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Questions: MMS's coming from different number / Official RC30 build / Jailbreak + OTA

You see, I am having this problem where MMS's sent by someone to someone else are coming from my number and I called T-Mobile's G1 Support Dept and they want to sent me an OTA, but they need me to go into my settings and give them the exact firmware version I read there. Problem is I am jailbroken, so I didn't want to give them that, so I said I was on my cell and did not have another phone around I could use to call them back (which was actually true). So I have the following three questions:
1) Is anybody experiencing the same problem as me? Feel free to comment here or in the original post on HoFo.
2) What does the official build description read? I want to give them that one instead when I call back.
3) If I am jailbroken, is it OK to receive OTA's from T-Mobile? Will I even receive them? Will they install successfully? Will my jailbreak break?
Thanks a lot in advance!

more info needed
if you changed your phone to use the developer keyset (ie: JF's androidmod + modded rc 30), you should be fine even if they send it to you it wouldn't install because your phone now wants updates signed with the dev keys not the REAL tmob/htc keys...
I doubt it would fix your problem anyway, could somebody be "spoofing" the messages with "your caller id info" there are websites that will do this for txt, mms & even voice calls, that would be my guess.
Every once in a while the sms msg centers will just wig out and do wacky stuff from time to time, I have had messages show up hours and even days after they were sent, somebody the otherday msg'd me saying I had sent them a text, I hadn't (i checked sent msgs folder) so who knows it could have been just an anomolly.
bhang

this occurred shortly after the initial launch of the G1. some suggested wiping the phone, but not sure if that fixed the issue. maybe you could reinstall jf's RC30 and then wipe and then restore your info.... might help?

bhang said:
if you changed your phone to use the developer keyset (ie: JF's androidmod + modded rc 30), you should be fine even if they send it to you it wouldn't install because your phone now wants updates signed with the dev keys not the REAL tmob/htc keys...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that's what I did, so I guess I won't be calling TMo back and I guess I'll have to live with this for now, having people I don't know message me weekly asking, "Who's this?" I just need to make sure I don't send anything compromising if I sent MMS's. *LOL*
bhang said:
I doubt it would fix your problem anyway, could somebody be "spoofing" the messages with "your caller id info" there are websites that will do this for txt, mms & even voice calls, that would be my guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not at all. In both cases, the people asking who I was because they received a picture from my number confirmed they know the person who sent it to them and they did nothing special to send those messages, just use the native Messaging application.
bhang said:
somebody the otherday msg'd me saying I had sent them a text, I hadn't (i checked sent msgs folder) so who knows it could have been just an anomolly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sounds exactly like what I have been experiencing, only I have only seen it happen with MMS's, not SMS's.

korndub said:
this occurred shortly after the initial launch of the G1. some suggested wiping the phone, but not sure if that fixed the issue. maybe you could reinstall jf's RC30 and then wipe and then restore your info.... might help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never saw reports of this before. Guess I missed them. See my response above. I will just wait and see what happens. Most likely, this is TMo screwing up and once enough people complain and TMo realizes the liability they have in their hands, they will move and fix this. Besides, I just saw in one of the threads that we should be able to install Cupcake, so I will explore that or wait for the next jailbreak update.

this was happening to me as well and it happened to be my father's iphone account weird, but yes i get really scared when i send my gf stuff now lol from my gmail account. i grabbed his phone to make sure he didn't see anything and just make sure it addressed to the right person when you send lol
i also input my contact into and when my father texts me (yes he just learned), the sender is my email address....odd
idk how to change it....
hbguy

I insist. 611 from your G1 and complain. T-Mobile needs to get the pressure to move enough resources to address this.

This same thing has been happening to me. I am using an iPhone with SwirlyMMS. I did notice that when people responded to me with a MMS asking me "Who is this?", according to my.t-mobile.com my texts were originating from India or Russia, but were from people's real cell phone numbers in the US. I know this, because one of the numbers in question called me and they were from NYC.

this has happend to my girlfriend a few months back and she has a tmo sidekick 3. Also, about 8 months ago my roomate was getting phone calls from all over the U.S. from people trying to reach other peole after about 10 phone calls i called his phone from mine (tmo wing at the time) and it went to someone else. I then hung up and tried a few minutes later and it went to someone different. He called t-mobile and they said they havnt recieved any other complaints and told him to restart his phone. He did, it did nothing. but over the next few days it seemed to fix itself, of t-mobile had found the problem. But back to the mms, My girlfriend now owns a G1 and just a few days ago i sent her a picture of my dog and it said it came from someone else. we both have G1's mine has root hers does not so i dont think it has anything to do with your phone.

this happened to my wife and I right around x-mas and it only lasted a few days. she relied to a text I sent and it went to NY, 'cause they called back and told us where they were from... and they had t-mobile. It quit after a couple of days and haven't had a problem with it since then.

Engadget: Android sends texts to wrong people, murders your family while you sleep

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/31/android-still-has-horrible-text-messaging-bugs-thatll-get-you-f/
Is this really a widespread problem, or is it more Engadget anti-Android propaganda?

Not sure but I haven't experienced it in almost a year of using several android devices.

I use Handcent, so I have no idea what they're talking about.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

Read the source links.

For the record, I love android. I hate all the anti-android crap going around. But I have experienced this before. One time upon booting up, my contacts were all mixed up with the wrong numbers. It was so weird. My friend became my dads name on there and another friend became my cousins whom I never texted. So when they texted me I saw the names and was like wtf? How do they know about (whatever we were chatting about earlier). Took another reboot and everything was fine. I also experienced the phone clicking on the wrong thread that I pressed, that definitely happens. I've learned to double check who Im texting.

Is this fixed by using a different SMS app then? Apparently it happens with e-mails, too, but only with the default e-mail app.

I have been using an HD2, that dual boots WM 6.5 and Android 2.2 Froyo, never had this problem.
My daughter uses a Behold 2 and sends and receives over 16000 text messages per month, and never a problem like this.
I think it's more hate against Android, since it is starting to get a strong hold of the smartphone market.
I'm also sure it's a lot of user error too.

Google just updated this to critical, so I'm guessing it'll be patched pretty soon.

It happens to me at least twice a week. I actually switched to handcent it was so bad. Thankfully I never had anything truly embarrassing go to the wrong person, but I have had some confusing moment...The worst was when I carried out a long conversations with the wrong person... The problem happens when you click on the new message item in the notification menu without actually opening it up through the messaging app. You see the correct reply thread, and it is only when you press send that you realize it sent to the wrong person. This is very real, but I used to think it was just my phone.

lmao. This is just amusing.
The ONLY time I ever got the bug was when I received a new message, I used the drop down menu bar to view the message, and this was on a beta froyo build. Any time I went through the regular messaging app, everything was fine. Last I read in a forum long ago burried, only time the bug happened was when you used the drop down...

I've used Android since the G1 was released and don't remember ever experiencing this issue. But if it is an issue, then it needs media attention to get Google to fix it as quick as possible. Although, the problem is getting the fix out, since you know, all these carriers and manufacturers take forever to get an OTA out.

Google said:
Hi all,
I want to let everyone know that we are actively investigating this issue, and we hope to have an update soon. Obviously, this is a very difficult to reproduce bug.
Rather than replying "me too", you can star this issue to follow it. Just saying "me too" just obscures the useful information in this bug, and makes it harder to fix. Of course, if you have useful information to add to the bug, such as a system dump or an insightful analysis of the code, feel free to update the bug with your observations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So they are now investigating this. I'll be using Handcent on my DHD until they sort it.

tooter1 said:
I have been using an HD2, that dual boots WM 6.5 and Android 2.2 Froyo, never had this problem.
My daughter uses a Behold 2 and sends and receives over 16000 text messages per month, and never a problem like this.
I think it's more hate against Android, since it is starting to get a strong hold of the smartphone market.
I'm also sure it's a lot of user error too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
16,000? I'm sure most networks in the UK have a 3,000 FUP
Anyway, I haven't experienced this issue in the 18 months I've been using Android

LooieENG said:
16,000? I'm sure most networks in the UK have a 3,000 FUP
Anyway, I haven't experienced this issue in the 18 months I've been using Android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can believe 16,000. My 17 year old sister has about 10,000 a month. Unlimited texting, ftw.

I've been using Android since the release of the HTC Dream in Canada and I've never ever ever ran into this problem, and most of the ROMs I've ran have been beta or experimental. I'm thinking they're blowing it out of proportion.

TheBiles said:
I can believe 16,000. My 17 year old sister has about 10,000 a month. Unlimited texting, ftw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When we were on Verizon, one month it was up to 39,000. I was floored. That is when I was like thank goodness for.....Unlimited Texting FTW!
Still no problems like this.

I've never had this problem and Goggle has made a press release and said they are having a hard time replicating it. I think that there could be an error that happens once in a blue moon, but I think most of the time it's just user error.
Sent from my shoe, I mean....Epic shoe... I mean Samsung Epic! http://mobilehighway.blogspot.com/

TheBiles said:
I can believe 16,000. My 17 year old sister has about 10,000 a month. Unlimited texting, ftw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah, I believe it. I'm just curious as to how their fingers haven't worn to the bone yet?

Googles claiming they can't reproduce this internally and they've only upped it's status cause of bad publicity. That's what androidguys claim ...
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Yeah sometimes when I get a message I click on the thing in the drop down menu and it takes me to another thread, but I'm pretty sure the point of clicking that button is just for it to get you to the messaging app. Also sometimes I go to the messaging app and click the top thread and it takes me to a different thread. So this bug is true at times.

160 Character Limit for HTC Arrive

Hello Everyone,
I just got the Arrive and I'm loving it, but something weird is happening. For some reason, when I'm writing a txt, it just flat out stops at 160 characters and doesn't continue the message with an auto-split.
I called into Sprint, HTC, and Windows Phone support and they all think" woah, that's weird" and the majority of tech support didn't even know it had launched already. I also read the manual from Sprint, HTC, and from Microsoft stating that 160+ characters will be auto-split.
Since the phone is so new, as well as NoDo and such, I have not seen anything about this issue and it's driving me mad. My only theory is that for some unknown reason Microsoft limited the txt messaging in CDMA WP7 to 160 because CDMA doesn't handle 160+ characters well. If this is the case, WTF?!
I know there are very few of you who have an Arrive, but anybody have this same problem? Anybody have any ideas on how to fix this?
The only workaround I have is sending the message incomplete and continuing it with another (and that makes me feel like I'm using my old Nokia with Snake. I haven't had a phone that couldn't handle more than 160 characters before)

Mine does the same thing, while it is a little annoying until it get resolved sending it parts is the only work around.

Well that's lame.
Why does it seem like Microsoft is just dropping the ball with the basics on Windows Phone 7? I love the OS to pieces and I really like the phone, but these little nuances (along with simple things like changing colors, custom ringtones, group contacts, etc) are just plain unacceptable.

Also, I noticed something about the Arrive.
The OS version is 7.0.7389.0
but the NoDo being pushed today is 7.0.7390.0
That 0.0.0001.0 Might be all the difference, at least I hope so. It means a posibility of a tiny update

I wouldn't count on any updates in the forseeable future. And FWIW the manual for the phone says that it will break up messages longer than 160 characters, so this definitely sounds like a bug.
-R

I just learned this might be unique only to the Arrive

It is, I have the arrive and buddy has focus with nodo, his splits texts fine.
ScottSUmmers said:
I just learned this might be unique only to the Arrive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

It must be all Arrives, because mine does the same thing. It's very annoying when you're used to having your texts auto-split. My Touch Pro 2 split text messages just fine, so I see no reason that it should be a problem with the Arrive. Hopefully this gets fixed soon.
Sent from my T7575 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

My Arrive does the same thing. Of course, I didn't read the manual, so I wasn't aware that it was supposed to work differently (but had expected it to since even my WM5.0 Cingular 8125 did it).
And I've already heard that the .0001 isn't significant in terms of build number. CDMA vs GSM difference only.

Its an issue with Microsoft not implementing proper code for CDMA text splitting its annoying but they'll fix it.

Hi, I am an employee of Sprint. The HTC Arrive was intended to allow users to exceed 160 characters by automatically creating a new message after 160 characters is exceeded. This is explained on pg. 83 of the HTC Arrive User Guide. Currently the device will not allow users to exceed the 160 character limit. This has been recognized as a known issue and Sprint has asked Microsoft to address this issue in a future update.

Looks like it wasn't fixed in Mango. At least not for me

...
I am so tempted to ditch my Arrive right *now*. Sprint/HTC has been notified many times over about this issue. They had time to fix it. There is no excuse for this.
EDIT: Anyone know if Verizon HTC Trophy owners are having the same limit? I'm hearing *nothing* from that sector.

Chris-h11 said:
Looks like it wasn't fixed in Mango. At least not for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wasn't. This was the single thing I was most looking forward to. If they didn't update it with Mango, I suspect it will never be fixed.
I really hope that Sprint releases a new device, as I am ready a Windows Phone variant of the Galaxy SII.

Got the update notification. Updated, and sure enough, that limit is still there.
I don't think any words can sum up how much rage I am feeling right now. I really just want to throw caution to the wind and grab a Photon 4G.
To note: If this limit was stated clearly in the manual, I wouldn't have a problem with it. It is the fact that this is a feature that is SUPPOSED TO EXIST, but does not.

I son't understand why you're all raging of such a simple thing, I rarely need to write more than 160 chars in an SMS (a 1 minute call would be cheaper for me in that case ), but yeah it's apparently an Arrive-only bug because I don't have it in my HTC 7 Pro.

hassanselim0 said:
I son't understand why you're all raging of such a simple thing, I rarely need to write more than 160 chars in an SMS (a 1 minute call would be cheaper for me in that case ), but yeah it's apparently an Arrive-only bug because I don't have it in my HTC 7 Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct...last we knew it was a Sprint firmware issue as you can now type more than 160 chars but the phone won't send it. I haven't been over to BUZZ in a while but try seeing if the Buzz About Wireless people are talking about it since that's Sprint offical forum

The 7 Pro won't have an issue because it's GSM, and GSM can support it no problem.
Only the 7 Pro (US Cellular) and Arrive will have this issue.
And I regularly send messages that get close to or go over 160 characters, and rarely make phone calls. So for me, this is a pretty big deal.
EDIT: Got one person saying this isn't an issue on the CDMA Trophy:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1280146
If this is the case, it's HTC/Sprint's problem, not Microsoft's.
EDIT: Got first-hand confirmation that this is now HTC/Sprint's problem:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anticitizen/6193110593/
That is a CDMA Trophy, doing a messaging split. I sent it to myself, and sure enough, it came through as two messages, but it did come through.

Btw, bump, just in case no one saw my edits. (Since they're a tad significant)
Yet another edit: Reached out to HTC over this. Gist of the response from them: We have no updates coming to fix any of the issues with the Arrive.

Going to give this one last bump, because seriously, this problem is really, really irritating.
I have some communication with HTC, but all I'm getting from them is "We'll notify you when we have more information!" Listen, I don't want more information. I just want to know if some kind of fix is being worked on. Or if they're going to get around to it. It's getting infuriating to wait on this.

Odd text messages from 9355

Starting today I have received two random text messages from the number 9355. I attached a picture of what the texts say, they seem to say wap which might mean some sort of data transmission or something. I can't reply anything or I get a text from Sprint saying not enough numbers for recepient.
I'm at a loss.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G, undervolted 125 total, using xda premium.

I got that same text last night. I have no clue what it is either.
This is what is was..
9355: //WAP-3050:134317256:e3df34b2:1adc3:::1TIwMjdeMjkuVj83MTsyNy4yQDpeKDo3/omadl/DownloadDescriptor/content/4805911

mattlebla said:
I got that same text last night. I have no clue what it is either.
This is what is was..
9355: //WAP-3050:134317256:e3df34b2:1adc3:::1TIwMjdeMjkuVj83MTsyNy4yQDpeKDo3/omadl/DownloadDescriptor/content/4805911
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen this every time I flash a rom on my phone. I just clear it and it does not come back. I did notice once that it had asked me to dial a number to retrieve sms message but instead it took me to my voicemail setup. I have an Evo 4g currently running 4k-x Atom, I cant recall seeing it on that rom maybe onle sense roms have the issue???

Dad D O said:
I have seen this every time I flash a rom on my phone. I just clear it and it does not come back. I did notice once that it had asked me to dial a number to retrieve sms message but instead it took me to my voicemail setup. I have an Evo 4g currently running 4k-x Atom, I cant recall seeing it on that rom maybe onle sense roms have the issue???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running cm7.2. I have never encountered this and I've been rooted with the same apps since late 2010.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G, undervolted 125 total, using xda premium.

Dad D O said:
I have seen this every time I flash a rom on my phone. I just clear it and it does not come back. I did notice once that it had asked me to dial a number to retrieve sms message but instead it took me to my voicemail setup. I have an Evo 4g currently running 4k-x Atom, I cant recall seeing it on that rom maybe onle sense roms have the issue???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been receiving messages like that every time I flash an ICS rom. I never had them when I was using CM7. Strange thing is that the messages come from Sprint and I'm on Boost. It could be because my phone is flashed but still on the Sprint network. I don't know for sure though.

same here on EVO 4g reloaded using go sms... so far added it to blacklist in go sms.

hmmmmmmmm
I've been flashing several different ice rooms for about 2-3 months and had never previously received this. I received it today though and it strike me as an attempted t to Jack or introduce a virus to my phone. I could just be being paranoid though, lol.

Hey did you ever get to the bottom of those weird texts? I posted a screen shot of my errors from the same number that I've been receiving. Also using unrooted ICS 4.01.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

No, I just received a few others yesterday. I was just browsing the web and using the engadget app. Almost want to call Sprint.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G, using xda premium.

yarmock said:
Starting today I have received two random text messages from the number 9355. I attached a picture of what the texts say, they seem to say wap which might mean some sort of data transmission or something. I can't reply anything or I get a text from Sprint saying not enough numbers for recepient.
I'm at a loss.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G, undervolted 125 total, using xda premium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That looks like an OMA DM Push Message. It's a provisioning process for Smart Phones, very similar to that you get on feature phones when you get an SMS from the carrier after putting a new SIM into a phone. The only reason you would see this message is that the OMA DM client did not intercept it. From what it sounds like, you have recently installed a non-standard O/S for the device, which probably does not have a DM client. Unfortunately if your previous phone had a DM client, then it's probably still registered in the system. You might want to call you carrier and see if they can disable the feature.
Cheers,
Scott

sdeakin said:
That looks like an OMA DM Push Message. It's a provisioning process for Smart Phones, very similar to that you get on feature phones when you get an SMS from the carrier after putting a new SIM into a phone. The only reason you would see this message is that the OMA DM client did not intercept it. From what it sounds like, you have recently installed a non-standard O/S for the device, which probably does not have a DM client. Unfortunately if your previous phone had a DM client, then it's probably still registered in the system. You might want to call you carrier and see if they can disable the feature.
Cheers,
Scott
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I've had 3 devices since June. Same model, and same os being installed. I haven't gotten this message on this phone in months. But I never got a text like that on my original device in its 2 years. Do you think I should still call Sprint?
Thanks for your information.
Sent from my EVO 4G using XDA premium.

yarmock said:
Well I've had 3 devices since June. Same model, and same os being installed. I haven't gotten this message on this phone in months. But I never got a text like that on my original device in its 2 years. Do you think I should still call Sprint?
Thanks for your information.
Sent from my EVO 4G using XDA premium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the delay in replying - for some reason the e-mail alerts from here got put into spam...
Anyway - if you have not already done so, yes I would recommend calling Sprint. It sounds like someone - probably Sprint but you never quite know - has your phone registered on their system as OMA DM compliant. It does no real harm other than getting a few dodgy looking SMS, but I always like to make sure I am not registered on systems unnecessarily.
Good luck,
Scott

If I may ask what does oma da ccompliant mean?
Sent from my EVO 4G using XDA premium.

yarmock said:
If I may ask what does oma da ccompliant mean?
Sent from my EVO 4G using XDA premium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It just means there is some form of client on the phone that can configure it using the OMA DM protocols. Most phones have something on them for provisioning, even old feature phones, but usually it's something simple that looks for a provisioning SMS from the carrier. This is the reason you usually get told to wait for an SMS to arrive and reboot your phone, when you get a new phone. The OMA DM stuff is just slightly more sophisticated to accommodate the demands of modern smart phones and also allows extra features, such as installation of applications. But it's essentially the same thing. The carrier sends you an SMS, the provisioning software picks it up and configures your phone with it. With OMA DM, there is usually not enough information in the message to configure the device and the message itself actually contains a URL to go to. If you look at the message you will see the following element:
NzUpLTVXOz4rUDk0MT8xNTErOzhXMT80/omadl/DownloadDescriptor/content/4805911
The first unintelligible bit is the hostname encrypted and then encoded with Base64. The rest of it is the path in the URL.
Have a look on wiki for OMA_Device_Management - not many Android ROM's have this feature by default - iOS has apple's own variant, which is mostly compliant, Nokia phones are by far the most compliant.
Hope that makes sense,
Scott

Odd texts
I have never flashed my phone but getting these same texts.
Sprint HTC Evo 4g LTE

I received one of these texts as well. I called Sprint after reading this post to see if they knew what was up. I was told that the text is a link and can access your data (not sure what data) and is also a "virus". Fortunately the link was broken by an emoticon being converted from a series of slashes and colons so it wasn't clickable.
I usually don't wear a tin foil hat, but I suggest adding this number to your blacklist. He advised that as long as I didn't click the link I should be fine and delete the SMS.

Message still persists
Received this SMS message from: 9355 on the Sprint network
//WAP-3052:141450391:76f0a123:3f7ae:::NTUoLDtTOEApVz44MD0qMzEqOj5TLkEy/omadl/DownloadDescriptor/content/445205499
Rooted Galaxy S5 with stock Sprint ROM, using non standard texting app as default texting app.
It is possible using a non-standard texting app stops this from downloading & executing its payload.

I got one of these tonight and was soon greeted by an update of Sprint's "Connection Optimizer" I think sdeakin's theory of your carrier pushing an update of something is sound.

I just received one of these tonight. I'm sure it might just be the carrier pushing out an update, but I am actually interested in figuring out how to decrypt the link so I can figure out more about it.

Foley76 said:
Received this SMS message from: 9355 on the Sprint network
//WAP-3052:141450391:76f0a123:3f7ae:::NTUoLDtTOEApVz44MD0qMzEqOj5TLkEy/omadl/DownloadDescriptor/content/445205499
Rooted Galaxy S5 with stock Sprint ROM, using non standard texting app as default texting app.
It is possible using a non-standard texting app stops this from downloading & executing its payload.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Spencer.D said:
I just received one of these tonight. I'm sure it might just be the carrier pushing out an update, but I am actually interested in figuring out how to decrypt the link so I can figure out more about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Received from 9355 on Mar 23 @ 10:53 PM - I have the same exact setup as Foley76 (Galaxy S5 rooted, using a different SMS app than stock)
I dont think its anything to worry about, I am using Ting (Sprint network, pay as you go) - Prolly just my carrier trying to push an update.
I dont like accepting any updates that im not aware of however. First thing I did after I rooted was use Titanium Backup to freeze all the OTA crap. I'm still on the stock shipped rom.
Anyone else receive any messages recently and is on Sprint/Boost/Ting? - zmag

Essential Support -- Buyer Beware

As many on XDA will tell you a Phone or ROM is only as good as it’s support team. As a developer who has offered various ROMs and android mods since 2009, I have extensive experience in troubleshooting and helping others do so. And in recent years, I very rarely go out of my way to lend an opinion or even review a device, however, I think the android community should be informed about the support that the Essential Phone offers before buying their product.
I was very excited to hear about Andy Rubin's project and immediately pre-ordered the PH-1 with the extended warranty. Despite delays, I had high hopes and had every intention of making it my daily driver. The day I received the phone I also received an email stating that it was not certified for usage on Verizon’s network. Verizon is the only network where I live. I tried my existing sim card and received awful reception. I wrote a quick review and stated “This may be a simple APN fix or could be a serious issue with the radios.” Since the phone was unusable, I boxed it up awaiting Verizon certification.
About a month went by before I finally got an email stating the PH-1 was certified for Verizon. I tried the phone and still received abysmal data reception. Despite 3-4 bars, the download speeds around 3 Mbps and uploads of 0.01 Mpbs or slower. Without wifi the phone cannot complete initial setup/login, Google Assistant cannot function, and in general does not work.
I spent 3 days troubleshooting this with APNs, data resets, Manufacturer's reset, custom bands, hidden menus, confirmed the IEMI via the web portal... you name it, I tried it. During this time, I noticed there are a few spots on the top of the screen that work poorly. So, I finally decided to contact Essential’s support; the options are limited to leaving a voicemail or email. I tried leaving a voicemail that no one returned.
After a week of waiting for a return call, I moved to the email support. I summarized all the steps I had tried. I received a follow up email the next day asking me to perform factory reset….. Something that I had clearly stated I had already done. So, I did another and responded that it did not work. It took over 1 week to receive a follow up asking if I had the My Verizon app installed. I cannot imagine how this would influence data speeds, but I played their game and gave it a try. Of course there was no improvement.
Their follow up ask me to reset the APNs, which is a much more logical option than their first and second response, but once again something I clearly stated I had previously done in my initial request for support. At this point, I took my phone to a Verizon and T-Mobile store and their representatives tried new sim cards, provisioned, and troubleshooted the phone. Both Verizon and T-Mobile, have said there is nothing wrong with the setup, the sim, the apps, and the phone’s hardware is defective.
I relayed this message to Essential Support and and their response was to #1 download the Verizon app #2 reset APNS #3 set the phone to global mode…… Not only had they told me to do this before, but if they bothered to read any of my emails they would have seen this has been tried, and both Verizon and T-Mobile have independently verified the software is fine, it is not user error, and the hardware is defective.
Over the last month, I have made no progress at all on the radio issue and it has been 4 days since Essential’s last lackluster communication.
Despite reminding their support staff several times, no has even tried to troubleshoot the other issue I am having with the screen involving poor touch sensitivity on the superior border. No one has offered me a new phone nor referred to my Essential Extended Care (which I do not want pay the deductible for a phone that never worked). When I asked to return, the phone they said it was 14 day window despite the phone not being certified on my network for the first month I had not the phone.
Over the years, I have owned Motorola Droid, Galaxy Nexus (toro + maguro), G2, G3, 1+1, 1+2, 1+3, LG G2, LG G3, LG G4, GS3, GS4, GS5, Sony Pollux, Nexus 4, Nexus n6p, among others, and I have had to call support for hardware issues. The Essential Phone is by a very wide margin has the worst support I have ever come across and Google’s has had the best.
In its prime, my custom ROM had well over 100,000 users and I tend to be the only one on the team who offered support, so I completely understand android support like very few on this planet. As of last month before the price break, Essential was estimated to have only sold 5,000 phones. Even with a bare bones staff fielding emails and not checking voicemail, their support volume per day is likely less than what I personally did for free for our community for free as part of a “hobby” for almost a decade.
To sum it all up: “Buyer Beware”

DHO said:
As many on XDA will tell you a Phone or ROM is only as good as it’s support team. As a developer who has offered various ROMs and android mods since 2009, I have extensive experience in troubleshooting and helping others do so. And in recent years, I very rarely go out of my way to lend an opinion or even review a device, however, I think the android community should be informed about the support that the Essential Phone offers before buying their product.
I was very excited to hear about Andy Rubin's project and immediately pre-ordered the PH-1 with the extended warranty. Despite delays, I had high hopes and had every intention of making it my daily driver. The day I received the phone I also received an email stating that it was not certified for usage on Verizon’s network. Verizon is the only network where I live. I tried my existing sim card and received awful reception. I wrote a quick review and stated “This may be a simple APN fix or could be a serious issue with the radios.” Since the phone was unusable, I boxed it up awaiting Verizon certification.
About a month went by before I finally got an email stating the PH-1 was certified for Verizon. I tried the phone and still received abysmal data reception. Despite 3-4 bars, the download speeds around 3 Mbps and uploads of 0.01 Mpbs or slower. Without wifi the phone cannot complete initial setup/login, Google Assistant cannot function, and in general does not work.
I spent 3 days troubleshooting this with APNs, data resets, Manufacturer's reset, custom bands, hidden menus, confirmed the IEMI via the web portal... you name it, I tried it. During this time, I noticed there are a few spots on the top of the screen that work poorly. So, I finally decided to contact Essential’s support; the options are limited to leaving a voicemail or email. I tried leaving a voicemail that no one returned.
After a week of waiting for a return call, I moved to the email support. I summarized all the steps I had tried. I received a follow up email the next day asking me to perform factory reset….. Something that I had clearly stated I had already done. So, I did another and responded that it did not work. It took over 1 week to receive a follow up asking if I had the My Verizon app installed. I cannot imagine how this would influence data speeds, but I played their game and gave it a try. Of course there was no improvement.
Their follow up ask me to reset the APNs, which is a much more logical option than their first and second response, but once again something I clearly stated I had previously done in my initial request for support. At this point, I took my phone to a Verizon and T-Mobile store and their representatives tried new sim cards, provisioned, and troubleshooted the phone. Both Verizon and T-Mobile, have said there is nothing wrong with the setup, the sim, the apps, and the phone’s hardware is defective.
I relayed this message to Essential Support and and their response was to #1 download the Verizon app #2 reset APNS #3 set the phone to global mode…… Not only had they told me to do this before, but if they bothered to read any of my emails they would have seen this has been tried, and both Verizon and T-Mobile have independently verified the software is fine, it is not user error, and the hardware is defective.
Over the last month, I have made no progress at all on the radio issue and it has been 4 days since Essential’s last lackluster communication.
Despite reminding their support staff several times, no has even tried to troubleshoot the other issue I am having with the screen involving poor touch sensitivity on the superior border. No one has offered me a new phone nor referred to my Essential Extended Care (which I do not want pay the deductible for a phone that never worked). When I asked to return, the phone they said it was 14 day window despite the phone not being certified on my network for the first month I had not the phone.
Over the years, I have owned Motorola Droid, Galaxy Nexus (toro + maguro), G2, G3, 1+1, 1+2, 1+3, LG G2, LG G3, LG G4, GS3, GS4, GS5, Sony Pollux, Nexus 4, Nexus n6p, among others, and I have had to call support for hardware issues. The Essential Phone is by a very wide margin has the worst support I have ever come across and Google’s has had the best.
In its prime, my custom ROM had well over 100,000 users and I tend to be the only one on the team who offered support, so I completely understand android support like very few on this planet. As of last month before the price break, Essential was estimated to have only sold 5,000 phones. Even with a bare bones staff fielding emails and not checking voicemail, their support volume per day is likely less than what I personally did for free for our community for free as part of a “hobby” for almost a decade.
To sum it all up: “Buyer Beware”
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man...
I really like this phone... It hit all the sweet spots for me as a device... And I'm in love with the battery life...
But to see @DHO blast Essential like this...
I have seen on other posts that the Essential team reads XDA... And I can only hope that seeing a respected developer complain in such an articulate way has some gravity with them to possibly step up their game...
The hardware (for me on AT&T) has been superb... And I have few if any complaints... But maybe it has to do with the CDMA portion of the device which I will never have to deal with
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

thanks for the detailed post. It's good to be prepared when it's required. Hope they change their support model and performance very soon.
cheers

rignfool said:
Man...
I really like this phone... It hit all the sweet spots for me as a device... And I'm in love with the battery life...
But to see @DHO blast Essential like this...
I have seen on other posts that the Essential team reads XDA... And I can only hope that seeing a respected developer complain in such an articulate way has some gravity with them to possibly step up their game...
The hardware (for me on AT&T) has been superb... And I have few if any complaints... But maybe it has to do with the CDMA portion of the device which I will never have to deal with
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rignfool Thanks.
With a little luck word will get out and they will step up their game.

I really hope this post doesn't put all future custom rom development in a death spiral before it even starts. :/

Damn that sucks... I've been using my phone on Sprint for several days and the reception has been outstanding, full bars of LTE+ almost everywhere, while the other phones in my family (Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6, 2 iPhone 7's) get three bars of LTE at most. Hope you get this sorted out, sucks that it happened in the first place.
---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:52 PM ----------
12paq said:
I really hope this post doesn't put all future custom rom development in a death spiral before it even starts. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very unlikely, cause @invisiblek has been going ham in terms of getting LOS/TWRP stable on this device.

DHO, sorry to hear you are having issues. I am a Verizon user in Houston. When I first got my PH-1, I couldn't get Verizon to stay connected. Constant drops, like non-stop and unusable.. I was ready to send it back. It was incredibly frustrating. Then I read a post here about resetting radio setting. I changed to Europe, then changed back to US. I set to LTE/CMDA, in the ping/radio section and also on the user network setting.. Who knows what else I changed and changed back. I was trying anything and everything I could. I am definitely a user, not a cellular techie. But Verizon started staying connected, even showing LTE+ most of the time.
Good luck. Maybe you have a defective phone? Seems you obviously know all about troubleshooting and have tried everything. If you can get it working on Verizon, I am confident you will like the PH-1.
Still issues with Verizon WiFi calling, Verizon voicemail and Verizon visual voicemail. But for me, I can live without the WiFi calling and have workaround for vm.
Frustrating situation, no doubt. All the best.

I second the defective phone scenario.. from my reading these forms the first batches with the foam earpiece had numerous issues. Lots of posts about connectivity issues that were resolved by replacement phones
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

12paq said:
I really hope this post doesn't put all future custom rom development in a death spiral before it even starts. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was surprised, in my circle of devs. I am the only one to purchase the PH-1. Based on my feedback I know it has prevented a few people who were on the fence.
I'm sure once more source becomes available this phone will pick up support. It has TWRP before the Pixel2. And invisiblek is as good as it gets for device bring up. So there is hope
TheF|ipSide said:
Damn that sucks... I've been using my phone on Sprint for several days and the reception has been outstanding, full bars of LTE+ almost everywhere, while the other phones in my family (Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6, 2 iPhone 7's) get three bars of LTE at most. Hope you get this sorted out, sucks that it happened in the first place.
---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:52 PM ----------
Very unlikely, cause @invisiblek has been going ham in terms of getting LOS/TWRP stable on this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
houstonironman said:
DHO, sorry to hear you are having issues. I am a Verizon user in Houston. When I first got my PH-1, I couldn't get Verizon to stay connected. Constant drops, like non-stop and unusable.. I was ready to send it back. It was incredibly frustrating. Then I read a post here about resetting radio setting. I changed to Europe, then changed back to US. I set to LTE/CMDA, in the ping/radio section and also on the user network setting.. Who knows what else I changed and changed back. I was trying anything and everything I could. I am definitely a user, not a cellular techie. But Verizon started staying connected, even showing LTE+ most of the time.
Good luck. Maybe you have a defective phone? Seems you obviously know all about troubleshooting and have tried everything. If you can get it working on Verizon, I am confident you will like the PH-1.
Still issues with Verizon WiFi calling, Verizon voicemail and Verizon visual voicemail. But for me, I can live without the WiFi calling and have workaround for vm.
Frustrating situation, no doubt. All the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried this. I have noticed some VERY interesting bugs in the USA band that are causing some sort of error resulting in the deactivation of the data. I wish I could grab a logcat (need SU). If their support was more .... receptive ... I would gladly report how to replicate RIL failures that result in complete deactivation of the radios. Unfortunately this is not the underplaying cause of my issue :/
stinger4321 said:
I second the defective phone scenario.. from my reading these forms the first batches with the foam earpiece had numerous issues. Lots of posts about connectivity issues that were resolved by replacement phones
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, I am hoping they will do the right thing and replace it.

DHO said:
I have tried this. I have noticed some VERY interesting bugs in the USA band that are causing some sort of error resulting in the deactivation of the data. I wish I could grab a logcat (need SU). If their support was more .... receptive ... I would gladly report how to replicate RIL failures that result in complete deactivation of the radios. Unfortunately this is not the underplaying cause of my issue :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am surprised to hear you have not rooted yet with it being available.

Sure you probably tried already but take the sim out and factory reset. Put sim in and factory reset again. Make no other changes unless your trying to get volte to work. Info based on an already active Verizon sim account.

The support reps for some reason go by their tech cheat sheet all the time, instead of reading email fully and understanding that they are communicating to a tech savvy person. I had that before with other OEMs, where they would make go through troubleshooting which were already done previously. Another thing would be if support team knows that this is an average user who doesn't really play nice with technology, then yes, going through troubleshooting steps would be logical.
So, I am planning to buy this phone soon, do users on T-Mobile network have any cell/data issues?

@DHO I assume you've tried the latest stock build? I assume they had to push something once it was Verizon certified. Mine, along with a couple other devs I work with, are working just fine on Verizon.

T-Mobile
Charkatak said:
The support reps for some reason go by their tech cheat sheet all the time, instead of reading email fully and understanding that they are communicating to a tech savvy person. I had that before with other OEMs, where they would make go through troubleshooting which were already done previously. Another thing would be if support team knows that this is an average user who doesn't really play nice with technology, then yes, going through troubleshooting steps would be logical.
So, I am planning to buy this phone soon, do users on T-Mobile network have any cell/data issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on T-Mobile here in Los Angeles with no problems whatsoever compared to my previous S8+ and HTC U11 devices. I know others have reported reception issues on T-Mobile, but I personally am perfectly happy on T-Mobile here.

invisiblek said:
@DHO I assume you've tried the latest stock build? I assume they had to push something once it was Verizon certified. Mine, along with a couple other devs I work with, are working just fine on Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this statement.
I'm on Verizon and I've had decent speeds.
I've been averaging between 35 - 45 Mb/s down and 7-10 up.
The lowest I've had it drop is 25 down and 2 up.
I can't say i've had any drop out issues either.

mrcooter said:
I am surprised to hear you have not rooted yet with it being available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to give them a reason to say I voided the warranty. If they want proper logs, I would be happy to supply.
bill3508 said:
Sure you probably tried already but take the sim out and factory reset. Put sim in and factory reset again. Make no other changes unless your trying to get volte to work. Info based on an already active Verizon sim account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep tried everything. The Data speeds are insufficient to support voLTE. Even with the LTE+ icon I get 1G speeds,.. a few decibites a second. LOL
Charkatak said:
The support reps for some reason go by their tech cheat sheet all the time, instead of reading email fully and understanding that they are communicating to a tech savvy person. I had that before with other OEMs, where they would make go through troubleshooting which were already done previously. Another thing would be if support team knows that this is an average user who doesn't really play nice with technology, then yes, going through troubleshooting steps would be logical.
So, I am planning to buy this phone soon, do users on T-Mobile network have any cell/data issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both Verizon and T-mobile has identical issues for me.
I know their support is check list based. So I walked them through each step I tried..... around the 6th follow up email I eve wrote out a numbered list because they had circled back to asking the same questions they had previously.
invisiblek said:
@DHO I assume you've tried the latest stock build? I assume they had to push something once it was Verizon certified. Mine, along with a couple other devs I work with, are working just fine on Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I have tried on each release, including the one pushed over the last week. I have also tried a T-Mobile sim card and no difference than Verizon.

I know this phone is now "Certified" by Verizon but that is somewhat misleading. Because it is not an actual Verizon phone they block it from supporting WiFi calling and Visual Voicemail. You cannot even download and install Verizon's Visual Voicemail app from the Play store and built in Visual Voicemail in the Google Dialer does not work on Verizon. Also while a Verizon SIM is installed in the phone WiFi calling options completely disappear from settings. I think there is one person who said those two features are working for him but for the vast majority of us it does not work. I'm with DHO 100%. With the very poor customer support and the phone not functioning as well as most other phones there are far better options out there. I had connectivity issues with T-Mobile so bad I switched to Verizon and then found out the hard way they don't support those features on this phone. I ended up taking advantage of Verizon's 50% off the Pixel 2 XL with certain trade ins and ordered a Pixel 2 XL to use. I've ended up with a $700 Essential phone I cannot use. So I agree with DHO........BUYER BEWARE

That sounds more like Verizon douche baggery at work, more so than a problem with Essential's support.
Verizon is the one that decides who gets those features, not the phone manufacturer...
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

JasonJoel said:
That sounds more like Verizon douche baggery at work, more so than a problem with Essential's support.
Verizon is the one that decides who gets those features, not the phone manufacturer...
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For WiFi calling, I think a little column A and a little column B here-.

their radio reception is just awful- that's it. if you get good signal, then you will not likely have issue. even if you go to relatively worse area, you won't notice it too much. but if you actually live or work at a place with weak signal, then your signal drops way too often compared to any other ****ty plastic old phones.
no real way to fix it unless there's some crazy baseband update that somehow drastically improves it. I think they just did not do enough field testing to see how weak signal reception the device can handle. and now, they merely provide lackluster response because they cannot do anything and they cannot really admit that they ****ed up the "essential" part of the essential ph-1. i personally like this phone only because of the price is competitive and LineageOS is now finally supported. I still have some return window thanks to Amazon's holiday return policy, but might have to wrap this up and send back to Amazon for being defective.
Because, I also get ****ty reception on T-Mobile.