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Ok so this has happened every night I have had the Captivate (3 nights), I go to bed at night and in the morning where my signal bar should be I have a circle with a slash through it (no network). When I go to bed I will have like 2-4 bars of service but something must happen and I lose all network functionality. I have to restart the phone which solves the problem but is a serious pain. This also happens sometimes randomly throughout the day.
Any ideas if this is a common problem with all Captivates or if it is a hardware or software issue?
I like this phone and if I can get it to work properly I love it more than my iphone but not getting service is a buzz kill and I will return it. (Bought it unsubsidized for $500 because I couldn't deal with my iphone anymore)
Note: I live in Tampa which generally has good AT&T service and have had no other problems with other phones
Did you turn off the phone and remove the sim card for a few minutes?? According to an at&t rep doing that solves network issues.
The problem I had today was that the phone showed full bars, but I couldn't send a text or make calls. I took the reps advice and it's fine for now.
Well I will give that a try tonight and see how it goes and post back tomorrow with my results. I really love everything. Else about this phone and would be a shame of I had to get rid of it because of silly antenna issues. Thanks for the advice!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Are you sure you don't have any power saving apps on that are turning off the radio after a few hours? Did it happen when it was stock with no programs installed? Might try and flash it back to stock and see if that solves the problem.
Otherwise you could always walk into an AT&T store and ask for another one and see if it still happens.
Well last night it did the same thing after removing the sim for about 10 minutes before bed.
And as far as knowing if it did this before I rooted it.....well...I owned the phone for maybe 10 minutes after unboxing it before I rooted it. So I have no idea if it is because it is rooted. I don't have any apps on it for power saving purposes and nothing should be killing the radio. Problem is that it isn't like airport mode is on...its completely out of service and the only way to get service back is to reboot. Turning the radios on and then off again while the phone is on won't work...it must be a reboot.
I will probably end up returning it and trying one more Captivate before I look else where for a new phone. But after seeing this screen it would be hard to look at any other phone twice.
iphone4 would be a good screen alternative
ur antenna issue is unique and a new phone will probably fix it. id get that sim replaced too.
The new iPhone would be ok...but I can't go back to an iPhone. I have had 4 of them (2 first gens) and I am so bored of them. And I know people rave about the iPhones new screen but side by side with this phone I would take the extra screen real estate anyway.
And I did consider getting a new sim card too. I think I will wait until towards the end of my 30 day return policy and trade in for a new one.
Thanks for all the help guys
koppelmanwj said:
Ok so this has happened every night I have had the Captivate (3 nights), I go to bed at night and in the morning where my signal bar should be I have a circle with a slash through it (no network). When I go to bed I will have like 2-4 bars of service but something must happen and I lose all network functionality. I have to restart the phone which solves the problem but is a serious pain. This also happens sometimes randomly throughout the day.
Any ideas if this is a common problem with all Captivates or if it is a hardware or software issue?
I like this phone and if I can get it to work properly I love it more than my iphone but not getting service is a buzz kill and I will return it. (Bought it unsubsidized for $500 because I couldn't deal with my iphone anymore)
Note: I live in Tampa which generally has good AT&T service and have had no other problems with other phones
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Click to collapse
I've had mine since July 18th and had never have this happen...till this morning. When I pulled it off charger I noticed the signal meter what a circle with a slash. Well, I dont get great reception in my apartment so it didnt phase me until I was on my way to work and still didnt have a signal. So, I turned it off and back on and then it had a signal. So I dont know what was up with that. I'll keep an eye on it tomorrow to see if its something thats going to happen regularly.
Hmmm...so I'm not the only one having this problem. Yeah I don't get superb service in my apartment but I have also never really had any other network problems with other phones.
Wonder if there is something that kills the network if you don't have a decent signal for a certain period of time. I just wish it wasn't everyday. On the brightside nobody will wake me up with emails or texts or calls.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I'm temporary assigned to Cheyenne, WY and just got my Charge since my DroidX bit the dust. Can't wait to get back to Orlando which is covered in LTE but in the meantime I'm stuck on 3G.
My issue is that my data icon keeps going to 3G with a little D underneath it which means i have no data feed and when I do something that requires data, like the market, it doesn't always kick back in right away, which causes some apps not to work.
Has anybody else experienced this issue or am I just on a crappy tower? I did upgrade to ED2 in hopes that that would fix it.
Sent from my Droid Charge using Tapatalk
Same issue - different state
Mods sorry I double posted. Please take down my similar thread. Here is what I posted.
I have a Thunderbolt and really enjoy 95% of how it works - except of course the battery life. So in an effort to retain the function of the Thunderbolt and improve battery life I picked up a Droid Charge. The screen is FANTASTIC and it runs almost as fast as the Bolt.
Here comes the big BUT!! But the data connection falls off a lot and I have to do a reset to get the 3g data connection back. There are some of other smaller things but the big BUT makes the Charge unusable for me.
Anyone a quick fix to this issue?
I am surprised this issue hasn't been reported more widely.
Experience tells me that Sammy ROM fixes are sssllloooww to come along.
So unless there is something I am missing - back goes the Sammy.
Also another quick question - anyone get Skype to work?
Thanks
I am having a bunch of connection issues as well. It seems like the 3g connection is spotty and handing off from 4g to 3g is worse. To make matters worse, if I am transferring anything when the issue occurs the transfer is toast and the app needs to be killed before it behaves again.
As for Skype, the one in the marker works (the non VZ one) so far. Haven't tested voice, but VZ ver wouldn't even run.
I have had the same problem with my thunderbolt so I returned it and got the charge and haven't had as much of a data problem and the battery life is so much better than the bolt.
No data issues here. But there also isn't LTE offered in the area so I guess I wouldn't be experiencing 4g/3g swapping ever...
In fact, I'm actually experiencing much better connectivity (wifi, 3g, gps, voice) than I was on my Fascinate.
No 3G here either but still erratic
Just to clarify, 4g is not available in my primary area. My phone has a good solid lock on a good solid signal then BOOM no more data.
Given what some of the others have said - it sounds hardware related.
Probable best to just take it back.
Yup, shoddy 3G
I'm having issues with sporadic 3G connectivity as well. Previously, I owned a Droid Eris and never had any issues with 3G in my area leading me to believe it's a problem with the Charge. I don't live in a 4G area so there is no interference there. I'll be mid-app and boom, it drops for about 2 minutes or until I toggle the data switch off/on.
Glad I'm not the only one, but still very annoying.
Aside from my few hardware/design complaints of the Charge, THIS issue is by far the worst that directly affects the user experience.
Samsung, are you reading this thread? Please help us!
I'm having the same issue. I was about to call verizon to make sure there were no outages. Places I normally have no issue maintaining 3g coverage I'm dropping down to 1X.
i had the same problem, i went to verizon and they reactivated my phone and now my phone works great with no problems. go to verizon and tell them to reactivate your phone, they may also give u a new sim card too.
Went to Verizon
Yep - went to Verizon also. Left the Charge there. We'll see where it goes but for now too many negatives. As I said earlier, I really like the Sammy screens started with the Fascinate. I just don't feel like waiting around for the slow train that Sammy/Verizon always seem to be on for fixes. Hopefully I am wrong soon but for now I am right.
modestmartin said:
I'm having issues with sporadic 3G connectivity as well. Previously, I owned a Droid Eris and never had any issues with 3G in my area leading me to believe it's a problem with the Charge. I don't live in a 4G area so there is no interference there. I'll be mid-app and boom, it drops for about 2 minutes or until I toggle the data switch off/on.
Glad I'm not the only one, but still very annoying.
Aside from my few hardware/design complaints of the Charge, THIS issue is by far the worst that directly affects the user experience.
Samsung, are you reading this thread? Please help us!
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Click to collapse
It's a network and/or modem firmware issue - the Thunderbolt is plagued with the EXACT same problems.
Glitch4583 said:
I'm temporary assigned to Cheyenne, WY and just got my Charge since my DroidX bit the dust. Can't wait to get back to Orlando which is covered in LTE but in the meantime I'm stuck on 3G.
My issue is that my data icon keeps going to 3G with a little D underneath it which means i have no data feed and when I do something that requires data, like the market, it doesn't always kick back in right away, which causes some apps not to work.
Has anybody else experienced this issue or am I just on a crappy tower? I did upgrade to ED2 in hopes that that would fix it.
Sent from my Droid Charge using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
OT F.E. Warren? My Cousin was stationed there, he was a guard at the Minuteman III ICBM Silo's and Launch Facilities, are you on the base or at the Missile's? I hope the deployment goes well! OT
Back on Topic, I noticed that little D underneath the 3G today and thought "what the?" lol. It was only there for a few seconds, so I dismissed it, I'll keep a watch on it though and report back any data issues.
I'm on base thank Jebus, I work behind a desk in the Communications SQ. As for the D, I went into vzw and they say claim it's normal. Personally I think it has something to do with the bad infrastructure we have in Wyoming, causing major power drain issues on my phone.
Sent from my Droid Charge using Tapatalk
My wife's droid charge is having very bad issues with the 3g dropping and never coming back. Were in el paso, TX.
Same issue here in Orlando. 4G to 3G drops data...very annoying....wife is ready to return for iPhone4. Help please! Don't want fruit in house.
Having the same problem in Alabama, don't have 3G yet and yet I get the D and then 1X and it completely drops out. Last night I lost data completely and wouldn't come back up even after I rebooted the phone. I wasn't sure if this was due to the battery being about < 5% (I was trying to kill it) or what. About to boot my phone back up and see how it does. I had just switched WiFi off in my apt. and never got the 3G data stream.
I have it set to CDMA only since there is no 4G in my area right now, don't know if that really helps or hurts the situation though.
I actually thought the D meant that something about the stream being dormant because I do get it a lot of times but when I refresh facebook or something, 3G immediately comes back up.
Glitch4583 said:
I'm on base thank Jebus, I work behind a desk in the Communications SQ.
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Click to collapse
Lol Right on Being out at the Missile Silo's and Launch Facilities is a lonely job, a VERY essential job of course, to keep the peace, but lonely nevertheless
How is your data doing lately, any better?
It's not getting any better but I talked to tech support and they said it's a known issue. Guess there'll be an ED3 soon.
Sent from my Droid Charge using Tapatalk
ShotgunSam said:
Having the same problem in Alabama, don't have 3G yet and yet I get the D and then 1X and it completely drops out. Last night I lost data completely and wouldn't come back up even after I rebooted the phone. I wasn't sure if this was due to the battery being about < 5% (I was trying to kill it) or what. About to boot my phone back up and see how it does. I had just switched WiFi off in my apt. and never got the 3G data stream.
I have it set to CDMA only since there is no 4G in my area right now, don't know if that really helps or hurts the situation though.
I actually thought the D meant that something about the stream being dormant because I do get it a lot of times but when I refresh facebook or something, 3G immediately comes back up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also having the same issue here in Portland OR since I got the Charge since 5/16. Today, I had GPS issues when I was Google navigation. It could not get a satellite lock. I tried people has suggested did not work but doing a factory reset worked. I still have the same data issues.
Glitch4583 said:
It's not getting any better but I talked to tech support and they said it's a known issue. Guess there'll be an ED3 soon.
Sent from my Droid Charge using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I hope so. I would really like to keep the Droid Charge.
How many of you have had to return your S3 due to out of box defects? My first one would chronically overheat, had low signal, miserable 3g speeds (I know they're pretty miserable anyway), awful battery life, and would consistently drop my wifi signal at home.
Now, I'm on my second device. This one doesn't hold a much better signal, and worse yet, I have a very random screen glitch where it shows digital artifacts on some screens, and sometimes it actually flashes and randomly blinks at me, very much like a PC with a bad graphics card. Unfortunately it doesn't do I consistently either.
Am I just the luckiest person alive to get two of these that are bad straight out of the box?
I feel like a dbag taking this one back after I already took the first one back with issues. Especially since the graphics thing is so intermittent.
Sent from your mother's bed.
Sorry to hear that man. The only issue mine has is with very dark Grey screens it shows small black splotches on the screen, otherwise never there and I've looked closely
Otherwise 3G is slow (200kbps or so) but bearable. No other major issues, battery holds a 6.5hr charge with constant use and screen on basically non stop stock battery
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
On my second one, the first one had a Bluetooth issue. When connected to any BT device it would crackle randomly. The second one had issues out of the box. Same as you, connection was horrible. Even in the same locations and apps, the first one seemed to connect well. I ended up doing several factory resets and now it seems better. My local vzw store was convinced enough to give me a third, but after it settled down I figured that I'd just keep this one. There is something weird about these phones. The connection is worse than my thunderbolt. The battery is all over the place (due to the radio I'm sure). We'll see I guess
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
I have a blue 16gb and wife has a white 16gb, both arrived early on pre-order. No issues with either phone.
Yeah, it sucks for sure, he phone has so much potential if it worked properly.
I dumped att for Verizon at the same time, and my 14/days are up today. Ill likely port back to att, and wait to see what happens with LTE here.
3G alone is just unbearable on VZ.
Sent from your mother's bed.
ClubDownforce said:
Yeah, it sucks for sure, he phone has so much potential if it worked properly.
I dumped att for Verizon at the same time, and my 14/days are up today. Ill likely port back to att, and wait to see what happens with LTE here.
3G alone is just unbearable on VZ.
Sent from your mother's bed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is something to do with the phone, not verizon. I said in another thread they need to fix these cell issues asap. My old phone got 3 MBs down and up, this one gets less then 1 on both. 4G is fine but I don't live in 4G area, unless I literally walk a street away...:silly: Start calling and reporting this stuff to customer service. I've been doing this everyday.
Complaining on a forum does not fix the issues.
My first one had the USB port randomly go bad. Returned it in the first 14 days. This second unit is working ok though there seems to be a spec of dust or something under the screen that drives me slightly insane.
Radios have not been samsungs strong points. Wifi essentially does not work until I turn off power save which is a pita and resets after reboot. My rezound never had issues even with wifi on power save
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
tonictonic said:
Radios have not been samsungs strong points.
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Click to collapse
Samsung radios have always sucked, Samsung is known for this.
My Rezound had a far better radio than either my current G3 or my Wifes Droid Charge (& the POS Nexus I had briefly was even worse).
Calling customer service doesn't fix "service" issues either, not to mention I don't have time to be on the phone with CS telling them how my service sucks every day. Not to mention that my gf can have full service, the Xoom has full service, and this phone has 3 bars if lucky, along with abysmal download speeds. Its as bad as Sprint with this phone. This doesn't seem to be Verizon isolated either, as local US Cellular customers have also been complaining of slow speeds and bad reception.
I don't even know what else Verizon has that I'd consider. Just sucks, because the phone is very nice.
Sent from your mother's bed.
i returned my gs3 suposedly due to factory defect but i knew it was my fault, and it had 3 dents on it from me dropping it lol... after flashing roms with k-exec so many times, i managed to change the network type to 3g only and the best buy rep couldn't figure out how to get it to connect to 4g. I know how i could of fixed it with phone info from android market but thats after the fact.... So he replaced with a brand new pebble blue 16g gs3 and it was updated to vrlg1 rather the older version. I was greatfull plus i added black tie protection and purchased buy back before they ended the program :fingers-crossed::good:
jmorton10 said:
Samsung radios have always sucked, Samsung is known for this.
My Rezound had a far better radio than either my current G3 or my Wifes Droid Charge (& the POS Nexus I had briefly was even worse).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am still not convinced this is the case. I also have a rezound. They report the signal differently and what I've noticed is that it seems like the Samsung phone because of the way it reports the signal assumes the signal is worse before the rezound does and kicks to 3G sooner.
I don't know if it can be changed so it holds 4G longer, but back when I had an evo 4G with wimax you could tell the phone to hold the signal longer than default and I'd get wimax in my house when default settings would kick me immediately to 3G when I walked through the front door.
So I don't think the phone has terrible radios just that if you rated the 4G signal on a scale of 1-20 with 20 being the worst reception, that the rezound will hold 4G until it hits 18-19 and switch to 3G and the GSIII cuts out at 12-13 and there for where I have signal with my rezound, I could have it with the GSIII, other than it decides to dump the signal.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
onpoint10101 said:
i returned my gs3 suposedly due to factory defect but i knew it was my fault, and it had 3 dents on it from me dropping it lol... after flashing roms with k-exec so many times, i managed to change the network type to 3g only and the best buy rep couldn't figure out how to get it to connect to 4g. I know how i could of fixed it with phone info from android market but thats after the fact.... So he replaced with a brand new pebble blue 16g gs3 and it was updated to vrlg1 rather the older version. I was greatfull plus i added black tie protection and purchased buy back before they ended the program :fingers-crossed::good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work at best buy geek squad. It's not called black tie anymore it's called geek squad protection. Black tie was always the dumbest **** I ever heard. Also buy back is staying for mobile phones forever. The rest of the store got rid of it though cause it was a ripoff LOLOL
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
xsteven77x said:
I work at best buy geek squad. It's not called black tie anymore it's called geek squad protection. Black tie was always the dumbest **** I ever heard. Also buy back is staying for mobile phones forever. The rest of the store got rid of it though cause it was a ripoff LOLOL
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
was never called black tie, it was Geeksquad Black Tie protection, Which if you are part of the actual Geeksquad culture, made perfect sense. It just doesn't relate well to your average person.
Also, Buyback is still a plausable rip off. If you are lazy, then it makes sense to get it. I will use my rezound as an example though. Best Buy has the phone in the system for 650. In the first six months I would get back 325 back. If you held the phone like I did for 9 months, you'd get 40% of the phone back, so 260 dollars. Not counting that after 10 months it is 30%. If I sold my phone on swappa, ebay, what have you, including my extended battery, I could get about that much, or more, without having to pay an initial fee to get the ability to get that money back.
Also, people are stupid, and phones that are already s-off, and with a rooted rom sell for more money. Best buy doesn't trade in the extended battery, and it being s-off'd would kill its value, if the tech doing the trade in even knew how to check for that.
My S3 was working great until this week (right after the 14 days return window). Now WiFi is dropping, 4G is running at worse than 3G speeds, phone randomly shuts off, apps that worked fine previously now crash / lock the phone on a black screen. I hope I can just swap this back out for my Thunderbolt without any issues. Hopefully I can get a replacement on this. If the 2nd one has these issues, I'll go back to my Thunderbolt which has been rock-solid since I got it.
angie4u said:
thats weird. Me and two my friends recently switched to S3 and none of us have had issues with the phone.
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Click to collapse
same here...no issues. whatsoever...
there are things that i dont like. .but they are tocuhwiz related.
heck i even dropped my S3 in a baby bath tub...(i have a thread about that with pics of it dissembled) & still works flawlessly...
however with all the verizon BS on there...my quadrant scores arent what i thought they would be/should be
enohand said:
same here...no issues. whatsoever...
there are things that i dont like. .but they are tocuhwiz related.
heck i even dropped my S3 in a baby bath tub...(i have a thread about that with pics of it dissembled) & still works flawlessly...
however with all the verizon BS on there...my quadrant scores arent what i thought they would be/should be
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People have been getting over 5000 scores on my 100% bloated stock deodexed ROM. They have all the Verizon garbage on them.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
I'm not complaining about build quality, the speed of the phone, touchwiz, etc. My complaint is simply with what seems to be a slight lapse in quality control, which has affected me twice now, haha.
No biggie. I guess I'll just see what Best Buy says when I take it in.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2
nosympathy said:
People have been getting over 5000 scores on my 100% bloated stock deodexed ROM. They have all the Verizon garbage on them.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im interested in what & how you got those scores.
i come in consistently around 4200-4600 but i also have the free version so i dont know if thats causing it
My first phone was a pre order phone. For the lifebof me and Samsung and Verizon. We could not get the flipping GPS to find the phone. Both Verizon and Samsung tried to tell me that the phone needs the celular network to use GPS. I had to tell them that that is either impossible or that the phone is falsely advertising stand alone GPS. And if Samsung and Verizon allowed that to be that some one is in for a legal ride. I told them that I would never purchase a phone or any mobile communicqtion device without that option. Long story short they sent me a new one. And everything works perfectly. Well, with the exception of it freezing on me at times. This could be due to an over heating issue or just bad designe in the software. Though it has not happened in a while since I have frozen some of the Verizon and Samsung crap bloat. Specifficly Verizon. They know how to screw a good thing up. Also, I have this thing underclocked at 918MHz-1.134GHz. This helps a great deal because of wifi teather and bluetooth on in my car all day long. Now to find a charger that will let it more than just charge at a snails pace.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA App
Any apparent issues with these phone? I have the recent Samsung galaxy nexus, and I have the 3g-4g issue with mine and it was a PITA. Any issues with these phones, as in common issues?
This phone started getting really poor signal when the Note 2 came out. It got so bad a lot of people needed to get it replaced! Apparently, the Note 2 didn't have these issues.
Just kidding.
In some areas this phone can have signal issues. At home, work and most other places nearby I get perfectly fine signal. However when I visited some of my friends in Detroit we went to a bar that caused my phone to really heat up in my pocket. I noticed it was on 1x and my battery had been drained pretty good. Its hit or miss, but I'd say 90% of the people have no issues.
Out of the box the phone does not handle Bluetooth calling with an aux cable plugged in. You won't be able to hear the person on the other end until you unplug the cable from the phone. Fortunately, one hobbyist was able to fix what a multi-billion dollar corporation couldn't and released SoundAbout onto the play store. You'll have to buy it to get the Bluetooth correction ability, but it's worth it if this is a function that you use.
Samsung is playing coy about the availability of an extended battery. Only murmers of it exist though some people have managed to get their hands on it overseas. We're hoping this doesn't become vaporware because it's a 3000mah battery that doesn't add too much extra bulk. The stock battery provides average battery life. Better than your GNex but worse than battery titans like the maxx phones and Note 2.
There are issues with the real time clock that causes recovery backups to have an incorrect date. All of my backups were performed in 1970 apparently.
AOSP is very functional on this phone but it's still a WIP. Notable issues include staticy A2DP Bluetooth music playback (mastamoon builds unofficials that fix this at the expense of call echo), massive fps lag upon exiting games (fixed by turning screen off/on) and weaker signal strength in some areas. There may be other issues I'm forgetting about, but that's most of it.
There is a small chance you can lose your IMEI number when you flash custom ROMs or kernels. This is bad as it causes your phone to lose its ability to make calls, send texts or receive data. Luckily there are easy methods to back this up and restore if needed. I've backed mine up and thankfully have never needed to restore it. Look for the thread titled Comprehensive IMEI Backup for more details.
That's most of the issues with this phone.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
No comparison to the GNEX. The GNEX was just terrible when it came to signal. The S3 might not be the best signal phone, but it is leaps and bounds above the GNEX.
[email protected] said:
No comparison to the GNEX. The GNEX was just terrible when it came to signal. The S3 might not be the best signal phone, but it is leaps and bounds above the GNEX.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VERY true story!
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I've been having trouble with signal reception at home, but that's the only place I have an issue. My house seems to be in a deadzone with a radius of no more than 200m. My iPhone4 didn't have a problem with calls there, but hte GS3 does. That said, I don't really have a problem anywhere else. A network extender remedied that issue. I also get a quick A2DP audio skip once every couple of minutes, but that doesn't bother me much.
Aside from that, it's been an awesome phone. Lot's of support, and lots of roms to try out.
You have 14 days to return, give it a run. I have zero signal issues.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
I have the 32G blue on Verizon and although I don't always have a strong signal I have never had a dropped call. I travel a lot and watch the 4G and cell signal, most of the time I have 4G about 80 % the rest is 3G. Did notice that when the phone is switching between the two occasionally it will go to 1x not all the time. I did flash like a dozen ROMs not loosing my IMEI, however I did back it up b4 I started flashing just in case. Recommend you do a lot of reading b4 you start flashing n you shouldn't have any problems. Love the phone n the ROMs
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Thanks guys especially the 2nd poster!
This phone is awesome and one of the best I've owned so.
Came from the flagship thunderbolt on the verizon network.
Oh the thunderbolt my wife has had 6 of them none worked right
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
I've had mine a couple of week now. I came from a Motorola Bionic. I would much rather the Bionic's radio, I find I have reception issue in places the Bionic was fine in. I got my wife a S3 also, it seems like her reception is better than mine.
Other than that, the phone is amazing. I would and have recommended it.
Quick version:
My phone got really hot and since then I've had no to very poor reception. Got a new SIM card from VZW and went back to stock (multiple times) with the same results.
Long drawn out version:
So I've had my phone for over a year (preorderd the keep my unlimited data plan) rooted it as soon as I could (though I think I waited a week or two) and have had no trouble loading various ROMs (ASOP and TW). A few weeks ago, when the Unofficial CM 10.2 came out I decided to try it (full wipe, coming from a CM 10.1 port) and while my battery drained very fast, it was stable. An update was released and I saw people were commenting positive on the battery life so I flashed the update (just flashed over). The next day my battery was draining even faster (full charge at 7pm, 30% by 10pm) so I charged it while at work. A few points through out the day I recall it getting warm (while idle with no apps open). Leaving work it got hot enough while in my pocket I had to take it out and pull the battery. After letting it cool down, the battery was dead.. let it charge up and did a full wipe to revert back to a CM 10.1 port (I think it was liquid but not 100% positive). Since then, my signal has been spotty though WiFi works. On a fresh boot, I'll have full LTE, then it drops down to 1x within 5 min... down to nothing after 10 min. I wasn't able to send or receive calls either (tested with my work cellphone, went straight to voice mail). I've tried flashing various modems (VRLG1, VRBMA2, VRBMF1) and tried going back to the CM10.2 with no luck... I then went back to stock (ICS) with similar results.
Thinking the SIM card may have been fried I called VZW and explained my situation (not mentioning that I was rooted, just the phone had overheated and I did a "factory reset"). With the wait on the SIM card, I activated my old HTC Incredible just so I can have a usable phone. I got the replacement SIM card today (still on stock ICS) and it was able to activate. But after 5min my signal dropped down to nothing. Enable/Disable Airplane mode the signal goes back to 4G and after 5 min (estimate) it drops back down. I then tried a stock JB (through odin) and this one states 4G available but the browser just hangs and doesn't load. I was able to send and receive calls for one attempt, the next just hangs when sending, and receiving goes right to voice mail.
I'm to the point where I'm thinking something got fried with the radio and need to buy a replacement phone. Just figure I should post something here and get a solution that may save me a few hundred bucks.
If anyone has any advice on this I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you,
-Mike
I just experienced something similar. I got my S3 in Feb and it's been just fine. Last week, I discovered that I was not receiving phone calls (people who called me said my phone would ring until it eventually went to voicemail but my phone would be sitting next to me and never ring). I then found that I could not hold a call for more than 20 seconds before the call would start breaking up and drop. I could hold a choppy call if on speakerphone or BT but the second I would pick up the phone, it would drop the call and state either "Call was lost" or "No signal".
I had not made any software changes to my phone so there did not appear to be any reason as to why this started. I tried everything from changing roms, reverting back to stock, changing basebands, etc. Nothing seemed to work. The strange thing is that I had a perfect wifi and 4G connection.....the signal was strong and would not fluctuate in this case. I would receive text messages just fine as well but making or receiving a call would just kill the signal.
I was able to get by using Spare Phone and having people call my Google Voice # (even on a 4G connection, calls worked very well). I called VZW to troubleshoot (obviously not mentioning I was rooted or unlocked) and after doing some testing with them, they agreed a new sim would not help and it was a physical defect with the phone. Under normal circumstances, they would have sent me a CLNR but, unfortunately, I had a small crack in the corner of the screen (completely unrelated to this -- happened months ago). Since I have insurance, they advised that I just file a claim with Asurion for the cracked display and pay $99 for a new device. Sending it back to VZW would be a gamble -- if they didn't see the crack then it would have been a free CLNR. If they did see it, then it's a $535 charge for the replacement. I ended going through Asurion who sent me a brand new phone and it's working beautify.
Not trying to hijack your thread by sharing my story but the only thing I can think of that may have caused my issue was that I used an external battery to charge the phone while it was off. I noticed when I unplugged the device from the battery, the phone still thought it was being charged (LED light still light and charging animation was still going). It stayed like that for around 5 minutes until I pulled the battery and eventually started the phone back up. I noticed the issue with reception about 3 days after that. It's possible that when the phone is off, either the charging circuit or software isn't properly regulating the power which may result in an overcharge leading to damage of the components.
Did you charge to full while the phone was off using a non-oem charger? If I were you, I would try calling VZW and see if they will offer you a CLNR assuming the phone is still in good condition. I'm willing to bet there is nothing you are able to do to fix the issue at this point ---- you could try taking out the screws on the back and checking for a loose antenna connection but it sounds more like electrical damage based on your information.
mdecker said:
Quick version:
My phone got really hot and since then I've had no to very poor reception. Got a new SIM card from VZW and went back to stock (multiple times) with the same results.
Long drawn out version:
So I've had my phone for over a year (preorderd the keep my unlimited data plan) rooted it as soon as I could (though I think I waited a week or two) and have had no trouble loading various ROMs (ASOP and TW). A few weeks ago, when the Unofficial CM 10.2 came out I decided to try it (full wipe, coming from a CM 10.1 port) and while my battery drained very fast, it was stable. An update was released and I saw people were commenting positive on the battery life so I flashed the update (just flashed over). The next day my battery was draining even faster (full charge at 7pm, 30% by 10pm) so I charged it while at work. A few points through out the day I recall it getting warm (while idle with no apps open). Leaving work it got hot enough while in my pocket I had to take it out and pull the battery. After letting it cool down, the battery was dead.. let it charge up and did a full wipe to revert back to a CM 10.1 port (I think it was liquid but not 100% positive). Since then, my signal has been spotty though WiFi works. On a fresh boot, I'll have full LTE, then it drops down to 1x within 5 min... down to nothing after 10 min. I wasn't able to send or receive calls either (tested with my work cellphone, went straight to voice mail). I've tried flashing various modems (VRLG1, VRBMA2, VRBMF1) and tried going back to the CM10.2 with no luck... I then went back to stock (ICS) with similar results.
Thinking the SIM card may have been fried I called VZW and explained my situation (not mentioning that I was rooted, just the phone had overheated and I did a "factory reset"). With the wait on the SIM card, I activated my old HTC Incredible just so I can have a usable phone. I got the replacement SIM card today (still on stock ICS) and it was able to activate. But after 5min my signal dropped down to nothing. Enable/Disable Airplane mode the signal goes back to 4G and after 5 min (estimate) it drops back down. I then tried a stock JB (through odin) and this one states 4G available but the browser just hangs and doesn't load. I was able to send and receive calls for one attempt, the next just hangs when sending, and receiving goes right to voice mail.
I'm to the point where I'm thinking something got fried with the radio and need to buy a replacement phone. Just figure I should post something here and get a solution that may save me a few hundred bucks.
If anyone has any advice on this I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you,
-Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is likely to be something wrong with the phone itself. You did everything you can possibly do to fix it yourself.
So since yesterday I went back to CM 10.2 ROM and I'm able to send and receive calls but then, it may be spotty.
Artimis said:
Did you charge to full while the phone was off using a non-oem charger? If I were you, I would try calling VZW and see if they will offer you a CLNR assuming the phone is still in good condition. I'm willing to bet there is nothing you are able to do to fix the issue at this point ---- you could try taking out the screws on the back and checking for a loose antenna connection but it sounds more like electrical damage based on your information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OEM USB cable when I'm at my computer plugged into a USB Hub (one port for charging) and at night I have it plugged into a dock (forget what brand, got it free when my bro ordered one for his HTC ONE and they shipped one for an S4)
jmxc23 said:
There is likely to be something wrong with the phone itself. You did everything you can possibly do to fix it yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I figured, just hoping it could have been software related.
Found a used Galaxy Nexus cheap so I ordered one of those... should tie me over till I'm ready to get a better phone next year (or later).
Thanks for the help.