Fed up with Thunderbolt

[toothdoc4]

I have had my bolt since the day after they were released and I liked it a lot, until the software updates started. Now I can't get 4G, my volume keeps going to vibrate, even though I installed an app that forces you to accept a volume change, and the phone is so slow. I have to restart it almost daily and yes I did a factory reset about a month ago. That helped for a little while, but not completely.

My one son has a Bionic and the other has a Revolution. Both better phones in my opinion. Better battery life and less problems compared to the Thunderbolt.

I think that this phone is a lemon because it has had many of the problems that others complain about on this site. I guess my question is, what do I do? Go into the Verizon store and complain?

 

[natehoy]

If you aren't getting 4G (and you know you're in a 4G coverage area) and you've tried pulling the SIM and the other "reset" instructions mentioned elsewhere on various "can't connect" threads here, then Verizon might owe you a refurb Tbolt that might fix the 4G at least. The refurb will probably also have the Froyo build (not Gingerbread) which should also fix the volume issues, and give you back voicemail notifications if that's important to you.

The other option, especially if Verizon refuses to replace the Tbolt with a refurb, would be to root it and look into a custom ROM where some of the problems might be fixed. Mine is a corporate-issue phone with MobileIron on it, so I don't dare start in with cutom ROMs, but many people love 'em.

You might also get a rep that allows you to renew early, though since the phone has been out less than a year it would be VERY early so the replacement phone might cost you. But if you're polite enough and get the right rep, who knows?

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

 

[cguella]

I hear you. Mine just started spontaneously rebooting again the last two days up to 10x a day. WTF. Stock updated 2.3.4. Anyone else getting random reboots again?

 

[robrecht]

Get a refurb. Most of us are having very few problems at this point. Don't bother going into a store, just call customer service and work with technical support to satisfy them that the phone is obviously defective.

Thanks, Robrecht

 

[toothdoc4]

I haven't gotten any random reboots since the last software update. But I was getting a lot of them before that. I guess that I will call technical support today and see what they say.

 

[z71kris]

did you upgrade to GB?

 

[natehoy]

I hear you. Mine just started spontaneously rebooting again the last two days up to 10x a day. WTF. Stock updated 2.3.4. Anyone else getting random reboots again?

No reboots here, thank goodness.

Though the connectivity problems have been increasing over the last few days (this morning, I had to restart the phone to connect to mobile data, the usual airplane mode toggle did not work).

Perhaps Verizon is starting to test 4G here?



4G... in Maine. I should put on a comedy show, that's great material.

 

[toothdoc4]

I did not upgrade to GB.

 

[toothdoc4]

And yes, I have 4G here. I am in the Chicagoland area and we were one of the first places to get 4G from the beginning.

 

[ajonesma]

I've heard a lot of bad things about the thunderbolt, but I have owned about 3 different HTC phones and they all were great, so I wonder what happened with HTC and the thunderbolt?

 

[natehoy]

I've heard a lot of bad things about the thunderbolt, but I have owned about 3 different HTC phones and they all were great, so I wonder what happened with HTC and the thunderbolt?

Well, keep in mind that you are in a support forum. You won't find terribly many people scouring the Internet to heap praise upon their phone because it's working as expected. Most of the people who come here are either here because they were researching the phone (like me - which means they'll ask neutral questions and/or lurk silently), or because they are having problems with the phone (which means they'll ask negative questions).

You'll very rarely find someone whose phone has been working perfectly for months suddenly decide they need to search the Internet to find a place to gush lovingly about their precious. Most of those people are just, well, using their phones.

The Thunderbolt is quite simply, for me, the best smartphone I've ever owned. But it doesn't have a lot of competition for love in my world, because I came from a Blackberry 8800, then an 8300, then finally a 9300. Anything with a screen larger than three inches and a touchscreen at all is a revolutionary change from even the best Blackberry I ever carried (though I miss the ability to make calls when the phone PIN-locks, but the Tbolt has a lot of features that make up for that shortcoming).

The more features you add, the more can go wrong. And the Tbolt has a LOT of features. And with them come some problems. But reading the forums on most phones of similar complexity, I've seen quite a few complaints about various problems. The Tbolt isn't the most bug-free phone to ever be released, but neither is it the worst phone ever. It seems to be pretty middle-of-the-road in terms of quality for an early-generation 4G phone that's loaded with features.

 

[Kronko]

Sorry to hear that some people are still having problems. I have the incredible and the Thunderbolt with GB and no problems, nada.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[steve_ma]

Well, keep in mind that you are in a support forum. You won't find terribly many people scouring the Internet to heap praise upon their phone because it's working as expected. Most of the people who come here are either here because they were researching the phone (like me - which means they'll ask neutral questions and/or lurk silently), or because they are having problems with the phone (which means they'll ask negative questions).

You'll very rarely find someone whose phone has been working perfectly for months suddenly decide they need to search the Internet to find a place to gush lovingly about their precious. Most of those people are just, well, using their phones..

Great points. My only smart phone before this was a BB Curve from work. I love the TB and would reccomend it w/o hesitation. When I first got it, I suffered from reboots but subsequent SW upgrades fixed this and with GB, I am getting noticibly better battery life. The GB update did give me the VM issue but 10 mins on the phone with VZW support and I got visual voicve mail with no pushback.

Sorry the OP is having issues but I have had a great expereince with mine to date (knock knock).

 

[worwig]

Call VZW. Don't tolerate a non-functional phone.
Mine has been great. Very few issues. Don't know much about any reboots or changing volume.
Get a refurb. Still have issues, get another. Still have issues, talk them into switching to another device.
It is under warranty after all.
And if VZW can't deliver, THEY have broken the contract and should let you off the contract.

 

[toothdoc4]

Well I called Verizon and was on the phone with them for almost an hour. First I spoke with someone in Customer Support and then she transferred me to a level 2 tech. They were able to get my 4G back and admitted that the 4G problem has been an ongoing one for people with the Thunderbolt. As far as the volume problem goes, they were unable to fix it and said that there have been several others with the same problem and HTC is looking into it. She is going to get back to me in about a week to see if there is a fix or not for the volume issue. If not, she would issue a refurbished phone.

Am I satisfied with this support? No, I am not. But I didn't want to make too much noise since I have found that usually being nice gets a better response from someone than not. So we will see I guess.

 

[natehoy]

Well I called Verizon and was on the phone with them for almost an hour. First I spoke with someone in Customer Support and then she transferred me to a level 2 tech. They were able to get my 4G back and admitted that the 4G problem has been an ongoing one for people with the Thunderbolt. As far as the volume problem goes, they were unable to fix it and said that there have been several others with the same problem and HTC is looking into it. She is going to get back to me in about a week to see if there is a fix or not for the volume issue. If not, she would issue a refurbished phone.

Am I satisfied with this support? No, I am not. But I didn't want to make too much noise since I have found that usually being nice gets a better response from someone than not. So we will see I guess.

At least they got your 4G fixed. That's good.

There's nothing "not nice" about calling them back and very politely telling them that the volume problem is a fatal flaw for you, and requesting a refurb be sent out to fix it. The refurb will have Froyo (not Gingerbread)on it, so that should fix the volume problem for you. Hopefully the next Gingerbread build will fix the volume, the voicemail notification, the apparently-rare 4G breakage, the front facing camera in Google Talk, and whatever other issues might be lurking that only those of us who got GB are running into.

I have GB (OTA stock), but I'm not in a 4G coverage area and I use Google Voice for Voicemail, and I haven't seen the volume issue.. yet. So the only real problem for me is that Google Talk was supposed to get FFC support and didn't.

Well, that, and the every-few-days loss of mobile data when I change connection modes (wireless to 3G, 3G to 1X, no-signal to anything, etc). The phone just seems to respond poorly to changes in the source of data.

As long as you're polite about it, a refurb to revert you back to Froyo is perfectly reasonable request, I'd think.

Though if the volume issues are the only problem you are experiencing and you can live with it, you'll have to decide whether a refurb is worth the additional risk.

 

[defcon999]

Get a refurb. Most of us are having very few problems at this point. Don't bother going into a store, just call customer service and work with technical support to satisfy them that the phone is obviously defective.

Thanks, Robrecht

+1 on that. The one thing that people have to know about the REFURBS is that they are better now because all the "bad" ones have been weeded out and sent back and made right. I have a refurb TBolt and I have not had 1 single random reboot.

Most of us in this forum are ROOTED or thinking about it. Think of rooting as having a VW Bug and dropping a Porsche engine in it. Same on the outside, but fine tuned to perform better!.....and heck ROOTING is FUN!.

 

[Spacedogxo]

Root. Best fix. Had zero problems but didn't want to wait for updates and didn't like being "locked."

 

[joelmic24]

Get the refurb and root it

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[toothdoc4]

I am running Froyo, I never got the GB update. I will give it a week and see what she says when she calls me back. Thanks for everyone's advice so far.