I came to the Razr Maxx from the Bionic about 3 months ago. I had multiple replacement Bionics due to the terrible data connectivity. The Razr Maxx is much better but I still see several data drops daily - most for a short period. Anyone else? There is hardly any talk of it on this forum.
Maxx Data Drops
- Thread starter Wayles
- Start date
i agree, if it has been more than one phone then it's probably verizon's signal, not the phone
dragonsamus
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- Jun 20, 2010
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I get the data drops too. It seems to mainly happen when I'm at work. My phone's telling me to get back to work. Haha
XDCX
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- May 14, 2011
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I have been having very poor experience with LTE data drops and just assumed it was because I was in an area with a poor LTE signal. I turned LTE off just so the phone would be usable.
I made a trip to Las Vegas last week and turned LTE back on and I still had data drops - right on Las Vegas Blvd in front of The Mirage Casino - that should be an area with great LTE coverage given the saturation of people who pass by that location.
When I'm on LTE and experience a data drop I end up losing all my signals (even phone coverage) for about a minute. Sometimes I have to turn off LTE just to get a 3G signal.
I made a trip to Las Vegas last week and turned LTE back on and I still had data drops - right on Las Vegas Blvd in front of The Mirage Casino - that should be an area with great LTE coverage given the saturation of people who pass by that location.
When I'm on LTE and experience a data drop I end up losing all my signals (even phone coverage) for about a minute. Sometimes I have to turn off LTE just to get a 3G signal.
I can be looking at my phone with 5 full bars at work and watch it drop one at a time and go to 3G. After a few minutes, sometimes 10 or 15, it will go back to 4G. A couple of times I lost all signal and had to restart it. Was wondering if I had a bad radio?
- Mar 9, 2012
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You could try this app, Cell Phone Coverage Map by Rootmetrics, to see what the signal is like in your area. It's crowdsourced, so by using the app, you're also adding to the data.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...pps/details?id=com.rootmetrics&token=OMI-Oj1M.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...pps/details?id=com.rootmetrics&token=OMI-Oj1M.
Not sure if its related, but I have had issues with data as well as phone coverage recently. Rebooting usually helps, but yesterday when I had to do it, the phone restarted with a "No SIM Card Available". This cleared up after an additional reboot
XDCX
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- May 14, 2011
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I had the exact same message on my Razr Maxx and that's what convinced me there must be a problem with my phone.
I did a "chat session" with one of Motorola's Customer Support people and we concluded I should just send my phone in for warranty repair. (I had already been to Verizon and replaced the SIM card.)
My phone's being repaired as I speak - the good news is Motorola covers shipping in both directions and you get your original phone back. That last point was important to me because my phone's still in perfect condition and I didn't want to get a beat-up refurb phone in return.
XDCX
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- May 14, 2011
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Well, I just got my Maxx back from Motorola and they didn't find any problems and they didn't fix anything.
Not surprisingly, the phone still has the exact same condition. When the phone loses the LTE signal it doesn't do a "handshake" to 3G it just drops the entire data signal. On some occasions I lose the cellular radio too - I can't even make a phone call.....
All of this happens in areas where I received strong 3G signals with my Droid X.
It looks like my battle to get my Maxx fixed continues.
Its not the phone. Its the network. LTE is still evolving. An update to the radios should make the `handshake`better. Im lucky to not have this problem. Now my old gnex would drop all data and only way to fix was a reboot. Even with the update. Then it becomes a hardware problem.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
XDCX
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I might be inclined to agree if the failed 4G to 3G "handshake" just resulted in a data drop, but in my case the phone often loses its cellular radio too. What good is a cell phone that can't make or receive a phone call?
I've contacted Motorola but have to wait until Monday or Tuesday to get a call from their "escalation team." Time will tell but I'm not too impressed with Motorola at this point.
I've been lucky with moto. Everything has always worked. Now the gnex is a dif story. Hope it works out for ya
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
I went to Verizon and told them about what was going on. Ended up getting a new phone. That phone was worse than the first one. Spent 5 hours trying to fix #2 and finally got another phone, second of the day. It works perfectly. I think there's a problem with the radios in some units.
I have had 6 replacement maxx phones from Verizon and they all have this exact problem. That's a total of 7 phones if you count the original phone I bought. I have used them in multiple cities and different parts of the country and saw the data dropping everywhere I went.
My question is, is it the phones or is it the network. Every time I call Verizon about this all I get is another replacement phone.
I'm so sick of this issue and I have very little faith that any update is going to fix this problem.
Any thoughts on what I should do?
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My question is, is it the phones or is it the network. Every time I call Verizon about this all I get is another replacement phone.
I'm so sick of this issue and I have very little faith that any update is going to fix this problem.
Any thoughts on what I should do?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Hmmm. "Holy crap" seems to cover it. I bet at this point you won't be comfortable with ANY Razr Maxx. I sure wouldn't be. So in your place I would go to a Verizon store, calmly and politely tell them the story (they can verify it on line) and politely but *firmly* insist on a different model phone. If the counter sales-person can't do that, then ask for the manager. But they need to do something different.
Frankly, I have never been happy with the thought of refurb phones which is what most places like to give you as a replacement. My suspicion is that they were returned for a reason - possibly intermittent operation, which is a nightmare to verify, let alone fix - were given a cursory once over by the people contracted to check them out before resale, then shipped back out often with the same problem they were brought back for.
The root issue is SIM card authentication as ALL SIM card devices have this issue on the VZW network. See below info. Hiccups meaning data drops. Sorry for the long post but it's a very thorough description of WHY this happens.
“After months of wondering and looking around for answers, we think we've finally found out why all of Verizon's 4G LTE phones (and modems / USB dongles) are having data connectivity issues, and it's a wee-bit technical even for us, but we'll do our best. This information has been gathered from various comments and forums across the net, so, take us at our word here.
When Verizon launched its LTE network in November of 2010, it was the first time the carrier had utilized a GSM-based (WCDMA, as opposed to CDMA2000) network in the United States. All Verizon phones and data-enabled devices had previously run on CDMA2000 connections - the network responsible for Verizon's 3G and 2G data. CDMA2000 uses an older authentication system (identifying and OK'ing your device to connect to the data network). Verizon's new 4G LTE network uses a newer, different, and more robust scheme to authenticate devices.
So, in an attempt to smooth out the transition to the new technology (Verizon intends to decommission its 3G network in most areas eventually) and ensure handsets used uniform schemes to connect to any part of the data network, Verizon essentially made it a network directive that all 4G LTE devices would use a single authentication system for both 3G and 4G data connectivity. They did this by requiring all 4G devices use UICC SIM cards, which allow for authentication on many types of networks.
This is what your 4G LTE UICC SIM card does - it's responsible for authenticating you on both Verizon's 3G and 4G networks. Verizon 3G-only phones use the old authentication system, because they don't have these SIM cards. Verizon is the only carrier in the US currently operating on this somewhat odd mixture of authentication schemes and network technologies. This means there are now millions of devices connecting to Verizon's 3G network using an authentication scheme Verizon hasn't previously utilized on that network, and (major) hiccups are occurring as a result.
The "hiccups" are authentication failures - the new authentication scheme is extremely particular about failed attempts to authenticate a device. Your device authenticates regularly, "checking in" with the network to ensure you're still supposed to be connected. When your device fails to authenticate on the network (for any reason - and there are a gamut of possibilities), Verizon will kick you off the data side (not voice, though), either 3G or 4G. At this point, you notice you no longer have a data connection.
The severity of the problem can depend on your device. Some devices are more likely to re-attempt authentication immediately, and ten or fifteen seconds later, you're good to go. Some won't - and have to be forced to re-authenticate by switching in and out of airplane mode. Some won't even respond to that, and have to be powered on and off. Our speculation in regards to the varying severity is that it more than likely depends on how aggressive the phone's battery conservation software is. If a device loses connection, it may think it's in a "fringe" coverage zone and stop attempting to reconnect to the network to avoid wasting battery. It could also be that the device's software is just poorly written to deal with such regular failed attempts to get network authentication.
Verizon has promised fixes for this issue on almost every 4G LTE phone it has released. Some updates to phones like the ThunderBolt have decreased the prevalence of the problem for some users, but it seems there has been no "magic bullet" as of yet. Verizon has specifically said it's investigating the issue on the Galaxy Nexus, but we wouldn't expect miracles given their track record on this debacle. My DROID Charge review unit had the problem. The ThunderBolt obviously had the problem. My DROID BIONIC has the problem (the new update did not fix it), and now theGalaxy Nexus is suffering from it as well.
Of course, the root problem is Verizon's implementation of its new authentication system, something they've doubtless been working to correct. The fact that devices are so often failing to authenticate is an issue for Verizon to resolve on its end, so let's hope they're nearing a solution.”
“After months of wondering and looking around for answers, we think we've finally found out why all of Verizon's 4G LTE phones (and modems / USB dongles) are having data connectivity issues, and it's a wee-bit technical even for us, but we'll do our best. This information has been gathered from various comments and forums across the net, so, take us at our word here.
When Verizon launched its LTE network in November of 2010, it was the first time the carrier had utilized a GSM-based (WCDMA, as opposed to CDMA2000) network in the United States. All Verizon phones and data-enabled devices had previously run on CDMA2000 connections - the network responsible for Verizon's 3G and 2G data. CDMA2000 uses an older authentication system (identifying and OK'ing your device to connect to the data network). Verizon's new 4G LTE network uses a newer, different, and more robust scheme to authenticate devices.
So, in an attempt to smooth out the transition to the new technology (Verizon intends to decommission its 3G network in most areas eventually) and ensure handsets used uniform schemes to connect to any part of the data network, Verizon essentially made it a network directive that all 4G LTE devices would use a single authentication system for both 3G and 4G data connectivity. They did this by requiring all 4G devices use UICC SIM cards, which allow for authentication on many types of networks.
This is what your 4G LTE UICC SIM card does - it's responsible for authenticating you on both Verizon's 3G and 4G networks. Verizon 3G-only phones use the old authentication system, because they don't have these SIM cards. Verizon is the only carrier in the US currently operating on this somewhat odd mixture of authentication schemes and network technologies. This means there are now millions of devices connecting to Verizon's 3G network using an authentication scheme Verizon hasn't previously utilized on that network, and (major) hiccups are occurring as a result.
The "hiccups" are authentication failures - the new authentication scheme is extremely particular about failed attempts to authenticate a device. Your device authenticates regularly, "checking in" with the network to ensure you're still supposed to be connected. When your device fails to authenticate on the network (for any reason - and there are a gamut of possibilities), Verizon will kick you off the data side (not voice, though), either 3G or 4G. At this point, you notice you no longer have a data connection.
The severity of the problem can depend on your device. Some devices are more likely to re-attempt authentication immediately, and ten or fifteen seconds later, you're good to go. Some won't - and have to be forced to re-authenticate by switching in and out of airplane mode. Some won't even respond to that, and have to be powered on and off. Our speculation in regards to the varying severity is that it more than likely depends on how aggressive the phone's battery conservation software is. If a device loses connection, it may think it's in a "fringe" coverage zone and stop attempting to reconnect to the network to avoid wasting battery. It could also be that the device's software is just poorly written to deal with such regular failed attempts to get network authentication.
Verizon has promised fixes for this issue on almost every 4G LTE phone it has released. Some updates to phones like the ThunderBolt have decreased the prevalence of the problem for some users, but it seems there has been no "magic bullet" as of yet. Verizon has specifically said it's investigating the issue on the Galaxy Nexus, but we wouldn't expect miracles given their track record on this debacle. My DROID Charge review unit had the problem. The ThunderBolt obviously had the problem. My DROID BIONIC has the problem (the new update did not fix it), and now theGalaxy Nexus is suffering from it as well.
Of course, the root problem is Verizon's implementation of its new authentication system, something they've doubtless been working to correct. The fact that devices are so often failing to authenticate is an issue for Verizon to resolve on its end, so let's hope they're nearing a solution.”
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