. I've even seen some results in the 3-5mbps download range.

I also was unable to go from 4G to 3G earlier this morning. I'm in a 4-5 bar signal spot right now. Just tried it again, and it worked seamlessly. I had these issues before EE4, but it doesn't seem to be improved, either.

Can anyone else test to see if you are seeing similar results since EE4? I'm using the Speed Test.net App.

 

[ellje]

This is the opposite of an issue or concern, but I'm curious if anyone else is noticing better battery life.

Last night, I had 40% remaining when I went to bed. I've never seen that kind of battery life before... even with light use.

Right now, I'm sitting at 71% remaining. I've been running 4G all day. I typically get ~14hrs on light/moderate use on 4G... I'm going to clear a whole day and then some, easily, at this pace. I even did an hour of 4G audio streaming, which WAS burning 20%/hr before EE4... I lost 8% in that hour of use today.

 

[turkishcoffee]

This is the opposite of an issue or concern, but I'm curious if anyone else is noticing better battery life.

Last night, I had 40% remaining when I went to bed. I've never seen that kind of battery life before... even with light use.

Right now, I'm sitting at 71% remaining. I've been running 4G all day. I typically get ~14hrs on light/moderate use on 4G... I'm going to clear a whole day and then some, easily, at this pace. I even did an hour of 4G audio streaming, which WAS burning 20%/hr before EE4... I lost 8% in that hour of use today.

I updated yesterday and am still evaluating the effects. My battery life was pretty good before the update. The update claimed that it would improve battery life when placing voice calls, but didn't specify general battery life improvements. If you're seeing improvements already, that's great! Enjoy!

 

[ellje]

I updated yesterday and am still evaluating the effects. My battery life was pretty good before the update. The update claimed that it would improve battery life when placing voice calls, but didn't specify general battery life improvements. If you're seeing improvements already, that's great! Enjoy!

I know it... thing is, I don't make a lot of voice calls... ESPECIALLY during or before work. I'm at 53% right now with 10hrs of 4G use. Some of that was streaming music, which is exceptional that I have this much battery life left!

I'll say this... going from 3G to 4G or vica versa has been disappointing.

 

[barrycinti]

these issues are not related to your phone. They are issues with the network as a whole. Since verizon is in the process of upgrading equipement you are gonna see thing be a little crazy. With the EE4 update i'm sure they added no codes and such and i would just be patient. I even see the things your talking about happening here in texas on 3G as well as my daughters Cosmo slider. It's no issue with your device.

Since getting the EE4 update my phone has worked great, now tonight the data connection is awful. I have not made any changes to the phone. It looks like VZ has nertwork problems sometimes. I have set it to 3G only and it still is having problems.

 

[AndroidXTC]

Since getting the EE4 update my phone has worked great, now tonight the data connection is awful. I have not made any changes to the phone. It looks like VZ has nertwork problems sometimes. I have set it to 3G only and it still is having problems.

I was having the same issues last night I couldn't even get 1X it was terrible.

 

[Bravozero]

Got my replacement Charge last night, haven't updated it yet as I want to test my data connections before the EE4 baseband is flashed from the new update. So far so good. However.... and it might be my eyes from lack of sleep, but the screen seems a little off compared to my first one. The bright red looks more like a reddish-orange.

 

[Ken7]

Hmm... I'll have to, sadly, confirm that my download speeds have significantly dropped since I last ran a speed test. I used to get 16mbps download consistently, now I'm lucky to get 8mbps. I've even seen some results in the 3-5mbps download range.

I also was unable to go from 4G to 3G earlier this morning. I'm in a 4-5 bar signal spot right now. Just tried it again, and it worked seamlessly. I had these issues before EE4, but it doesn't seem to be improved, either.

Can anyone else test to see if you are seeing similar results since EE4? I'm using the Speed Test.net App.

My speeds are about the same, some are actually better than I was getting and some a bit worse.

 

[Bravozero]

Anyone notice that voice calls tend to cut out every once in a while? I can't blame the Charge though, started doing that on my Droid X about a week before I got the Charge.

 

[Ken7]

In my house, my Charge can not reliably hold on to a 4G signal. I just looked at an in-depth VZW coverage map by street. Despite the fact that my area shows as solidly 4G (not fringe or 'expanded'), the phone often drops out of 4G in my house and into either 3G or 'no connectivity'. Yes, you can reboot, go in and out of 'airplane mode' and whatever else will knock the phone back to 4G, but that doesn't last very long.

This whole thing is very disappointing. It's great when the 4G is solid, but if you can't hold on to a 4G signal in a solid 4G area in a wood frame house, not a steel frame high rise, you have to scratch your head and ask if it's worth it. This is to say nothing of the 'no connectivity' issues I get periodically in my house and other areas that are solidly 3G.

Since the recent EE4 update didn't seem to fix this issue to any great extent (from my experience as well as many others I've read about in other forums), I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that the issue is in the chipsets being used in these 1st gen phones. I obviously could be very wrong about this, but at some point you think this is not a software issue and more of a hardware issue since all the 4G phones seem to be afflicted this way. Of course your results will depend on the area you live in. I used to think it might have just been the towers not properly telling the phones how to switch in to and out of 3G and 4G areas, but now who knows?

The more I see this, the more I read about the other 4G phones from other owners, the more I think 'not ready for prime time'. I'm really not sure I could, in good conscience, recommend a 4G phone to someone at this point.

 

[Cruiserdude]

See, a lot of people say that, but myself and many others have had great results. My Charge has performed almost perfectly in every way, and I haven't had any data synching issues since the first few days. EE4 has only improved it, as I now get strong 4g almost everywhere, and 3g works great now if I don't have 4g. Battery life is much improved as well.

I'm certainly not discounting your issues, as I know many people have had quite a few. But there are enough people with great results that its hard to believe its an issue with all the radios. It could be individual phones, or your particular area. But its not something that affects everyone by any means, so its not likely to be a bad hardware design.

My advice to you and anyone else having data issues would be to call tech support and try to get past level 1. I spoke with a network specialist who was very knowledgeable and helpful, and he confirmed I had no issues with my device, and some work was underway in my area, as well as helped me with an unrelated voice coverage issue I've had with every phone I've had at this house. They've got a network team in each area that specializes in this kind of thing, and they can't fix an issue they're not aware of. They'll either tell you why you're having the issues, decide its a device issue and get you another one, or open a service ticket to get the issue resolved. But I can assure you that its not a universal thing.

 

[Ken7]

You're right I'm sure in that every device is not impacted. But I'll offer a possible reason for this, the reception in these phones is not as good as 3G only phones and if you're in a really good area or areas, you may never see the issues. It's kind of like having a radio that has lousy reception but you never notice it since you live 1/2 mile from the transmitter.

I don't think that everyone that has these complaints (and as you know there are many many of them) has a defective phone, so it does lead me to believe it depends on where you live. Now why do I say these receivers in the current generation of 4G phones are less sensitive to 3G? Because my wife has a Verizon Iphone and whenever I've had no connectivity issues in a 3G area, she has no trouble getting data. It's easily verified and 100% repeatable. In fact I've never seen an instance where I got no data and she too didn't...she always gets data in every situation where I couldn't.

Now again, if I switched areas where I didn't have the issue (and to be fair, that's in the majority of areas), I'd never know there was a difference in how our receivers performed. It's only in certain areas.

So what does all of this mean? Well IMO it's either the receivers in these 4G phones are less sensitive or don't have the ability to hold on to a 3G signal the way a 3G only phone can or there is something very odd going on in some areas that aren't properly telling the phone how to 'catch' a 3G signal and hold on to it.

Beyond that I'm just out of theories.

 

[Bravozero]

Ken7 and cruiserdude... where are the areas that you both reside? I'm willing to bet it's coverage area for the most part. I'm seeing the same things on my replacement phone that I did on my first.

 

[barrycinti]

You're right I'm sure in that every device is not impacted. But I'll offer a possible reason for this, the reception in these phones is not as good as 3G only phones and if you're in a really good area or areas, you may never see the issues. It's kind of like having a radio that has lousy reception but you never notice it since you live 1/2 mile from the transmitter.

I don't think that everyone that has these complaints (and as you know there are many many of them) has a defective phone, so it does lead me to believe it depends on where you live. Now why do I say these receivers in the current generation of 4G phones are less sensitive to 3G? Because my wife has a Verizon Iphone and whenever I've had no connectivity issues in a 3G area, she has no trouble getting data. It's easily verified and 100% repeatable. In fact I've never seen an instance where I got no data and she too didn't...she always gets data in every situation where I couldn't.

Now again, if I switched areas where I didn't have the issue (and to be fair, that's in the majority of areas), I'd never know there was a difference in how our receivers performed. It's only in certain areas.

So what does all of this mean? Well IMO it's either the receivers in these 4G phones are less sensitive or don't have the ability to hold on to a 3G signal the way a 3G only phone can or there is something very odd going on in some areas that aren't properly telling the phone how to 'catch' a 3G signal and hold on to it.

Beyond that I'm just out of theories.

I am out of theories also. When I got the EE4 update there was a dramatic improvement in 3G and voice signal. After a few days the data signal was awful. I tried all of the tricks, airplane mode, power cycle and battery pull. The next day it was good again. I don't see how it could be the phone radios. Maybe periodic interference or VZ network issues in my area?