Problems with 3G data? Don't hard reset, read this first!

[landale]

As I am sure many of you have noticed 3G data is down on your Thunderbolts. As I have discovered from some talks with Verizon techs the reason for this is that Verizon's eHPRD 3G network is down right now. This is the specialized 3G network used only on the Thunderbolt and supports voice and data at the same time and faster 3G/4G switching. Until this is fixed you can manually fix this by dialing ##778# and hitting send in your dialer. The password is 000000. This will take you to your programming screen. Go to modem settings and then Rev A, change it to enabled and then hit the menu button on your phone and commit the changes. It will tell you to reboot and the problem will be fixed as you will now use the standard Rev A 3G networked used on all other Verizon 3G devices and of course if you have 4G it will use that if its available.

There is no need to do a hard reset. Basically when you first set up the phone it automatically provisions this setting based on whether or not eHPRD is available in your area which is why when you hard reset it fixes the problem for people as the phone will then automatically change this setting to Rev A enabled since eHPRD is down.

Obviously once Verizon fixes this issue you will want to change this setting back unless of course Verizon is able to push this change out to all of the phones when the problem is fixed.

Also for those worrying this doesn't do anything to change 4G as that is unrelated so your 4G will work the same as it did before doing this.

 

[FrankXS]

Holy Schmolies! Thank you for this information! How did you get deep enough into tech support to find out about this? BTW, for others... when you are prompted for the Edit password it is 000000 (six zeros).

-Frank

 

[sandoff]

it says you need a password to "edit mode"?

EDIT: Didnt even read the 2nd post, Thanks

 

[FrankXS]

it says you need a password to "edit mode"?

000000

-Frank

 

[landale]

it says you need a password to "edit mode"?

Sorry left that out, password is 000000.

I manage 60 lines for a business and have two of these on the account. I usually get good treatment from them and got a real tech person who explained this all to me. Figured I would pass it along!

 

[Edwill86]

by turning on rev a 3g will that disable eHPRD 3g? or will it just active rev a when eHPRD is not available?

as in should I do it just in-case or wait for an outage to turn it on?

 

[FrankXS]

Sorry left that out, password is 000000.

I manage 60 lines for a business and have two of these on the account. I usually get good treatment from them and got a real tech person who explained this all to me. Figured I would pass it along!

Really, this is a huge help. This also explains why it was having trouble working with my 3G Network Extender. Obviously my Network Extender has 3G but no support for eHPRD. Therefore, compatibility issues. And I learn this now, when I have a new Network Extender replacement on the way to me after telling the on-line tech that my old one has smoke coming out of it (didn't want to go through troubleshooting with him) Hahahaha...

Man, they really should have told someone about this! Geeze! Support personnel and customers alike.

-Frank

 

[sandoff]

This isnt going to affect my 4g connection as i am in a 4g area (University of Cincinnati) but i have horrible connection in the buildings here

 

[FrankXS]

by turning on rev a 3g will that disable eHPRD 3g? or will it just active rev a when eHPRD is not available?

as in should I do it just in-case or wait for an outage to turn it on?

I'm sure it would disable eHPRD (voice/data over 3G). So... you be the judge.

But it sure is nice to know that this is not a hardware issue with the phone! This is a BIG DEAL. There were so many people having trouble like this and no one knew why. I'm sure tons of phones were returned because no one knew about it.

-Frank

 

[landale]

by turning on rev a 3g will that disable eHPRD 3g? or will it just active rev a when eHPRD is not available?

as in should I do it just in-case or wait for an outage to turn it on?

eHPRD is already down for data nationwide so all this does is tell your phone to not use it. If and when Verizon gets this fixed you can always switch it back. I would tell anyone to do this until Verizon gets this fixed which could be days and not hours at this point as its been down since Friday/Saturday already.

 

[Edwill86]

I'm sure it would disable eHPRD (voice/data over 3G). So... you be the judge.

But it sure is nice to know that this is not a hardware issue with the phone! This is a BIG DEAL. There were so many people having trouble like this and no one knew why. I'm sure tons of phones were returned because no one knew about it.

-Frank

it is great to know. yeah I just opened up the memory and checked and the options are Rev a: -Enabled -Disabled -eHPRD

so its either or. not both.

 

[djousma]

How will be know when eHPRD is up again? Just try switching back?

 

[barrycinti]

sandoff:

I am located in Cincinnati also. Currently the TB special setting, eHPRD, is working for me. It started to work sometime last evening. Maybe VZ has fixed the problem in the Cincinnati area. I also have 4G problems in my area, Anderson Township. It does work when I am in other locations.

 

[landale]

How will be know when eHPRD is up again? Just try switching back?

I told the people I know to try switching back in a couple days and see if it works then. Honestly they are just happy to stop losing data everytime they lose 4G signal. It does sound like this is being fixed market by market. My users are in Los Angeles and eHPRD is still down here.

 

[gcantrell]

Bare with me folks as im new to VZW. I was posting in the XDA forums about how i was getting little to no service in my house whereas other people in my house get perfect 3G signal (1 is using a dinc, the other on a droid 2). So if i choose this setting it will put me back on the older 3G? Does that mean that i may get service in my house now? Just wondering.

Also will this impact my 4G coverage in any way?

 

[az30]

So this turns off the voice/data over 3g?

I live in Fairfax, VA and have 4g coverage for the most part- random outages here and there- but when the 4g is not available, I have no data- just 1X. Will this fix the problem then?

 

[FrankXS]

Bare with me folks as im new to VZW. I was posting in the XDA forums about how i was getting little to no service in my house whereas other people in my house get perfect 3G signal (1 is using a dinc, the other on a droid 2). So if i choose this setting it will put me back on the older 3G? Does that mean that i may get service in my house now? Just wondering.

Also will this impact my 4G coverage in any way?

Since it's easily reversible, it's worth a try. Sounds like it would work for you, based on your symptoms. You should still get 4G when available, you just won't have simultaneous voice/data over 3G. At least that's the way I understand it. Most people didn't even know the ThunderBolt had voice/data over 3G anyway

-Frank

 

[gcantrell]

Since it's easily reversible, it's worth a try. Sounds like it would work for you, based on your symptoms. You should still get 4G when available, you just won't have simultaneous voice/data over 3G. At least that's the way I understand it. Most people didn't even know the ThunderBolt had voice/data over 3G anyway

-Frank

I'll def give it a shot. I dont really need to be able to do voice and data at the same time anyways. So what the hell. I'll report back later after i get off work.

 

[landale]

So this turns off the voice/data over 3g?

I live in Fairfax, VA and have 4g coverage for the most part- random outages here and there- but when the 4g is not available, I have no data- just 1X. Will this fix the problem then?

Yes it turns it off but this is the cause of the lack of 3G in the first place. Obviously this is totally reversible so you would just need to do this until Verizon fixes their network issues.

 

[jessesmith8888]

THANK GOD!

thunderbolt strikes again.