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Torn: Tbolt / Inc2. Details within! 4G grandfathering?

So I'm looking at stealing my upgrade from my 2nd line ("house" phone), and I'm thinking of one of these two for it.
NOW then, I'm a root'er (obviously), currently loving MIUI on my Incredible but realizing that this may be a ways off for BOTH devices. That's fine. However, it's the 4G thing that has me puzzled.
I was told by a guy at Ye Old Best Buy that if I snag a Tbolt this month I can get "grandfathered" in to unlimited 4G from here on out. Obviously the Inc2 doesn't have 4G whatsoever, but my city's going to have the service rolled out within the month.
Battery life concerns me, and I've heard horror stories about it being even worse than my Incredible's, which is far from inspiring. I'm also one of those "newer = better, right?" kind of guys.
If the grandfathering notion isn't all it's cracked up to be, or if 4G isn't as critical as I'm thinking it might be, then I might just wait until next year to upgrade. If not, well, then I'll have to pull the trigger, right?
Thanks!

First, why are you listening to idiots at bestbuy? They're even bigger morons than the typical (read typical, not atypical) sales lackey at verizon stores. Personally, I rather not deal with either of them and just buy it online with verizon's website (unless waiting an extra 24 hours means that much to you).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1097276&highlight=grandfather
Also, there's plenty of discussions about LTE (4g) on the forum by people asking if it's worth it and were full of answers you would probably find useful, i think (use the search and search by post content, not title, it's pretty useless).

Eh, I was there and felt like chatting. The guy I was talking to was actually really astute. Was asking if I planned to root, what roms I liked, told me something about the thunderbolt's bootloader I didn't understand. I'll check out the links, thanks!
- Dinc + MIUI = bliss

SomeGuyDude said:
Tbolt this month I can get "grandfathered" in to unlimited 4G from here on out. Obviously the Inc2 doesn't have 4G whatsoever, but my city's going to have the service rolled out within the month.
Battery life concerns me, and I've heard horror stories about it being even worse than my Incredible's, which is far from inspiring. I'm also one of those "newer = better, right?" kind of guys.
If the grandfathering notion isn't all it's cracked up to be, or if 4G isn't as critical as I'm thinking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Grandfathering is the way its always worked, along with once your one a specific plan as long you don't change it then you keep it forever (whatever that might be). I have the TB I find I turn my 4G off and just run on 3G all the time. I do use it for downloading stuff but not all the time, battery time about 5-6 hours. Rooted with other froyo roms at the 12 hour mark I have about 70% left with light to moderate use. With Gingerbread roms a bit less than that.
I guess (and its really anyone's until they spill the beans) the unlimited for what that is worth is going away and you will pay more for less data usage. I went with 4G and hope they keep the grandfathering for those of us that are already on it as I do use 4G at times and can use up to 10 gigs, but its rare. I like knowing its there if want to use it.
I would think 4G and more is where its all going at this point, certainly not the other way.

Forgot to mention the Inc2 has a locked bootloader and all signed radios that as far as I know, has not been unlocked through third party means yet, so that means no custom anything for now. HTC says they will unlock phones, but who knows how long that will take and if they mean only new phones or that includes older ones.
I would go look at the ghost town that is the Inc2 development forums on xda though to see if anything has changed.

why dont you just try it out and return it if its not for you. 14days ftw

Hmmmm. Sounds like I might do that.
I do a small amount of tethering with my Incredible, such as at work right now because we don't have wireless access, so I'd imagine that being able to root a Tbolt and tether with 4G would just be plain excellent.
Guess I'll chat with a Verizon rep and get the skinny on things.

SomeGuyDude said:
Hmmmm. Sounds like I might do that.
I do a small amount of tethering with my Incredible, such as at work right now because we don't have wireless access, so I'd imagine that being able to root a Tbolt and tether with 4G would just be plain excellent.
Guess I'll chat with a Verizon rep and get the skinny on things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just had to send my Thunderbolt in for about two weeks and in that time I was using my DInc. while the DInc is still nice phone, boy did I miss the speed of 4G and my Thunderbolt.

I have a TB & I admit I'm a little biased, but I'm in a 4G area & I'll never go back to a 3G-only phone. My gf has a iPhone 4 & browsing the 'net is noticeably slower on it. 4G is like having a constant wifi connection & the speed is addicting. The TBs battery isn't its best selling point, but there are ways to make it last longer, esp if you flash a custom kernel. I'm not that familiar with the Inc2, so I can't say what its pros/cons are. It has a locked bootloader, so that could be an issue down the road
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

The Inc 2 is not an upgrade from the original. If I'm not mistaken the dinc2 and tbolt have the same processor and RAM, but it comes down to the screen size, data capability, unlocked bootloader, etc. Coming from the original incredible as well, I would have sorely missed the rate of development with anything on Verizon but the bolt. This community is strong.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

From what I've heard, this is basically the new EVO, so once it gets all cracked open our community is gonna be roughly as deep and active as that, yes? If so, I'm sole 100%.

From Thunderbolt to Charge

Hi Guys...
I have a Thunderbolt now (rooted) that waqs giving me problems I was going from 4g to 3g to 1x and then I wasn't getting any data at all. This started last night....I figured I would wait because it was a network problem
This morning the same thing was happening....I called VZ tech support and they told me before they send me a new phone...I have to go to a VZ store and get a new sim card. I unrooted my phone and went to the store. I got a new sim card and that didn' help. I called back tech support and they said they will send me a new Thunderbolt. I have a family plan and I have 4 phones on my plan (mine is the only smartphone) I asked if I can get a CHARGE...after some back n forth chat...he told me that they will send me a NEW Charge...and also a belt clip and screen protector for no charge....
I love my Thunderbolt...and I know there are pros and cons betwen both phones.....but I really use my Slingbox app alot and I wanted to get the charge because of the screen...so Monday or Tuesday my new charge arrives...
hope I didn't make a mistake not going with the Thunderbolt....thoughts??
I want to thank all of the other members here who helped me with all my questions on the Thunderbolt....I will be changing forums but I will stop in here from time to time
The charge came out with an OTA update (yesterday) that made numerous fixes and charge owners are saying that it made the phone AWESOME!

hogowner said:
Hi Guys...
I have a Thunderbolt now (rooted) that waqs giving me problems I was going from 4g to 3g to 1x and then I wasn't getting any data at all. This started last night....I figured I would wait because it was a network problem
This morning the same thing was happening....I called VZ tech support and they told me before they send me a new phone...I have to go to a VZ store and get a new sim card. I unrooted my phone and went to the store. I got a new sim card and that didn' help. I called back tech support and they said they will send me a new Thunderbolt. I have a family plan and I have 4 phones on my plan (mine is the only smartphone) I asked if I can get a CHARGE...after some back n forth chat...he told me that they will send me a NEW Charge...and also a belt clip and screen protector for no charge....
I love my Thunderbolt...and I know there are pros and cons betwen both phones.....but I really use my Slingbox app alot and I wanted to get the charge because of the screen...so Monday or Tuesday my new charge arrives...
hope I didn't make a mistake not going with the Thunderbolt....thoughts??
I want to thank all of the other members here who helped me with all my questions on the Thunderbolt....I will be changing forums but I will stop in here from time to time
The charge came out with an OTA update (yesterday) that made numerous fixes and charge owners are saying that it made the phone AWESOME!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I don't agree with your decision, it's understandable and i hope it works out for you charge has less dev support though
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA Premium App

I just had a problem with my tbolt I couldnt make or receive calls but could do text message or email.

joshnichols189 said:
While I don't agree with your decision, it's understandable and i hope it works out for you charge has less dev support though
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know less dev support...but remember.....it just came out....
I may not root it.....have to see........

hogowner said:
Yes I know less dev support...but remember.....it just came out....
I may not root it.....have to see........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's also got that icky Touchwiz
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA Premium App

hogowner said:
hope I didn't make a mistake not going with the Thunderbolt....thoughts??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you're posting in the TB section, you already know what to expect
The Charge is a nice phone as long as you don't mind Touchwiz & limited custom rom/kernel options (at least for the moment). Sorry the TB didn't work out for you.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

The problem that you describe was exact what I went through with my Thunderbolt. I went through Verizon tech support on the phone, as well as the store, only to hit a dead end... Even after getting a new sim card.
They wanted to send me a certified like new phone, but I hated the idea. So, after 2 days without any data service, I decided to do a complete re-installation of Froyo from bootloader. Note: wiping the data / factory restore and cache wipe did not resolve the issue.
The problem was likely due to a corrupt system file.
So yeah, I went and downloaded a rooted RUU Froyo and just flash it in bootloader, not in recovery, and works.
Thank you for confirming that I'm not the only one with a ThunderBolt that went through this problem.
Sent from my Thunderbolt using XDA Premium App

No phone is perfect. It's a matter of deciding what criterias are more important and deciding between the least sucky one. One area of weakness with the Charge is the inability to manage the radios and manually forcing between 3G or 4G. You lose the benefits of battery conservation by forcing 3G only and may experience constant flip flop between 3G and 4G causing loss of data connectivity in fringe areas. Also, no simultaneous voice and data on 3G.

I'm not entirely happy with my thunderbolt but because VZW sent me a really crappy replacement. Actually, my second replacement. I had an issue similar to you a while back. I couldn't even get 3G. No data. Went to the store, they had to call HQ or something, talked for 30min or so, ended up sending me a replacement over night. That phone was perfect before I lost data. The replacement had that reboot issue so I got a replacement for that one; the phone I have now. It came without working camera flash. I didn't notice until a week later when I used the flash for the first time. That's pretty unacceptable if you ask me. But, that's not the worst part. My screen is FALLING OUT of my phone. The whole right side of the screen is not glued/fastened in any way. It comes out 1/4 inch on it's own. Went to a VZW store and they couldn't be bothered since I wasn't there to buy a phone. My VZW store is useless. I'm going to have to go to a VZW kiosk at a nearby mall. Weirdly, they are the most helpful usually.

If your phone is an appliance to you, then you made an arguably good decision. The screen is a dandy one on the charge and battery life is notably better than the Tbolt. If you are a root/ROM guy, then you're totally off your nut.

ERIFNOMI said:
I'm not entirely happy with my thunderbolt but because VZW sent me a really crappy replacement. Actually, my second replacement. I had an issue similar to you a while back. I couldn't even get 3G. No data. Went to the store, they had to call HQ or something, talked for 30min or so, ended up sending me a replacement over night. That phone was perfect before I lost data. The replacement had that reboot issue so I got a replacement for that one; the phone I have now. It came without working camera flash. I didn't notice until a week later when I used the flash for the first time. That's pretty unacceptable if you ask me. But, that's not the worst part. My screen is FALLING OUT of my phone. The whole right side of the screen is not glued/fastened in any way. It comes out 1/4 inch on it's own. Went to a VZW store and they couldn't be bothered since I wasn't there to buy a phone. My VZW store is useless. I'm going to have to go to a VZW kiosk at a nearby mall. Weirdly, they are the most helpful usually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just went through this after coming from a Charge back to the Tbolt. The left side of the screen was loose and it took three Verizon stores to get a NEW replacement.
As far as the Charge goes, I liked the phone, but my friend has a Tbolt and we drive a truck so we are all over the country and the Tbolt sometimes would have service and the Charge wouldn't, or rather it seemed that the Tbolt could hold a signal longer than the Charge. I also didn't like the fact that I couldn't do voice and data in 3G, but I spend a lot more time in 3G since I travel all over. I also could never get over 20MB download on the Charge and my Bolt hit 42MB in Charlotte the other night. The battey is marginally better on the Charge, but it takes forever to recharge. Also the lack of Dev support and Samsungs issue with updates scared me. There is also a lack of RAM, 768 vs 512.
Walking away from it, the only thing that I think the Charge has over the Bolt is the screen. If you put a 1600 Mah battery in the Bolt, the battery life would be comparable., but that's just my 2¢.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

hogowner said:
Yes I know less dev support...but remember.....it just came out....
I may not root it.....have to see........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a fascinate it don't matter if it just came out or not dev support is never strong for cdma samsung devices and always stellar for htc devices.

i feel like the Thunderbolt is a very raw device. Verizon pushed it out after so many ppl knew about it. Now we must wait for them to finish perfecting it and getting it to where they want it to be. I think once they have a good update for it, it will be an amazing phone. I love my TB, but right now its nothing to brag about. Once it gets GB and they address battery life and get all the app support, it will be even better.

Immolate said:
If your phone is an appliance to you, then you made an arguably good decision. The screen is a dandy one on the charge and battery life is notably better than the Tbolt. If you are a root/ROM guy, then you're totally off your nut.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sigh, the charge has better battery life since it uses a bigger battery. I can get up to 30 hours or so on the extended battery with quite heavy usage.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

I also am getting at no charge the holster...screen protector and I found out an extended battery for the charge. The VZ rep told me it is a 2600 battery....
I think getting this phone is a no brainer....especially with all the freebies....
the charge came out with an OTA update a few days ago....from what I am hearing from people who have the update, they are saying the data connections are better now with the new radio and so is the browser

I own both and prefer the Thunderbolt for reasons stated above. Though I do prefer the Charge screen.

miketoasty said:
Sigh, the charge has better battery life since it uses a bigger battery. I can get up to 30 hours or so on the extended battery with quite heavy usage.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you quoted him, just to agree?

hogowner said:
I also am getting at no charge the holster...screen protector and I found out an extended battery for the charge. The VZ rep told me it is a 2600 battery....
I think getting this phone is a no brainer....especially with all the freebies....
the charge came out with an OTA update a few days ago....from what I am hearing from people who have the update, they are saying the data connections are better now with the new radio and so is the browser
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned before, as long as you are not big on dev support, so be it. I find 300mb less usable ram, and a filesystem thats 1/4 of the performance a deal breaker. To each their own, of course.

mi7chy said:
No phone is perfect. It's a matter of deciding what criterias are more important and deciding between the least sucky one. One area of weakness with the Charge is the inability to manage the radios and manually forcing between 3G or 4G. You lose the benefits of battery conservation by forcing 3G only and may experience constant flip flop between 3G and 4G causing loss of data connectivity in fringe areas. Also, no simultaneous voice and data on 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although you cannot force 4g only on the Charge, it does have a CDMA and 4G/CDMA toggle.

Charge
The reviews are pretty good for the charge... but the test will be after a month of ussing it, to see if your already searching for another phone...

[Q] hows the Inspire .?

sprint has finally pissed me off to the point im REALLY looking to jump ship . and i get a really good deal on 4 phones and would save about 60 a month over what im paying atm with sprint .
data cap is not a problem since im on wifi mostly
so im asking how easy is the phone to root ? hows the rom's and CM7 ?
thanks for any advice

Love the Inspire(of course people here are biased though) the roms are definitely pretty good, CM7 has been my main one forever, it runs great, gets great battery, and is really just good quality in general. But with all the good stuff i have to say about the phone, I HATE AT&T with a passion after all of my experiences with them since I got this phone. The rooting process is easy, I highly recommend the phone, but AT&T is horrible and I would never recommend them to anyone. EVER.

Jake33108 said:
Love the Inspire(of course people here are biased though) the roms are definitely pretty good, CM7 has been my main one forever, it runs great, gets great battery, and is really just good quality in general. But with all the good stuff i have to say about the phone, I HATE AT&T with a passion after all of my experiences with them since I got this phone. The rooting process is easy, I highly recommend the phone, but AT&T is horrible and I would never recommend them to anyone. EVER.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the info

I love the phone. Its super fast, once rooted. I can't really tell you how easy it is to root as I didn't use the hack kit. Only bubby's and If the phone is new it'll have the gingerbread update and you'll have to use the hack kit. I read its about the same. Plan alot of reading and then half hour to root.
I been with ATT for about 7 years. The dude above most have some wierd personal issues cause in 7 years I have had to talk to ATT maybe 3 times and when I did I got exactly what i wanted. Last time I got a free Iphone 4.... I find them to be a good company. My Only issue is sometimes text messages take 20 minutes to arrive......By the time I or the wife get them I am standing next to her. Lol but even that doesn't happen all the time.

tweaked said:
I love the phone. Its super fast, once rooted. I can't really tell you how easy it is to root as I didn't use the hack kit. Only bubby's and If the phone is new it'll have the gingerbread update and you'll have to use the hack kit. I read its about the same. Plan alot of reading and then half hour to root.
I been with ATT for about 7 years. The dude above most have some wierd personal issues cause in 7 years I have had to talk to ATT maybe 3 times and when I did I got exactly what i wanted. Last time I got a free Iphone 4.... I find them to be a good company. My Only issue is sometimes text messages take 20 minutes to arrive......By the time I or the wife get them I am standing next to her. Lol but even that doesn't happen all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I've been with ATT going on 7 years and have had no problems. When I've had to call cs I haven't had any issues. As for the Inspire its great. It was my first android and was able to root it my first try with bubbys method. I'm currently on the virtuous unity beta even though the final build is out cause its that smooth.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

The other guys are probably right, AT&T isn't as bad as I make them sound, I've just grown to hate them after countless hours on the phone with them. Granted most of my problems have actually been with my TV/internet services, although I did have a few issues with updates when I got the Inspire but I think they have that sorted out now. I'm mostly just bitter about my "4g" being slower than the 3g my sister gets on her Incredible and how horrible Uverse has been for me.

Switch to Inspire you'll love it.
I previously owned the iPhone 3GS, and one day i saw this phone at best buy for free and said screw it ill switch. I switched, and ill NEVER go back to Apple, or any other brand of phones other then HTC. Unless Apple drops their dumb restricts and creates something REALLY REALLY amazing.
you'll love this phone.

I love mine. Got it off eBay for cheap used, has a dark spot behind the LCD but doesn't affect anything. But long story short I love it. Master has a mt4g and have to say if I where to pick the inspire would come in first hands down . You cant really go wrong for the price it's going at att, you have a 8mp camera, duel flash, enough ram on board and about 1gig memory. CM7 is awesome on it, same goes for the Miui roms and if you like sense unlike me you'll enjoy the great selection of sense roms
Sent from my CM7 Nightly HTC Desire HD

Ya no probs with at&t either, and love love my phone.
I too used bubbys, and it was hecka easy. If you ever wonder about htc, check out some videos on their testing process, it will amaze you the things they put their phones through. They test the heck outta them.
And ninjas rom is amazing, right now 22 hours since last charge, and 65% still left on my battery. Freekin love it.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

I had my original inspire stolen, I bought a sgs2 and yet for some reason I bought another inspire because I couldn't get it out of my head. [OT]Sense blows[OT] but a stripped version of CM is amazing.

I love my inspire 4G. And think I was about to get an atrix over this? Haha! I should slap myself! I too have been with at&t for a long time. They always solve all of my issues. Never had a problem with them.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA Premium App

A small review of the Infuse 4G

Hey guys! I got my Samsung Infuse 4g today (finally!) And I must say, I'm quite impressed. I previously owned a Captivate until I bricked it flashing incorrect bootloaders, and I must say this phone is a HUGE improvement. I just wanted to put my 2 cents out there for those of you who are "on the fence" about buying this phone.
-It is NOT "too big" for most hands. I find it very easy to type with one hand, even.
-The battery life is great! Even on stock! I mean, it's no Tilt2 but so far I've been using it for about 12 hours and still have 76% battery life left!
-The GPS works great (thank god... I'm looking at you, Cappy. v_v) I haven't had a chance to test it while driving yet, but meh, I have a TomTom. I would only ever use it if I absolutely had to.
- It doesn't have that "dialer lag" my old Cappy suffered. Not sure if this was phone specific but it used to take FOREVER to pull up the dialer.
- 4G is fast, but not really fast. It's almost as if AT&T was like, "welcome to AT&T, where you can have it your way but don't get crazy!" (reference ;p) It is fast though. I got 3542kbps down and 1290 kbps up in Toledo Ohio with 4 bars.
-Lastly, I would like to say that my only gripe so far has been that I had to call AT&T because my data wasn't showing up, and they said I technically "can't" get my unlimited data grandfathered, but an "engineer" would contact me within a week about still having unlimited, so I'm stuck on 2GB, but I forced the tech guy to write down that I DID HAVE unlimited smartphone internet for 3 years. I got his name and everything. This is an AT&T specific issue, however. The phone itself is fantastic.
Hopefully this review will help some of you out there leave your iPhone 4's for the true phone with bigger GB's: the Samsung Infuse 4G! I know I didn't cover too many bases here, but it was, in fact, a small review. Keep that in mind.

I had the same exact issue when I came over to the infuse (1 week ago). Called up ATT and the guy told me the same thing, I asked for a manager and he said, he was one, and that it couldn't be done because it's no longer available, after about 15 minutes of me telling him what a jaggoff he was, I hung up on him, called up 611 and they put it back on the unlimited plan (so I thought), when I checked online it said 2GB plan. I called again and they did it, and I confirmed on the web account that I still have the unlimited. So I guess the moral of the story is don't take no for an answer... also if they told you to wait a week, they are probably hoping you'll forget about it and won't call back. Call today and demand it changed to the unlimited plan, otherwise make it known to the user that if they upgrade they will lose the plan.... they will change it.

I did same thing. Seconded. Bug the **** out of them and tell them you are gonna change carriers.....they'll put unlimited back on.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

Thank you guys so much. I will be sure to give them a piece of my mind tomorrow. It really frustrates me that they're doing this. I for one love AT&T and feel that they have been nothing but good to me, but this is ridiculous.

lol @ 12 hours w/ 70 some % left... People must not even use the damn thing.
Guess I'm in my own category of heavy users I guess. Few hours of Google+'ing, three hours of Zynga Poker or Holdem Live = dead phone.

Haha that was with juicedefender ultimate... and my data hasn't been working all day. I've been on Wifi and that was just to install my "main apps" and get my google account situated and stuff. I guess I should have said that before putting it in my review :X

Just a follow up, AT&T did in fact switch me from 2GB to unlimited this morning, so in less than 24 hours my trouble ticket was resolved. AT&T kept a customer... for now

Thanks for the review. I will be receiving mine in the mail tomorrow and will be a royal pain in the butt if they take me off the unlimited plan. I jumped on that bandwidthwagon as soon as they released it and ill be damned if they are going to take me off tomorrow when I activate it. They will loose a customer as quick as they say no. I am looking forward to trying all the different ROMs already developed. Coming from a craptivate, im already foaming at the mouth for CM7 to release something stable.
Thanks again for the review, you calmed my nerves about it being too much like a crappy.

Be sure to check the price after the GS2 comes out, you might be able to get a refund for the difference if the price drops.
Sent from my LG-P925 using XDA App

I thought the infuse didn't have real 4g. At least that's what I've read somewhere
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

Mr.Brosnan said:
I thought the infuse didn't have real 4g. At least that's what I've read somewhere
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4G is just a ridiculously overloaded term. What you probably mean by "real" 4G is LTE, which Verizon currently has in some areas and AT&T will begin to roll out "soon." What AT&T is currently calling 4G is usually referred to as HSPA+ or HSDPA, and it is essentially a retrofitted 3G with about thrice as much optimum throughput. Results obviously vary by area, network congestion, signal quality, and myriad other issues.

Umm, yeah actually. That's the details I was referring to. So then it is true, that the Samsung Infuse 4G only has the HSPA+ Side of 4G?

Muse the Infuse
Got my $19 upgrade Infuse last night, installed Infused ROM and I must say I really like this phone. GPS was a little slow but working well now and I just installed screen protector, no meathooks have been on this fabulous screen! Any more complaints about this great machine and I am gonna start jerking knots!

Hmmm, that's unfortunate that AT&T gave you grief.
I had a Cappy that I upgraded from LG Incite that's an upgrade from HTC 8525. I had unlimited PDA data and they grandfathered it all the way to when I upgraded to the Infuse through my wife's phone and she got the Cappy and 2GB data. The 611 agent said they would do the 4G unlimited and only took a few minutes a 2 reboots of my phone.
Overall, I've had very good experiences with in person and call center AT&T staff. The lady who helped with my Cappy upgrade was just plain cute, smart and knowledgeable and worked the upgrade with no issues at all(btw, all the female staff in that store that day were rather hot, it's a Sign!!!). She wasn't pushy at all with any upsells and I was done with new Sammy happiness in under 20mins! Infuse upgrade was also easy as well.
I've been with AT&T for over 6 yrs and I've not had coverage or billing problems that couldn't be explained.
Truly your mileage may vary. Maybe we can start a thread of Top Notch AT&T Stores by zip code. Record your experiences and cite the agent's name and you're thoughts.
We know AT&T staff reads XDA so this would be direct feed back they can't censor like they do in their own forums.

There are a couple of places where you can get the true LTE. Chicago is one of the cities. You can check out the full map on AT&T website.
I have been with AT&T for 4 years already and have never had a problem. I started with old Samsung A707A. It was one of their phones that had 3G and wasn't a smartphone. Used for 2 years and got unlimited data plan when it just came out.
Used iphone 3GS for 2 years. Honostly, I really got tired of Apple telling me what to do. I don't say that my iPhone was bad. It was just limited to me. I believe if I payed my money for my phone, I can use how I want to, not how someone else expects me to use it.
Switch to Android OS having an Infuse was a great decison. Used it right now for 4 days.
Here is my experience:
*Battery life isn't that bad. My iphone was the same way. Plus, it is with the use of HSPA+ (raw 4G/3g+). iPhone while using 3G was eating through the battery like no other. I also for my paranoia bought a case with a battery in it (1700mA). Basically that extends my heavy data usage to 2 days.
*Rooted to use Titanium. I like the customization options.
*The size is NOT too big. It's super thin as well. Even with the case it's alright.
Haven't had any problems with the phone yet.
Using medium data with 4G got me through 7am to 7pm to 78% battery.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium

Hey guys,
Thank you for your feedback. I think I should clarify a couple things...
1) I live in Toledo, OH, which is a major test market. I might have LTE and not even know it... Does the Infuse even support LTE? I mean, I get better speeds than my friend who has an Atrix 4G, by about 700kbps each time down and 300kbps up. From my experience this phone is freaking fast.
2) I installed some data heavy apps, such as skype, (front facing camera FTW!) and beautiful widgets, and a bunch of games. I can still go through a typical day (8am-12am) with about 10% battery. I'm impressed. Then again, results may vary.
3) Lastly, has anybody tried just keeping the phone on EDGE all day? I mean, if you're using the infused rom and don't use data except for email and such, you could probably just switch it over to EDGE and save a TON of battery life. My cappy used to get about 1/3 extra battery life.
It's good to hear that most of you are also have good Infuse experiences!

I have been experimenting with widgets to toggle 2g-4g great idea. Screen of course is the biggest battery eater.

vmatt said:
I have been experimenting with widgets to toggle 2g-4g great idea. Screen of course is the biggest battery eater.
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Agreed. I use brightness level from curvefish and make my own brightness > It saves a little bit of battery.

SMaximus7 said:
after about 15 minutes of me telling him what a jaggoff he was, I hung up on him, called up 611 and they put it back on the unlimited plan
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LoL
I love it when customer service reps and managers don't do their jobs correctly and I get to rip into them like you did to that guy for 15 minutes. Wish I could have been there on the phone to listen

ap3604 said:
LoL
I love it when customer service reps and managers don't do their jobs correctly and I get to rip into them like you did to that guy for 15 minutes. Wish I could have been there on the phone to listen
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Well, I was very persistent about speaking with a manager without ripping into the employee (I could tell she didn't know what she was doing) and I was polite about it, and they fixed my problem within 24 hours. Maybe putting reps in their place works, but it's important to remember that they aren't the ones who set up a crapton of frivolous data plans to confuse customers and reps alike.

An official ICS release. \\This is not news, tips or how-to's.\\

I better get an ice cream sandwich after having to deal with your crap HTC. This device was full of flaws when I bought it. That was inexcusable after paying top dollar for it. Verizon (Ripoff Mobile, Inc.) was too uptight to do anything about it. I would not be surprised if all the official talk was nothing more than hot air in the end. At least developers are working on a version. I am so glad I finally had some time to get root permissions on this phone. Did you feel betrayed after buying your TBolt? To be honest, I would have bought a marked down model if I had of know ahead of time what was going to happen.
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I would have deleted this if the option were available.

why so pissy. My phone was perfect out of teh box, it is faster than any of my friends dual core phones, and I have true unlimited 4g, and why do you care if we get official ics, you will just use a rom anyway, not an ota

Mr._Takahashi said:
I better get an ice cream sandwich after having to deal with your crap HTC. This device was full of flaws when I bought it. That was inexcusable after paying top dollar for it. Verizon (Ripoff Mobile, Inc.) was too uptight to do anything about it. I would not be surprised if all the official talk was nothing more than hot air in the end. At least developers are working on a version. I am so glad I finally had some time to get root permissions on this phone. Did you feel betrayed after buying your TBolt? To be honest, I would have bought a marked down model if I had of know ahead of time what was going to happen.
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I would have deleted this if the option were available.
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Easy killer. My phone has worked mostly fine since day one. Sure there were some software issues (random reboots due to the LTE radio, GPS, the most annoying), but that is to be expected when you buy bleeding edge technology. This was the first Verizon LTE smartphone, EVER.
That being said, the device is still on par with other top devices today. I haven't upgraded, because I haven't found another device I like that much better than this. The Nexus is nice, but I'm not big on the light flimsy build of those phones, plus samsung is notorious for poor reliability. Motorola screen's have been awful so far, or I would have considered the Razr Maxx.
Bottom line...why don't you cry about it...
BTW, there is nothing special about ICS. Sure it's nice to have the newest thing, but there really isn't that much to get excited about. I still don't understand why honey comb and ICS got rid of the search button. I use that thing constantly.

I have to say I've been 99% happy with this phone since release.
The 1% was the odd rebooting issue I had for 4 weeks in aprilish.
Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt using Tapatalk

Honestly I've liked this phone since I first got it, battery life sucked but that was nothing rooting and loading a rom couldn't fix. Other than that I'm still happy with my purchase.
I especially like it cause me and my girlfriend got phones from a good batch, handles low voltages and overclocking even up to 1.8 (not needed though) perfectly.
Thanks to all the developers who have been developing for the thunderbolt since day one, and all that are continuing to do so!
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium

Bigandrewgold said:
why so pissy. My phone was perfect out of teh box, it is faster than any of my friends dual core phones, and I have true unlimited 4g, and why do you care if we get official ics, you will just use a rom anyway, not an ota
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Let's see.
1. The phone was the Flagship phone for LTE and was released with Froyo.
2. The phone was buggy at release and still shows some issues.
3. Not everyone's phone was "perfect out of teh box". Some of us had to get replacements multiple times to get a *good one*.
4. ICS does have improvements over Froyo and GB.
5. Official OTA release of ICS will allow devs to create much better ROMs for this phone, rather approaching it by piecemealing parts from other Official ROMs.
6. Lastly, this phone was sold at a premium price and VZW's/HTC's support has been lackluster to be kind about it.
Note: I don't know the OP from Adam, but your experience, like mine, is anecdotal and not indicative of all others. VZW screwed the pooch on the roll-out and
HTC screwed the pooch on the releases of updates, support and finally, by rushing the damn thing out the door before it was ready.

sonicanatidae said:
3. Not everyone's phone was "perfect out of teh box". Some of us had to get replacements multiple times to get a *good one*.
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That's with any phone these days. I haven't had a single smartphone I haven't had to replace for one reason or another.
On a side note, the Tbolt isn't the only flagship phone with problems. The Galaxy Nexus has really bad call connectivity problems from what I hear, and that's supposed to be the MAIN function of a PHONE. lolz

All i will buy is htc. I know updates are slow to come. I also dont care. The newest isnt always the best, there are usually a fresh set of bugs to work out. That being said, the devs here and other sites give me enough variety to satisfy me. If you dont like the process, learn to code.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

Mr._Takahashi said:
I better get an ice cream sandwich after having to deal with your crap HTC. This device was full of flaws when I bought it. That was inexcusable after paying top dollar for it. Verizon (Ripoff Mobile, Inc.) was too uptight to do anything about it. I would not be surprised if all the official talk was nothing more than hot air in the end. At least developers are working on a version. I am so glad I finally had some time to get root permissions on this phone. Did you feel betrayed after buying your TBolt? To be honest, I would have bought a marked down model if I had of know ahead of time what was going to happen.
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I'm sure HTC is reading your post right now
If you care, go call them and say what you said directly as it will do far more good for you and for the community.
I moved onto a Nexus, but I still use my Thunderbolt for development testing apps I make. Not even the Nexus is perfect though as the internal antennas are not as powerful at picking up data. My db is usually 10-15db worse than the thunderbolt. However, I would not trade my Nexus for any other phone as I got tired of having to wait on HTC and Verizon for updates on the Thunderbolt.

i just lol at this thread.

Im an HTC fan. I got my tbolt on launch day and have never had an issue (not saying some havent) but I couldn't be happier.
Still have yet to find one phone on the market that has everything the tbolt has (not including dual core, which has not really impressed me) and still think it is a top 4g phone.
I would buy it all over again. We have received everything promised so far & it would be a nightmare for HTC to not give us ICS after they confirmed it...
I also have to say that Verizon did not screw up or delay the launch. There was never an official launch date given from them or HTC until the week before release, as is the norm with their releases. All other dates were made up by the internet and people.
HTC released about 6 updates to the phone between march and September, I think that is pretty good at keeping on top of it..

Jrocker23 said:
Im an HTC fan. I got my tbolt on launch day and have never had an issue (not saying some havent) but I couldn't be happier.
Still have yet to find one phone on the market that has everything the tbolt has (not including dual core, which has not really impressed me) and still think it is a top 4g phone.
I would buy it all over again. We have received everything promised so far & it would be a nightmare for HTC to not give us ICS after they confirmed it...
I also have to say that Verizon did not screw up or delay the launch. There was never an official launch date given from them or HTC until the week before release, as is the norm with their releases. All other dates were made up by the internet and people.
HTC released about 6 updates to the phone between march and September, I think that is pretty good at keeping on top of it..
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Well said. People are never satisfied. I guess they think HTC should put out updates as often as some ROMs get updated...
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium

I got the TB for $49 bucks new when I dropped T-Mobile. Rooted it the day I got it home and have never had a single problem with it that I cannot blame on bugs in the ROM or me OCing the crap out of it.
Everyones phone is gonna be better or worse than the next guy. Did we get screwed by Verizon??? Show me where in writing the promise a full ICS upgrade and you will see thousands of TB owners lining up to sue the piss off Verizon and HTC.
If you are gonna stay up on the newest devices, Hopefully you are not paying retail for the devices, Shop around and you will be amazed at what you can find.

I have a galaxy nexus just sitting on stand-by cause i've had no problems with my tbolt, besides the dev slowing down i really have no problems with my tbolt and has been my favorite phone. while it would be nice to get ICS soon im not tripping about it, my contract for the thunderbolt ends in december much wait and see what comes out by then.

why is anyone bothering to respond to this guy? He doesn't like his phone, he needs to quit whining about it and get rid of it. No amount of "I love my phone!" posts are going to change his mind. They just bump this useless thread back to the top. Yes, I know I also just bumped this thread.

l7777 said:
why is anyone bothering to respond to this guy? He doesn't like his phone, he needs to quit whining about it and get rid of it. No amount of "I love my phone!" posts are going to change his mind. They just bump this useless thread back to the top. Yes, I know I also just bumped this thread.
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Lol, you did.
Sent from my HTC Mecha using XDA App

The two people I know with a nexus have had quite a few issues with their phones.. biggest problems being being signal and when leaving WiFi they don't get data until turning their data off and back on... Point is what ever phone you go to there will be something that bugs you about it and the update that fixes your problem will never come out fast enough.. be happy for what you have..
Sent from my HTC Mecha using Tapatalk

i never get tired of forum drama, except that it makes me crave ham.

I haven't had a problem since day 1. I got home, rooted it and put liquid smooth on. I've always been one to have a new rom every week but this one's been so good with battery life and everything that I haven't even tried another one. I love this phone. On another note, my brother got the same phone and has had problems. Just like any other electronic item, you might get a dud.