LOUD electronic static during calls - Do I have a lemon?

[Revolutionary]

Has anyone else experienced this?

Yesterday for a while and again this morning, every call I tried to make or answer would connect, but the only sound that came through was extremely loud static. Like, had-to-hold-the-phone-away-from-my-head loud. The person on the other end also does not hear me speaking. There's no other possible explanation but my phone -- tried calling/receiving calls from another cell, two land lines, and my office phone. And it happened in two different areas, so its not tower related.

In one instance, a reboot of the phone fixed it. In another, rebooting did nothing. I changed the battery and that did it. On that note: I've only experienced this using the replacement battery that I got from Verizon (came with the spare battery charger). It doesn't make sense that this could be to blame, but its the only variable I can identify. After I switched back to the stock battery, all subsequent calls have worked.

Wifi was off during all calls.

Any ideas? Think I should take it back? Problem is, its sporadic -- hard to jet down to the Verizon store when its suddenly not working. Plus, I only discover that its not working when I, you know, need to make or receive a call, and I want to immediately troubleshoot and fix it.

 

[Revolutionary]

Bump. Nobody else?

 

[Mooem]

Made several phones calls since I've had it on release day and I haven't experienced any issues that you are describing. In fact call quality is rather excellent for me. Also I don't think I've read any other reports of this issue specifically.

If it starts acting up again, I would get it exchanged. Weird problem.

 

[JoeUserTX]

I had this happen once, but I'm in a location at work where there is a lot of electronic interference (so, assumed it was that).

Only happened once, so can't attribute it to anything phone-related at this point. Also, it wasn't ear-splitting loud.

 

[palmwebosfan]

I've had it a few times, but that is common with every phone I've ever owned. It starts when I initiate a call. When it starts, I hang up and try again. That usually solves the problem. This problem isn't specific to the GNex for me, so I don't think you have a Lemon.

 

[Revolutionary]

I've never had this happen before and I've been a Verizon customer for 11 years. And it wasn't just calls I made -- every call in or out, same thing. So I'm wondering if we do not in fact have the same problem, gingerbreadman. :-\

 

[ncbryan]

I have had this happen a couple of times. It also happened on my Charge so I dont know what to think.

 

[Revolutionary]

Well, this does in fact seem to be linked to the replacement battery. I went on the original battery for 2 days without experiencing this. I popped the replacement battery back in and every call is a loud screech.

So I went to the Verizon store just now to swap the replacement battery. Guess what? The new one does it too.

Here's what I think is going on. I disabled NFC when I got the phone (no interest). I think you need to have NFC enabled when you pop in a new battery (hopefully not every time, just the first time, but we'll see -- if I had to guess, there is something unique to each battery so that NFC has to be enabled to "sync" with the new battery at each swap). I restarted the phone twice with the new battery and NFC disabled -- all calls scrambled. But then I enabled NFC, rebooted, and calls work fine (knock on wood). I disabled NFC again and its still working. Fingers crossed...

 

[merx9]

How often is your phone doing this? Like I had mentioned mine does not do it every call or even close to it. I actually haven't had it do it since Sunday which I am hoping is a good sign.

Also, I do not have a replacement battery, I am using stock. Other than this my call quality has been great, so I am wondering if I have a lemon especially because it does not seem to be a common issue.

 

[Revolutionary]

Merx: when it happens to mine, it is every call, in and out. I don't tend to just leave it, though -- I troubleshoot until my calls connect (because, you know, you don't notice something like this until you need to use the phone...)

This really does seem to be battery related. I swapped the replacement battery out with NFC disabled and put the stock battery back in. Guess what? Screeching! I don't know anything about NFC or how it is implemented in these batteries, but it seems like it interacts with the voice signal somehow.

Or my phone is broken. One or the other.

 

[merx9]

Yea yours sounds worse than mine. I called Verizon yesterday and they are sending me out a new phone. Hopefully this one . Good luck though. While your in your 30 days you might as well have them swap it out

 

[CarryMe]

Has anyone else experienced this?

Yesterday for a while and again this morning, every call I tried to make or answer would connect, but the only sound that came through was extremely loud static. Like, had-to-hold-the-phone-away-from-my-head loud. The person on the other end also does not hear me speaking. There's no other possible explanation but my phone -- tried calling/receiving calls from another cell, two land lines, and my office phone. And it happened in two different areas, so its not tower related.

That is exactly what the demo phone in the one VZN store I visited sounded like.

 

[Strommer]

Thank you! I had/have the exact same problem, and am now rebooting the phone to test your fix. It never occurred to me that the battery swap could do this, and I was on the verge of taking the phone back. I didn't 'cause I was afraid of getting a refurb- That and I hoped someone smart would figure out the problem. Prayer answered..I hope, will report back with results.

 

[Johnly]

I have experienced the clicking once. Not since I have rooted and unlocked it though my browser tends to crash, even more than my iPhone. It should not happen that much Revolutionary.

 

[Johnly]

Sorry to double post, but my last post leads me to believe a factory wipe may be a first option?:-$

 

[P_Land15]

I have also been experiencing this problem, I am going into the store tomorrow to see what one of my friends who works there thinks. And then maybe go from there. It is a little more then annoying.

 

[eleeezy]

Well, this does in fact seem to be linked to the replacement battery. I went on the original battery for 2 days without experiencing this. I popped the replacement battery back in and every call is a loud screech.

So I went to the Verizon store just now to swap the replacement battery. Guess what? The new one does it too.

Here's what I think is going on. I disabled NFC when I got the phone (no interest). I think you need to have NFC enabled when you pop in a new battery (hopefully not every time, just the first time, but we'll see -- if I had to guess, there is something unique to each battery so that NFC has to be enabled to "sync" with the new battery at each swap). I restarted the phone twice with the new battery and NFC disabled -- all calls scrambled. But then I enabled NFC, rebooted, and calls work fine (knock on wood). I disabled NFC again and its still working. Fingers crossed...

Since i installed my extended battery, i started experiencing this loud, popping/crackling noise in th foreground of my calls once in a while. However, once it starts it continues throughout the call. Also, after swapping back to my original battery, things were fine again until an hour ago, i experienced the same problem. For what its worth, the person on the other end said i was coming through crystal clear w/o a hiccup. Also, the sound occurs even with the supplied headphones.

Please fix this asap or i will be forced to return/exchange the phone no matter how badly i want to keep it. Ironic thing is, i persuaded my friend to leave his iphone to the nexus and he has none of the issues mentioned in this forum. Grah!

 

[Revolutionary]

Just a quick update after living with this for a while. I swap batteries on this thing every day (I keep a spare at work and another at home, lol). After swapping the battery, whether NFC is on or not, I ALWAYS get these screeching calls, whether or not NFC is enabled when I turned the phone off. Another reboot always fixes it if NFC is on, and the fix persists through restarts, airplane mode, etc. However, once I turn it off and pop in a new battery, the next call will screech. Every time.

NFC = NRFPT (not ready for prime time)

Johnly: I'll try the wipe/reset this weekend. If that doesn't work, I'm swapping out the phone. I'm not in my 14 days, but any phone that does THIS is defective.