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[Q] Data Drops?

Anyone else experience data drops recently? I would say maybe a week, two weeks ago at most it started happening.
Before that I had a solid data connection, it was edge to 4g, but it retained it's connection well.
Now for example if I'm driving to work, 25% or more of the drive in random spots I have bars, sometimes full bars, but NO data at all.
This was not like this when I first got the phone, but is becoming more frequent now.
Am I the only one?

I have very similar issue or if not than its probably same issue, ever since two days ago its been happening so often. When the phone goes to sleep when you wake it up its always searching so when u try to make phone call it'll say not registered to a network.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

I cant even really use things like slacker radio or pandora anymore because it drops data so often.

Possible solution?
I'm helping a friend with a similar issue.
I myself have an htc evo, and under settings/networks/mobile data, there's a toggle settings called enabled always on mobile data. This setting maintains the data connection even when the phone is asleep. Without this, after ~5 min, push email no longer works, nor does anything else that use data.
Now, I only had a chance to use the S 4G for a few hours about a week ago when I set the thing up for him. I can't remember if there was such a setting under networks or not.
For those of you who have the phone handy, or are familiar with it, can you advise what samsung calls this function, and where it's located in the menu structure?
Thanks!!

I couldnt find any setting similar to the one you're referring to, just data while roaming which is enabled.
The main thing I find odd, is the phone only started doing it recently.. it performed great and always had data before.
Not to sound like a have a tin foil hat on.. but it's only started happening after the merger was getting announced. Could just be a coincidence, but odd timing nonetheless.

Do you have wifi enabled?
Since he's got wifi in his house, I left that on for better battery life as opposed to using tmobile data. I wonder if there's a handoff issue when he leaves.
If you're using wifi, try turning that off and keeping it off.

Yes.. I never have wifi enabled.. I'm talking about driving to work.. I have an hour drive.
Before I had solid data, it was edge or 4g, but regardless data 100%..
Now have I have data maybe 25% of the drive.
I've changed nothing. T-mobile has changed.

Oh this is frustrating indeed! What geographic area are you in? My friend is in chicago.
Does the data drop and reconnect, or stays dropped?

Bay area California..
Like I said, 3 weeks ago.. ZERO issues, constant connection, no drops, no problems.
Yet 1-2 weeks ago.. constant drops all the time, no data at all.. if i stream radio it will drop data completely so actually kill the connection with my radio stream.. becomes extremely obnoxious since it's very frequent.
This NEVER happened before.
It reconnects but takes oddly long.. for example, normal data reconnect from a sleep is maybe 15-20seconds.. this is more like 5-10 minutes.

I *WONDER*.... with the evo's wimax (4g) settings, there's a number of parameters that can be adjusted as far as signal quality (SNR), time outs, min signal strength required for connection, etc..
Maybe you travel through a questionable signal area, and it has a hard time re-establishing connection while in motion... On the evo, we get into that menu by ##3282# from the dialer. There's gotta be a similar menu for tmobile's 4g.

i know SGS tools allows you to switch between auto, GSM, WCDMA bands on the fly. This may help you in your problem if you want the phone to stay in 4G mode or not. the phone generally has a problem with Death-Grip users and the weak antenna.

The phone was working great week ago this started to happen i thought this had something to do with my phone being rooted but i have another friend with exact same issue and his phone is not rooted. If u put ur phone to GSM only than ur not going to have the isuue but you'll be on EDGE connection at all time.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

Well I think the main point that's being over looked, is when i purchased the phone, i did not have this issue, at all, ever.
So well over a month or more with ZERO issues, now all of a sudden I have the issues.. I've changed nothing, i rooted and modded the phone day #1.

I am with you. My wife and I both have this phone. It had been working great and and then all of a sudden, about 2 weeks ago, we are having nothing but problems with our data connections. We live in the Seattle area.

Has anyone contacted t mobile to ask about data problems? They don't have the most reliable network.
Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using XDA Premium App

It could be a throttled down data stream. Do you unlimited Data plan?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA Premium App

I to am having the exact same issue in downtown chicago. I have contacted Tmo and gone through all of their troubleshooting steps. They even replaced my phone last week and I still get data and cell drops. When I called back they were going to dispatch a tech to the area to determine of there was an issue with a tower, but I don't expect anything to come from it. My problem started about 3-4 weeks ago. The only thing that helped a little was to switch the wireless network from WCDMA/GSM tp GSM only. You are confined to Edge for data, but the data seems more reliable. I am wondering if their towers are reaching capacity and therefore we are seeing drops???

I don't have that issue at all. It work just like when I first got the phone...

We here in oldsmar fl had a really bad data drop last sunday that we couldnt make or receive any phone calls but data and texting was workin. I called t-mobile n they couldnt detect any outage in this area n they had me troubleshoot all of my phones (3 of them) n nothing worked after about an hour of being on the phone with them I decided to drive about two miles away n I was able to make phone calls! ...by monday everything was fixed in my area but now im seeing weird stuff on the phone signals like when I make a phone call n I hang up I see the edge icon on the phone n then about 5 secs later it goes back to the 4g icon...that didnt used to happen before...I've even seen the G icon which ive never seen before in this phone since I got it...what the hell is going on with t-mobile towers? R they slacking? or maybe doing some kinda preparations to convert to ATT signals? Just my thoughts...
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

I'm having issues too and its making me sofaking mad! I don't even use a gig of data and I'm on edge for half my billing cycle ... Phone is great but I think it's the sh!t service T-Mobile gives to their customers ... at this rate you all may see me on the Nexus S 4G real soon... I've had 2 issues with T-Mobile so far in less than a month... I don't think its the phone...
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

EE4 radio didn't fix the lack of connectivity issue.

I find that if I'm in a fringe 4G area, that my phone will often not connect to either 4G or 3G. At home my 4G signal is strong and I always connect to 4G 100% of the time. At work, when i'm in the middle of the building I often get no 3G or 4g signal. From my office I always got 3G with my D1. With my Charge about half of the time i get no signal unless I reboot. It seems like the phone gets confused if there is a weak 4G and a decent 3G. How is the Charge in a 3G only area?
I saw the EE4 release notes and it looked like it was meant to solve this problem. However, I'm seeing the same behavior. What is everyone else's experience.?
I should also add I'm using Juice Defender. I think I"m going to try disabling it to make sure that isn't causing a problem.

I'm going to guess that it could be JuiceDefender causing the problem, disabling data until a more reliable signal comes about. I have had times where I've lost 3G service, or 4G service, but it comes back on its own after a few seconds. I'm guessing that despite the improvement, there are still some bugs, which is to be expected with the new technology. I do notice that I loose my data connection much less often than before, and the improvement in battery life is worth any minor issues for me.

Get rid of Juice Defender, it will cause you many more problems than its worth. All it really does is enable/disable data when it doesn't think you need it to save battery, but you're much better off doing that yourself with the power widgets in the notification bar. I spoke with a VZW network engineer after confusing the various tech support reps because I actually have some idea of how their network operates (go figure), and he confirmed that something like that is not a great idea, especially on the new LTE network. It doesn't save much battery, since its always forcing data to re-sync when it thinks it should even when I don't need it, and sometimes turns it off when I do want it. Also, it seems to take much longer for it to sync or switch 3g/4g when JuiceDefender is running.
I completely uninstalled it, and when I pull my phone out, if I plan on using the internet, I turn on mobile data. If I'm putting it away for awhile, using media/apps/games on the phone that don't require data for some time, or planning on making a long phone call, I'll turn it off. It syncs up right away when I need it, so that works very well for me. In fact, if you keep your apps from auto-synching, it will idle most of the time its not being used anyway, meaning its not using much power anyway.
Just like auto task killers, juice defender seems to be one of those things that's an attempt to save battery power and improve performance, but is typically misunderstood and used improperly, actually hurting the things you want to improve. It seems that proper understanding of how Android works, and learning how to efficiently manage it yourself works better.

Cruiserdude said:
Get rid of Juice Defender, it will cause you many more problems than its worth.
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You guys rock. I've uninstalled juice defender and have had zero issues for the last 3 hours. Still too soon to tell, but it looks promising.

I'm having issues with this the last few days. I've never had Juice Defender.
Especially tethering as the wife and I were driving around looking at houses. She likes to pull them up on the laptop while doing so. Before the EE4 update everything worked great, now it cut out enough to make it too aggravating to continue to use. And each time it cut out the phone had lost 4g and I had to toggle LTE in the network settings to get it to come back.
Anyone else had similar issues? I thought EE4 was supposed to fix these, not cause more!?

Well, my 4G has improved slightly since EE4.
I actually occasionally get 4 bars of 4G in my office at work, where I never had connection to 4G in the past. It still seems a little dicey with random hand-offs between 3G and 4G, though.

¿GotJazz? said:
Well, my 4G has improved slightly since EE4.
I actually occasionally get 4 bars of 4G in my office at work, where I never had connection to 4G in the past. It still seems a little dicey with random hand-offs between 3G and 4G, though.
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Yeah I'd agree with that, better 4G when I have it, but very bad handoffs.

Update, not a single outage since removing Juice defender.

4G LTE Data Connection "Stall"

So I have a perfectly good 4G LTE signal going, data speeds are great and all, but every once in a while it will just stop receiving data. The 4G LTE icon is still there, occasionally I see the upstream arrow flash, but the downstream arrow remains blank. A difference that I see from other people's connectivity issues is that I never once see it switch to 3G/1X when this happens.
One thing to note is that this behavior is not readily apparent until you're doing something real-time network dependent, like streaming audio/video for a considerable duration of time until it cuts you off suddenly.
Between 10 seconds to several minutes after data stops transmitting, it starts working again. Sometimes I get impatient and just toggle between CDMA only/LTE automatic to get 4G LTE working again without having to wait.
Is this a common issue among Charge owners? I noticed the reviewer at Anandtech had a near identical experience (though not always fixable without a reboot for him):
"My only complaint is that every once in a while, the LTE data session sometimes stalls briefly – sometimes for a a few seconds, other times for a few minutes. When that happens, you’ll see the uplink green arrow blink, but no orange downlink arrow. Rebooting the device fixes things."
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After conversing a bit with him (he also reviewed the Thunderbolt/Revolution), this apparently only happens with the Charge, but he also has faith that Samsung would fix this through software (RIL) or hardware (firmware). Given Samsung's track record with smartphone updates, I'm not so sure they will.

PeterDLai said:
Given Samsung's track record with smartphone updates, I'm not so sure they will.
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Considering a month after the phone's launch we already have a Gingerbread leak I think this device will most definitely see support from Samsung. It is a DROID branded phone after all, and Verizon is statistically the best carrier for updates, they do take special care of the "DROID" phones over every other Android handset.

4G is flakey, on both devices that offer it. I have both the Thunderbolt and Charge with me most of the time, and I see all kinds of flakiness on both. It's the network.

It is definitely the network. I had a Thunderbolt before the Charge and it was FAR worse with network connectivity falling off the face of the planet despite having full 3g/4g.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

I have had the same problem. I usually wait and it comes back in about 30-45 seconds, but it is annoying. It was really bad for a couple of days but has been better the past couple.

I personally haven't had to much issue with 4g dropping out. However people need to keep in mind that LTE is new for both the mfgs & carrier. So it is going to take time to get all these bugs worked out. That said I have to give props to VZW and the mfgs tho because back when they were building out 3G originally you want to talk about issues my lord was it bad.

I have had this issue, with the 3G and the 4G, but I can't say that it's a deal breaker for me, compared to the lousy HSPA+ signal my Vibrant had. It's only ever happened to me at my house, which is right on the edge of LTE coverage, so it switches back and forth a lot. But I have to give the network the benefit of the doubt for right now, it's a brand new network and a brand new device. And the 97% of the time that things work properly, it's so far above and beyond the T-Mobile network I have no regrets about switching.

I called Verizon with the same issue last Friday. Their resolution after a couple of questions was to overnight me a new (certified like-new) Charge and SIM card - the replacement was received on Monday. I haven't had any issues since, but I also stopped seeing the issue after I made the complaint.
Regardless, replacement has been better and locks a GPS signal much quicker. Maybe it's the SIM card?

SAME CRAP HERE!!!!
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

I tested if I have this behavior using LTE only mode (dial **583 in Phone app) and indeed I do, so this furthers my belief that my issue is not due to something wrong in the hand-off between 4G/3G.

I found out the way to actually change the data modes and tested using EV-DO Rev. A instead of eHRPD (in conjunction with LTE) and also using just CDMA 1X (in conjunction with LTE, essentially disabling 3G), but my issue of dropping data exists. The 4G LTE icon is displayed the entire time when it happens, I just seem to lose connectivity (and all three of the tests in the Phone Info area fail) temporarily. For what it's worth, I'm not moving the phone around at all when this happens.
I think I would actually be more content if when the data connection stalled, my 4G LTE icon just disappeared or if it switched to 3G because then it would make more sense to me (that I may have lost connection to the 4G service and it's attempting to reconnect to either 3G or 4G), but as it stands, all I get is a constant 4G icon with intermittent dropouts. The switch to 3G/1X seems to be the more common issue among 4G smartphone owners, but my (and the reviewer at Anandtech's) issue seems to deal completely within the 4G network, and I've tried every leaked radio to no avail.
The regularity of the dropouts seems kind of random as well; I'm not sure how I can figure out the source of the issue. Does anyone know if there are some logs that I can look into to see if something is happening to my phone at the very instant that I'm having these stalls?
Of course, I'm not discounting the fact that it might completely be on the side of Verizon's network and/or my area in San Diego and has nothing to do with my phone, and I may in a minority of users that actually continuously uses the 4G enough to notice these dropouts, which on average happen once every half hour to hour or so. Sometimes I'm able to stream something for several hours without the stalls, and other times it'll happen frequently within a short time span.

I just got off the phone with tech support for the intermittent data drop problem. After confirming that I was on EE4, and that I had tried doing a factory reset, he is fedexing me a new sim card.
Really hope it works, I love the phone but losing data for 1-2 minutes at a time randomly is pretty lame. Especially since I switched to Verizon for their reputation as the better network.

Racer447 said:
I just got off the phone with tech support for the intermittent data drop problem. After confirming that I was on EE4, and that I had tried doing a factory reset, he is fedexing me a new sim card.
Really hope it works, I love the phone but losing data for 1-2 minutes at a time randomly is pretty lame. Especially since I switched to Verizon for their reputation as the better network.
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Is your problem the same as mine (data drops all while 4G icon is displayed) or is yours the more common 4G to 3G/1X transition or losing the 4G network icon data drop?

PeterDLai said:
Is your problem the same as mine (data drops all while 4G icon is displayed) or is yours the more common 4G to 3G/1X transition or losing the 4G network icon data drop?
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The data will stop. Then the 4g or 3g icon will disappear entirely for a minute. Then it will reconnect at either 4g,3g or 1x, I don't really see a clear pattern, it seems totally random to me.

Is there anyone who's reading this that regularly uses their 4G continuously (i.e. hours) for streaming web content (e.g. radio streams, live video streams, etc.)? If so, do you experience any occasional dropouts or is the 4G connection for you rock solid?

Racer447 said:
The data will stop. Then the 4g or 3g icon will disappear entirely for a minute. Then it will reconnect at either 4g,3g or 1x, I don't really see a clear pattern, it seems totally random to me.
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hey, I have exactly the same problem!

same here,lose 4g icon when i use either the mobile hotspot or the tethering option.longest i have been connected was about 15 minutes.

fender22 said:
same here,lose 4g icon when i use either the mobile hotspot or the tethering option.longest i have been connected was about 15 minutes.
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Tested on mine and same result.
Edit: Rebooted and it works fine been on it 20+ now, I'll be testing some more

A couple of days ago my SIM card crapped out.
Now that i have a new one my 4G signal has been more consistent and stronger than ever. I live in a fringe area and before the new SIM it would constantly switch between 4 and 3G. Now i go for hours on 4G and it even stays on 4G in places that it would always switch and stay on 3G.
Get a new SIM before getting a new phone.
Sent from my Samsung Droid Charge: Stock EE4

After reading this thread I'm considering switching to either the Thunderbolt or the Revolution, or something else when it comes out...
Anyway, I have experienced this same thing.
The only difference in my situation is that I'm trying to use my LTE internet as a dedicated connection. The setup I'm trying to do is plug my phone into my router and have the router distribute the verizon LTE internet through my apartment. My router currently has the latest version of tomato installed and I compiled my own RNDIS module (modified to work with the charge). Everything works for the first few minutes (15-20), then I notice the 4G icon "stall", then disappear, then reconnect. After the first disconnect and reconnect, the internet connection is very unstable and will disconnect every couple of minutes until I disable and re-enable the internet again... very frustrating.
In the interim, I've been using EasyTether and this works very well. I have streamed hours of 720P video and it works flawless; not one skip or reconnect.
This leads me to believe that it is either one of the following:
The kernel - I'm currently using the PBJT kernel found in the latest version of humble. I'm not sure if the stock rom will provide better stability.
The radio - I currently have the EE4 radio installed, but am very curious to know the stability of the GB radio updates (EP1f, etc.).
Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

Intermittent connectivity issues

Every so often my M8 will basically become disconnected from the network. This NORMALLY appears when I'm in a low coverage zone, and it's as if my phone just doesn't want to reconnect when I get back into a higher coverage area.
For instance at my gym, I frequently get a weak signal, but it's usually 4G. Sometimes it'll drop to 3G, and then sometimes when I get back into an area of the gym that has 4G coverage my phone will say it's still on 3G. However, there's actually no connectivity at all, and I need to either reboot or toggle airplane mode to get a connection again.
Sometimes (at least 2-3 times in the last week) it happened while, at least to the best of my knowledge, I was in a 4G area (though with weak coverage) the entire time. Again I fixed it each time by toggling airplane.
Has anyone else seen an issue like this? It's frustrating as hell. And more importantly has anyone heard of a fix for this?

sfreemanoh said:
Every so often my M8 will basically become disconnected from the network. This NORMALLY appears when I'm in a low coverage zone, and it's as if my phone just doesn't want to reconnect when I get back into a higher coverage area.
For instance at my gym, I frequently get a weak signal, but it's usually 4G. Sometimes it'll drop to 3G, and then sometimes when I get back into an area of the gym that has 4G coverage my phone will say it's still on 3G. However, there's actually no connectivity at all, and I need to either reboot or toggle airplane mode to get a connection again.
Sometimes (at least 2-3 times in the last week) it happened while, at least to the best of my knowledge, I was in a 4G area (though with weak coverage) the entire time. Again I fixed it each time by toggling airplane.
Has anyone else seen an issue like this? It's frustrating as hell. And more importantly has anyone heard of a fix for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, actually I had a thread about this a while back; I tried just about everything (other ROMs, new sim cards, factory resets, the whole shebang) and my only solution so far (if you intend on keeping your current phone) is to completely unroot my phone, along with removing all root-related applications (namely Xposed). It still happens from time to time, but a lot less frequently then when rooted and running Xposed modules. I have a new phone coming in today from Verizon, so hopefully that unit will not have any of these issues... I still am not entirely sure what causes it, though it is definitely exacerbated by Xposed. Hopefully some of this helps? If you have any further questions feel free to ask, either through PM or this here thread.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Sevinex said:
Yep, actually I had a thread about this a while back; I tried just about everything (other ROMs, new sim cards, factory resets, the whole shebang) and my only solution so far (if you intend on keeping your current phone) is to completely unroot my phone, along with removing all root-related applications (namely Xposed). It still happens from time to time, but a lot less frequently then when rooted and running Xposed modules. I have a new phone coming in today from Verizon, so hopefully that unit will not have any of these issues... I still am not entirely sure what causes it, though it is definitely exacerbated by Xposed. Hopefully some of this helps? If you have any further questions feel free to ask, either through PM or this here thread.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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I am having same did getting new phone help? I think its just crappy radios myself nothing to do with root exposed or anything.

wooddale said:
I am having same did getting new phone help? I think its just crappy radios myself nothing to do with root exposed or anything.
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I have a new phone now, and so far I haven't experienced any data connectivity issues. This morning I did notice that my SMS were not sending properly, but that issue has since faded away, so hopefully it was Verizon network based... Anyways, I will try reinstalling Xposed and a couple modules later today (likely Snapshare and the Sense 6 Toolbox) and will report back sometime tomorrow or the next on how it goes. Fingers crossed...
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Sevinex said:
I have a new phone now, and so far I haven't experienced any data connectivity issues. This morning I did notice that my SMS were not sending properly, but that issue has since faded away, so hopefully it was Verizon network based... Anyways, I will try reinstalling Xposed and a couple modules later today (likely Snapshare and the Sense 6 Toolbox) and will report back sometime tomorrow or the next on how it goes. Fingers crossed...
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Thanks keep us informed.

wooddale said:
Thanks keep us informed.
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sfreemanoh said:
Every so often my M8 will basically become disconnected from the network. This NORMALLY appears when I'm in a low coverage zone, and it's as if my phone just doesn't want to reconnect when I get back into a higher coverage area.
For instance at my gym, I frequently get a weak signal, but it's usually 4G. Sometimes it'll drop to 3G, and then sometimes when I get back into an area of the gym that has 4G coverage my phone will say it's still on 3G. However, there's actually no connectivity at all, and I need to either reboot or toggle airplane mode to get a connection again.
Sometimes (at least 2-3 times in the last week) it happened while, at least to the best of my knowledge, I was in a 4G area (though with weak coverage) the entire time. Again I fixed it each time by toggling airplane.
Has anyone else seen an issue like this? It's frustrating as hell. And more importantly has anyone heard of a fix for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, so after installing Xposed, I suddenly started having issues maintaining a solid 4G connection; 3G works fine, just whenever I do manage to connect to 4G I am unable to use any data (says I am connected to the mobile network, but I do not get any upload or download data movement). Even after removing Xposed and all associated modules, I am still experiencing this problems. I am going in today/Monday to get a new SIM card (hopefully this is what is causing my issues) but goddamn I just cannot seem to catch a break in terms of my phones' data connection. If the above doesn't work I may have to send for another phone, though after having now received three replacements this entire process is getting a little irksome... I really do love this phone, but it seems as if it is my M8 is rejecting my love from every angle.
UPDATE: The new SIM didn't do anything, I still am having 4G issues, so another phone it is...

it's not just your phone....
Sevinex said:
Lol, so after installing Xposed, I suddenly started having issues maintaining a solid 4G connection; 3G works fine, just whenever I do manage to connect to 4G I am unable to use any data (says I am connected to the mobile network, but I do not get any upload or download data movement). Even after removing Xposed and all associated modules, I am still experiencing this problems. I am going in today/Monday to get a new SIM card (hopefully this is what is causing my issues) but goddamn I just cannot seem to catch a break in terms of my phones' data connection. If the above doesn't work I may have to send for another phone, though after having now received three replacements this entire process is getting a little irksome... I really do love this phone, but it seems as if it is my M8 is rejecting my love from every angle.
UPDATE: The new SIM didn't do anything, I still am having 4G issues, so another phone it is...
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a lot of feedback on the web across multiple carriers of the poor lte signal retention on this phone.....this is starting to sound like a hardware defect or a major "radio" software glitch.

biswasd said:
a lot of feedback on the web across multiple carriers of the poor lte signal retention on this phone.....this is starting to sound like a hardware defect or a major "radio" software glitch.
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I dumped mine could not handle it anymore get rid of it before you loose any more money. I have had a lot of phones when there bad from the start they don't usually get any better. The Droid Bionic being the only exception.

sfreemanoh said:
Every so often my M8 will basically become disconnected from the network. This NORMALLY appears when I'm in a low coverage zone, and it's as if my phone just doesn't want to reconnect when I get back into a higher coverage area.
For instance at my gym, I frequently get a weak signal, but it's usually 4G. Sometimes it'll drop to 3G, and then sometimes when I get back into an area of the gym that has 4G coverage my phone will say it's still on 3G. However, there's actually no connectivity at all, and I need to either reboot or toggle airplane mode to get a connection again.
Sometimes (at least 2-3 times in the last week) it happened while, at least to the best of my knowledge, I was in a 4G area (though with weak coverage) the entire time. Again I fixed it each time by toggling airplane.
Has anyone else seen an issue like this? It's frustrating as hell. And more importantly has anyone heard of a fix for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem with my new M8 when travelling from/to areas with low or no data coverage back to areas where I knew there was a LTE signal. Only toggling Airplane Mode would make the data reconnect. That problem was solved for me with a new sim card.
I also had very bad data connectivity at home in a major southern California city (best was -105 dBm) whereas I got up to -83 dBm in some rural town in Arizona.
Read trook's posts #34 and up here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53838257
Some of these problems may be connected to the new data service VZW is rolling out.
I would wait a few weeks before ditiching this phone. 'Cause it rocks!!!

bull**** phone
berndblb said:
I had the same problem with my new M8 when travelling from/to areas with low or no data coverage back to areas where I knew there was a LTE signal. Only toggling Airplane Mode would make the data reconnect. That problem was solved for me with a new sim card.
I also had very bad data connectivity at home in a major southern California city (best was -105 dBm) whereas I got up to -83 dBm in some rural town in Arizona.
Read trook's posts #34 and up here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53838257
Some of these problems may be connected to the new data service VZW is rolling out.
I would wait a few weeks before ditiching this phone. 'Cause it rocks!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it has nothing to do with the AWS rollout - i have a Verizon Galaxy S5 sitting right next to my M8 ---- guess what - consistent data speeds on the s5 (15 mbs down)......on the m8 (3-4mbs down) - and the data flucutates and in the signal meter , I'm getting about -6db less on the M8 than the s5.
trust me, i so desperately want to keep this phone, b/c quite frankly, i hate the amoled screen on the s5, but alas, i cant keep a phone that doesn't work well

biswasd said:
it has nothing to do with the AWS rollout - i have a Verizon Galaxy S5 sitting right next to my M8 ---- guess what - consistent data speeds on the s5 (15 mbs down)......on the m8 (3-4mbs down) - and the data flucutates and in the signal meter , I'm getting about -6db less on the M8 than the s5.
trust me, i so desperately want to keep this phone, b/c quite frankly, i hate the amoled screen on the s5, but alas, i cant keep a phone that doesn't work well
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Click to collapse
Did you have to do that?! You just ruined my evening! That's really not what I wanted to hear!
The cold hard truth - aaaarghhh. [emoji24]
Now I have to re-think this purchase 'cause I use my phone 80% for data related functions!
But thanks anyway for posting. Even if it hurt...

cold hard facts
berndblb said:
Did you have to do that?! You just ruined my evening! That's really not what I wanted to hear!
The cold hard truth - aaaarghhh. [emoji24]
Now I have to re-think this purchase 'cause I use my phone 80% for data related functions!
But thanks anyway for posting. Even if it hurt...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes - sorry bro - i'm quite disappointed by what i am seeing with my own two eyes as well as all the others across the US and the rest of the world who are experiencing the SAME symptoms. so this is not a verizon network issue --
me thinks its a faulty radio which is causing bad handoffs between 3g and 4g (LTE). once the phone drops down to 3g, it never regains 4g signal for some reason. also, there is the issue of the constant signal fluctuations even when the phone is on LTE...so who knows. maybe combo of bad radio and poor quality antenna module.
i'm not a phone engineer but i have enough common sense and knowledge about phones to know a lemon when i see one......so, yup, i'm keeping the s5 and return the m8 tomorrow under the 14 day guarantee from verizon. shame....

biswasd said:
yes - sorry bro - i'm quite disappointed by what i am seeing with my own two eyes as well as all the others across the US and the rest of the world who are experiencing the SAME symptoms. so this is not a verizon network issue --
me thinks its a faulty radio which is causing bad handoffs between 3g and 4g (LTE). once the phone drops down to 3g, it never regains 4g signal for some reason. also, there is the issue of the constant signal fluctuations even when the phone is on LTE...so who knows. maybe combo of bad radio and poor quality antenna module.
i'm not a phone engineer but i have enough common sense and knowledge about phones to know a lemon when i see one......so, yup, i'm keeping the s5 and return the m8 tomorrow under the 14 day guarantee from verizon. shame....
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Click to collapse
To tell the truth I have been reading about the same issue on the general M8 forum - probably just didn't want to make the connection.... So thanks for opening my eyes.
I'm hoping for bad radio software that may get fixed with some future update (although my 6th sense tells me it's the bad antenna module....)
Too late for me for a clean exchange. Gonna have to read the Squaretrade fine print.....

Using old unlimited verizon plan as home internet... any one done it?

So I've been waiting to get internet at my apartment, and have been using my one m8 tethered as home internet (thanks to the help on this forum getting a ROM running on it that lets me use the mobile hotspot).
Its working great. However, i'm at 120GB with 5 days to go. Being that this would be, under most carrier plans, an insane amount of data... I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this. I definitely haven't seen any throttling or slowdown. Runs PS4 games, streaming, whatever. I was actually at 60GB 5 days into the month and have made a concereted effort to slow down lol, otherwise I might be in the 300-400GB range. That said, it really isn't too bad.
I actually just ordered time warner cable for $40/mo, so I guess I'm moving on anyway. But I'm curious if anyone has been doing this for an extended period and if Verizon ever made a stink.

Someone I know does. He canceled all wired tv, phone, & internet service to his home and has been using his verizon S4 for it all for over a year now. He's on the old unlimited data plan. It is apparently working well for him but he had to get a special wifi card for his PC to use the hotspot from the phone. He uses a wifi capable "smart" bluray player to get all his TV programming from youtube, netflix, and amazon prime. He said it was a learning curve to find all the tv programming he used to watch on cable but he has been able to get it all, albeit, at a later release date then the mainstream networks' prime time debuts.

I do it, but with T-Mobile.
Just one thing though....constant wifi tethering will destroy your phone. Specifically the battery, but all that heat and energy use can't be good for the rest of it either. I ruined 2 batteries on my Galaxy Light in less than a year. Ruined 2 Motorola Razr Maxxes this way too. You don't want to be doing this with a phone like the M8 that is practically impossible to repair.
If you choose to go this route, pick up a cheap (rootable, obviously) phone with a removable battery, like a Galaxy S3 to use as your "home" phone.

The S4 is better then the S3 in that regard because it supports that newer faster LTE (aws?), the wifi hardware is quite a bit more advanced (faster), and the repairs (if ever necessary) are easier. Wifi tether does use a lot of power but you'll be plugged in for that most of the time, especially at home. The circuitry holds up just fine in the S4 as long as you're not aggravating the situation with over-volting / over-clocking.

I had been using my old Droid 4 as a home gateway/router before I got the One working. Perhaps I could just use that as my home router.. it worked well enough but would cut out occasionally (annoying during games... the One doesn't do that). If anything the Droid 4 seemed to have a stronger wifi signal when it worked though... better range, just as fast as the M8.
Do you know how much data your friend goes through?

The Droid 4 does/did get really hot while tethering. To the point I'd usually rest it on a cold can of soda or something while using it, lol. The One doesn't get nearly as hot.

Keep in mind that the power consumption and heat generation of the screen still dwarfs that of the wifi module. While using the phone as a home internet gateway the screen will likely be off most of the time.
I don't know about his data useage quantity but he's almost always got something streaming video of some kind. Its probably not ideal for serious gaming because the signal does drop out from time to time. Toggling airplane mode on and off again reestablishes a full-speed connection pretty quick but it would be disruptive in a game.

well. my signal on the One hasn't dropped and I've been logging a lot of Destiny this month. Sometimes you'll get a little lag but it isn't bad.
Just saw that VZW is hiking unlimited prices $20/mo... wonder if that'll get challenged by the FCC (like throttling etc): http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/08/tec...ted-plan-increase/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

I have old UDP and use my phone hotspot to devices it in my motorhome. All was good until 2 months ago when I used 50-60gb and they throttled me since. No 4g at all from home tower. get 4g elsewhere .
How do I approach customer service to get un-throttled? New reports say they are not throttling anymore.
Thanks.

Try cycling airplane mode on/off to reestablish a 4G data connection.

0reo said:
Try cycling airplane mode on/off to reestablish a 4G data connection.
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Tried that 50 million times. She a no work! Others get 4g at my place not me.

This is my SOLUTION
Verizon 4G LTE Broadband Router With Voice
Works like a charm.

Born<ICs said:
I have old UDP and use my phone hotspot to devices it in my motorhome. All was good until 2 months ago when I used 50-60gb and they throttled me since. No 4g at all from home tower. get 4g elsewhere .
How do I approach customer service to get un-throttled? New reports say they are not throttling anymore.
Thanks.
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Click to collapse
i would just call them and explain your problem as you have here, and leave out the throttle part.
back up your data firs, they will likely have you factory reset at some point.
it could be a problem with your phone, or a problem with the towers in your area. they will determine which.
its very unlikely they are throttling. they wouldnt reduce the 4g signal output on an entire tower to do it, and they are actually prohibited from doing it by the fcc.

bweN diorD said:
i would just call them and explain your problem as you have here, and leave out the throttle part.
back up your data firs, they will likely have you factory reset at some point.
it could be a problem with your phone, or a problem with the towers in your area. they will determine which.
its very unlikely they are throttling. they wouldnt reduce the 4g signal output on an entire tower to do it, and they are actually prohibited from doing it by the fcc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
Thank you. Ended up swapping Sim then got consistent signal a few days later. No idea what they did on their end. Swapped Sim to 6P and all is good now.

I did this when I was doing my internship. I mainly just streamed Netflix and only hit 256GB that month. There was a time Verizon was throttling my data even though they wouldn't admit it until I eventually got transferred to an engineer . None of their support tiers could answer my questions and kept telling me they didn't have the capability to throttle so the problem is my fault. I somehow eventually talked to an engineer at Verizon and the engineer didn't directly admit it but rather, he implied that they do have that capability and the support techs were lying. One tech blamed "tower service in the area" and another tech blamed the unlocked bootloader on my 2013 Moto X DEV for causing the connectivity issues even though I was running the stock ROM and even restored everything back to stock prior to calling. Hahaha.. The funny thing is that the connection went back to normal directly after that call ended. Weird how that works....