Help Verizon's offer to fix my Bionic problems

[bryan.allen]

after 3 replacements, the patch making my phone worse, about 15 calls in to tech support, they have finally given up on making my Bionic work properly.

They said they can offer me any other phone besides the Nexus as a replacement. Basically he said he would choose the Rezound or the Razr. I am extremely hesitant to take on another Motorola device. They waited 4 months to release a patch on this Bionic and it somehow made my device more glitchy.

I honestly feel like if I press hard enough I might could get them to send me a Nexus but to be completely honest, its not a super impressive device. The 4.0 didnt blow me away.

What do you guys think I should do? Ive done a little research into the Razr and it seems like a pretty nice device but I just am very hesisitant to accept this offer and basically be stuck with another Moto device for the life of my contract.

Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Groid]

Sorry you had such bad luck with the Bionic. Mine has been terrific as was my original Droid. I'm very happy with Moto hardware, I just wish they would unlock the bootloader. If I were you, I would take the Razr.

 

[stoney bones]

I agree with groid. I called verizon to complain yesterday becasue the ota didnt help my data loss problem. They said they will send a new phone asap and also new sim card then go from there. But if my problems do not get resolved and they make the offer, i would take a razr as well.

 

[doogald]

I've had both an HTC Android phone and now two Motos (I had a Bionic for a couple of weeks and then exchanged for a Droid 3.) I'll say this: there were plenty of places where I was unable to complete calls without stuttering audio or dropped calls with the HTC phone, but, from all of those places, I can make calls successfully with the Motos. If this is important to you, I'd get the Razr. If it's not so important and you are shy about getting another Moto, the Rezound sounds like a decent phone.

theverge.com rated the Rezound higher than the Razr, for what that's worth. It sounds like it has a better display.

Rezound vs. Droid RAZR | The Verge

 

[Thom]

after 3 replacements, the patch making my phone worse, about 15 calls in to tech support, they have finally given up on making my Bionic work properly.

They said they can offer me any other phone besides the Nexus as a replacement. Basically he said he would choose the Rezound or the Razr. I am extremely hesitant to take on another Motorola device. They waited 4 months to release a patch on this Bionic and it somehow made my device more glitchy.

I honestly feel like if I press hard enough I might could get them to send me a Nexus but to be completely honest, its not a super impressive device. The 4.0 didnt blow me away.

What do you guys think I should do? Ive done a little research into the Razr and it seems like a pretty nice device but I just am very hesisitant to accept this offer and basically be stuck with another Moto device for the life of my contract.

Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The voice quality on all Motorola phones is superb. That would say Razr.

I don't know what your problems are ... you never said ... if it is the data drops then none of the replacements is going to help much. An example from the Razr forum is ... http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-razr/471894-new-razr-every-now-again-no-data-connection.html.

The solution might be to be on 5.5.893 with a new SIM card or press them for 5.9.901. The later is probably a lost cause. You could consider installing the leaked 5.9.901.

If it is the data drops that are plaguing you then I think you should expect them to continue on and off for the next few months.

... Thom

 

[bryan.allen]

Thanks for the replies. Basically the data drops are continuing after. 893. Today the black screen returned and my bionic started rebooting by itself.....non stop. I really dont want another moto for fear of the same glitches.

Im waiting on the tech to follow up tomorrow. Im arguing to get the nexus but they are telling me its next to impossible because they dont have any pre owned devices yet.

 

[Thom]

I assume you are not root-ed and not flashing ROMs and we are talking about the stock distribution of the system.

The data drops will continue after 5.5.893. A new SIM card might help. They occur on all Verizon 3G/4G phones. Razr seems a little less than Bionic but that is a guess.

The Black Screen of Death is a "catch all" description that could be any of a number of things.

The constant re-boot is a VERY bad situation.

The only thing to address the last one would be to remove the back, remove the battery, make sure the SD-Ext card and SIM card are firmly and squarely seated, replace the battery, replace the back, and power on.

If the rebooting continues after that then I think you have a defective phone and need to get it replaced.

... Thom

 

[Lucidot]

I assume you are not root-ed and not flashing ROMs and we are talking about the stock distribution of the system.

The data drops will continue after 5.5.893. A new SIM card might help. They occur on all Verizon 3G/4G phones. Razr seems a little less than Bionic but that is a guess.

The Black Screen of Death is a "catch all" description that could be any of a number of things.

The constant re-boot is a VERY bad situation.

The only thing to address the last one would be to remove the back, remove the battery, make sure the SD-Ext card and SIM card are firmly and squarely seated, replace the battery, replace the back, and power on.

If the rebooting continues after that then I think you have a defective phone and need to get it replaced.

... Thom

I'm not sure I agree with the statement in bold.

My wife has the HTC Thunderbolt and she experiences ZERO data drops.

In my opinion, the data drops have nothing to do with the network or the towers or whatever, and everything to do with the software/firmware/hardware of the phone. I can be experiencing a data drop on my Bionic and her Thunderbolt be in my other hand and be working perfectly fine.

 

[Thom]

I never said it was all in the tower side. I said it was both tower side and device side and 5.5.893 with a new SIM card was addressing the later. 5.9.901 will probably address it further.

There have been at least three nation-wide data drop that are likely not on the device side.

The Razr has reported data drops.

I think the Galxy has data drops.

The Thunderbolt has data drops. See ... http://androidforums.com/htc-thunderbolt/468292-data-connectivity-problems.html.

Was your wife's phone in the same area as your when yours failed and hers didn't?

Does she use data as much as you so she is encountering the problem as frequently?

Is it possible her phone is saying she has a data connection when she doesn't?

Do you and she agree on what data drop means? (Many people have voice connection when there is a data drop and since voice is present they think they did not have a problem.)

... Thom

 

[Lucidot]

As stated in my post. I had the Bionic in one hand and the Thunderbolt in the other when this has occurred, on many occasions.

Data drop is when you have no data. Voice is not data.

I guess my wife was just one of the few that received a phone that works.

 

[Thom]

What you say is still consistent. The failures you saw were all on the device side. Those are the ones being addressed by 5.5.893 and 5.9.901.

There are also failures on the tower side.

National outages.

I'm in a 3G only area. I went through a two week period when data was like a yo-yo. Then it stopped. I have never had a period like that since. The conclusion is that they were working on the tower location servicing my area.

My advice to the guy was ... don't think that changing to another model (Razr or Galxy) is going to make it stable.

... Thom

 

[Lucidot]

I wasn't even bringing the nationwide data outage issue into the picture. That has zero to do with the data drops and is a completely different situation.

I am on .893 and still have data drops. You'll see the 4G/3G icon go from blue to white and then just vanish completely. Usually when I need it the most.

Most of the time a simple airplane mode on/off fixes it, but it's still a pain in the ass to have to do it at all.

In my first hand experience with this, I am inclined to think it's a Moto issue with the way their devices are interacting with the network. Again, the HTC Thunderbolt the wife has does not, nor has it ever had a data drop. The only issue that she had with it was it wouldn't always go into 4G. But it always had a data connection. That seems to have been fixed some time ago though.

 

[bryan.allen]

Im fighting for the gnex. Im scared of the razr because moto has sucked so hard

 

[Lucidot]

Im fighting for the gnex. Im scared of the razr because moto has sucked so hard

Hopefully the nextgen Motos that come out are better with Google's acquisition. Could go either way though. I'm not terribly unhappy with my Bionic. Could it be better? Absolutely. Could it be worse? I came to Android from a BB Storm, so I know it could be a lot worse.

I would see if they will mark your account to reflect that when they do have gnex's available that you can get one as a replacement, if they won't give you a new one.

 

[fatpomp]

I wasn't even bringing the nationwide data outage issue into the picture. That has zero to do with the data drops and is a completely different situation.

I am on .893 and still have data drops. You'll see the 4G/3G icon go from blue to white and then just vanish completely. Usually when I need it the most.

Most of the time a simple airplane mode on/off fixes it, but it's still a pain in the ass to have to do it at all.

In my first hand experience with this, I am inclined to think it's a Moto issue with the way their devices are interacting with the network. Again, the HTC Thunderbolt the wife has does not, nor has it ever had a data drop. The only issue that she had with it was it wouldn't always go into 4G. But it always had a data connection. That seems to have been fixed some time ago though.

I know exactly what your talking about my wife has my old Thunderbolt and I experience the same thing you are. Both sitting next to each other Bionic drops data Thunderbolt doesn't. I've had more data drops now on .893 then I ever did on .866.

 

[Lucidot]

I know exactly what your talking about my wife has my old Thunderbolt and I experience the same thing you are. Both sitting next to each other Bionic drops data Thunderbolt doesn't. I've had more data drops now on .893 then I ever did on .866.

Ditto

My drops seem to be getting worse. When I first went to .893 it seemed like it was better. Now I know I was just dreaming. Just had one while I was typing this.

Bet my wife is just surfing away. Probably laughing at me too.

 

[Thom]

Did you both get new SIM cards after going to 5.5.893?

... Thom

 

[Lucidot]

Did you both get new SIM cards after going to 5.5.893?

... Thom

I did not.

Is it a long process to go through to get them to give you another SIM card?

Can I call 611 and have them mark my account so when I go to the store they can just look it up and give it to me?

 

[bryan.allen]

I did not.

Is it a long process to go through to get them to give you another SIM card?

Can I call 611 and have them mark my account so when I go to the store they can just look it up and give it to me?

Yes.

 

[Lucidot]

Yes.

Yes to #1 or #2 ?

 

[fatpomp]

Did you both get new SIM cards after going to 5.5.893?

... Thom

Yes I got 2 one before and after. The first one I got about a month after I bought the phone (got mine on release day) still on .866 and it seemed to help. The second one was after .893 and didn't help at all. Like I said earlier I wasn't having data drop problems like I am now when I was on .866. On .866 I rarely dropped data after my new sim.

Yes to #1 or #2 ?

I just went to the store and asked for a new sim card. They might try to make you do a factory reset before they give you a new sim card since that's Verizon's magic fix for every issue. I didn't want to so I talked to the manager and he told the rep to just give me the sim without doing one.

 

[Thom]

I think it varies from store to store. Many people said they just walked in, asked for a replacement SIM card, and were given one within a minute.

Reading what others have said, doing a Factory Data Rest seems to be a popular response by many stores who just don't seem to have too many options. Their next option seems to be replacement. (Worst case I read was EIGHT replacements.)

There are reports that a new SIM card helped after 5.5.893.

I think that our approach to this data drop problem has a lot of similarity to our approach to the black screen of death problem. In each of them there are a number of causes that end up with the same result (data drop or BSOD). Discussions start with the catch word "data drop" or "BSOD" and it takes 4-5 questions/answers to get to what the real issue is.

In essence ... everyone is frustrated to some degree by both problems that have such an impact on a service that we are paying dearly for.

Eveyone's observations about their own situation are probably correct. Correlation of their observations to those of someone else may be flawed.

I am looking forward to the day when both of these problems are behind us.

... Thom

 

[Lucidot]

I guess I have something to be grateful for. I have never had a BSOD.

 

[jessie1290]

I'm also still having problems with data connection, and yes, usually just when I need it most. My husband's Charge and my son's new Rezound can be in the same room with me and hold on to a connection when I'm having problems. "OK everybody, data check!!" brings sighs, fumbling around for phones, and then ususally "I"m good!" I think my biggest problem is that I don't want anything else, poor reception on Samsung devices, poor battery life with HTC, and an android with a non removable battery? - no Razr for me! But I'm not willing to give up Moto's superior reception for better data connection just yet. I think what I do want, if things don't improve with the next update, is to have my upgrade restored so I can get the next Moto with a removable battery and good data connection at the lower contract price price. I don't think I should have to pay full price to replace this phone if it can't be made reliable. I paid $100.00 more than they're charging now (got it on release day), and it still doesn't work right. I switched to Verizon to get unlimited data by using my husband's Original Droid to hold a spot til the Bionic came out, so I'm new to Verizon. Anybody have any luck getting an upgrade restored? How far up the line did you have to go?

 

[Thom]

I got my Bionic 30 minutes after it became available in September.

Since then I have had one occurrence of the screen going black and being unresponsive to any key. It was still powered on. The solution was to do a reset/reload (hold down the volume up/volume down/power buttons until the menu appeared and then disappeared).

It never happened again.

I have had a LOT of data drops that were hidden from my perception because I am on WiFi about 98% of the time. The indicator MIGHT be telling me that there was a data drop. It might be confused.

When one of the national data drops occurred my display showed WiFi blues and 3G in white. When I read there was a national outage I turned WiFi off. It then showed 3G in blue. I tried accessing a webpage ... no problem (it was in the cache). I tried accessing a webpage that I had not recently gone to and it reported a network problem. 3G also disappeared from the top of the display.

... Thom