Help 3G Data Connectivity Issues

[Dirknar]

How’d you manage to do that?

I also called back CS (just the main no. on the VM website) yesterday and was told that they had opened a trouble ticket the day before and escalated the issue to tech support (something that hadn’t been mentioned before), which should contact me within 24-72 h. (See http://androidforums.com/2447285-post126.html for my original post.)

Oh maybe it wasnt an American CS number?? she sounded pretty american,lol.

It was the VM escalation/CS number 1-866-553-9810

Patience- I have had the Optimus V for a month and have had no issues with 3g.

Jeez! that would be great.. One can only hope..lol..

I might just keep the dang phone anyways, after just shopping online for service through Verizon/AT$T.. Me and my wife would have to spend $150 month before taxes for shared 700mins/data/texting.. + 100 bucks each for the phones.. Thats not going to happen..lol.

 

[horseflesh]

Patience- I have had the Optimus V for a month and have had no issues with 3g.

Wish I could say the same! I have had it for about 1 week. The first 2 days were great. Every day since, either there is no 3G service at all, or it comes on for a few minutes after I spend a few minutes toggling airplane mode, pulling the battery, and saying prayers.

Of course I have no idea if it's an Optimus problem, Virgin problem, or both.

 

[duvallite]

I've been having problems all day not connecting (East of Seattle). The couple of times it did connect, it went to a VM webpage instead of my homepage. Tried resetting my homepage a couple of times, but it would still want to go to the VM page, and would then not fully load any other pages that I tried, so I gave up for a while. Later, when I was going to try again, my phone was frozen at the security code screen, and would not do anything, nor could I turn it off, and it was getting way warmer than normal. Then, I pulled the battery and waited a minute, tried again, and now the phone would power back up again, but still the issue with not connecting. Very, Very FRUSTRATING! FWIW, the only extra apps I have on my phone are AppBrain, SilentBoot, and QuickSettings, and I don't use my phone very much at all, so I'm not sure how long this connectivity issue has been going on.

 

[horseflesh]

I am on the east side too, and it's been up and down all day. Mostly down...

I read in another forum that if you see the VM web page all the time that indicates a problem with how your account is provisioned. Some have said that they called in to complain and were told that their accounts had to be switched to the special Android data plan--like it didn't happen correctly during initial activation.

Anyway, seeing the VM web page all the time seems to be a SEPARATE problem from 3G data drops. YMMV. Just passing along what I had read. I've been on forums constantly for a few days trying to figure out if my 3G problems are due to my phone/settings or the network!

 

[Leslie Ann]

Trying to trouble shoot when a major outtage is going on is pointless.

And yes, seeing the VM page means you need to run the activate app (make sure it finishes, if it finishes and you keep having issues, call).

 

[xrae]

I was at today's NASCAR race in Bristol and had the worst time trying to connect to 3G. Texts would come and go intermittently, but that was all I could get. Yesterday was fine. I really hope it was a larger data outage, because I really like this phone and would love for it to work when I need it to, like during race weekend (I do social updates for one of the teams).

 

[duvallite]

Trying to trouble shoot when a major outtage is going on is pointless.

And yes, seeing the VM page means you need to run the activate app (make sure it finishes, if it finishes and you keep having issues, call).

Since I've previously been able to connect and see my normal home page instead of the VM page, does "running the activate app" still apply, and I should give it a try? Thanks.

 

[Leslie Ann]

Since I've previously been able to connect and see my normal home page instead of the VM page, does "running the activate app" still apply, and I should give it a try? Thanks.

I would, it won't hurt.

Androids have been known to lose their provisioning. Yours may have.

 

[duvallite]

Well crap. No matter what, when mine trys to connect, it still wants to go to m.virginmobileusa.com every time, even though in the past it has worked fine. Now, when it does this, it loads that page about 90%, and then just hangs at that point, with the little circle thing going round and round showing it's trying to load, but it never finishes. If I touch the X in the upper right corner to stop it, then I get a message that says: The page at http://m.virginmobileusa.com says: jcarousel: No width/height set for items. This will cause an infinite loop. Aborting....." I then touch the okay button and the attempted loading stops. Also, even if I use the search button and type in some other web address, it always trys to go to that VM site. So, I tried running the "activate" program several different times, and activation was always successful, but it didn't solve the problem. Looks like I'll have to call them in the morning and see what they can do. Can someone recommend the best number to call to try and get some actual help? Thanks.

 

[Investor22]

duvallite,

Would clearing out the cache, cookies help? While in the browser, click menu button, select more, select settings...

Maybe unload some of those apps you mentioned you had on the phone?

 

[Shripe]

Cross-posted, just to show what I've experienced thus far with VM CS:

I activated my Optimus on Friday night, haven't had 3G data since. Just got off the phone with VM (first escalation dept., then tech support Indian), tried the activate/off-on/battery pull stuff that I've already done, and was asked to call back in 1-2 hours if no improvement. Blah. Only difference was that it took perhaps a minute (of no page loading) to get the Data connectivity problem popup in the browser after battery pull compared to near immediately prior. Maybe that's a tiny bit of hope...

 

[duvallite]

Called VM CS this morning. Got right through. She had me clear the cache, cookies, and history (like I hadn't tried that already), and told me to wait 15 minutes and try to connect again, and to call back if it didn't work. She also mentioned they've been having lots of problems, and must have apologised at least 5 times for the inconvenience and "gave" me an additional 75 minutes of talk time. So after 20 minutes, the problem is still there, so I called again, and this time the guy takes my info, asks about the error message when the page is stuck loading, and says he is opening a trouble ticket, and that someone will be contacting me within 24-72 hours. I'll bet that doesn't happen, and come Thursday I'll be calling them again, but we'll see. In the meantime, it's wi-fi or nothing.

 

[Shripe]

Absolutely no luck with the 4 hour wait, so they escalated my ticket to the network operations team. 24-72 hours as well. I doubt I'll hear back from them, but they were nice enough to ask for a back-up phone # to contact me at in case I'm not around my VM phone.

 

[OcalaFlGuy]

Oh goodie, another whining first post here.

Got my new VM Optimus V Friday night. WiFi is a go, phone is a go. 3G is "Houston, we have a problem" NoGo.

Went to the Sprint store and played with their Opti V on their 3G (and double checked with the guy to be sure it was on 3G not wireless, it was 3G) if mine ends up being as nice as Sprints was surfing I'll be happy.

Then to Best Buy where I got the phone (next to last day of $129.99 sale) and they are puzzled too. 3G is showing on the phone, activation was double checked, but no go on the 3G. They call VM tech support. They did another reactivate and the ## dealie and said for me to wait 4 hrs. The Best Buy guy got her to escalate the ticket and she said They'd call ME in 4-8 hrs (5 hrs ago).

I've done all the quickie fixes except pull the battery.

I am of course, expecting to have to use the Executive Escalation Department # next.

I hope this gets worked out. I really liked This Phone on Sprints (the same as VM) 3G this morning.

Stay tuned.

Bruce in Ocala, FL

 

[Shripe]

I am of course, expecting to have to use the Executive Escalation Department # next.

I went right to them in the first place. I didn't want to deal with the clueless people in level 1 CS.

 

[snow77leopard]

First off, OcalaFLGuy, Call the Escalation Number! 1-866-553-9810

My wife and I bought 2 on Friday. I was a Virgin customer, but we moved my wife's number from Verizon.

My phone was fine. My wife's was without 3G from the beginning. The following day we called the main number 3 times until they created a trouble ticket. I called the escalation number the next morning and they fixed the "no 3g" problem right away. Tech said the problem was the account didn't have data setup. I realize this has been stated before (sorry for the repeats).

Once the phone was working, my wife started downloading all the apps she wanted. Facebook, Foursquare, Google Sky Map, Weather Bug, Zillow, and Barcode Scanner.

We were home and under the protection of our WiFi, but when we went out, her 3G dropped and would not come back. Tried the "Airplane Mode", Power Cycle...nothing.

Since my phone had all the apps EXCEPT "Barcode Scanner". I took a chance and uninstalled it and then power cycled. It came backup.

She would lose 3G every once in awhile after that, but Airplane Mode cycle worked.

Fast forward to today. I installed "Catch Notes" on my phone (the one with no problems). While driving home, I stopped at store...No 3G! Airplane Mode cycle didn't work...Power cycle didn't work.

I uninstalled Catch Notes and power cycled...3G back...no problems. I am now starting to compare the permissions of the apps I am running to try and find similarities with Barcode Scanner and Catch Notes.

I've been checking Download thousands of Android apps from the Android Market - AndroidZoom.com for the permissions for each of my apps. I'm thinking it has to do with the "Modify Global Settings" permission.

If we can narrow down the troublesome apps...

Any thoughts?...comments?

 

[ron scubadiver]

I have barcode scanner, and except for known outages, 3G works. If any apps are troublesome, it is the ones that access the hidden menus and change network settings there.

 

[Duckduckquack]

I've been having all the same newbie problems since Friday when I bought the phone. Everything works except web. (Fortunately I have wifi in many places!) The ticket got opened this AM, but for grins I just called the escalation number. She states there is a nationwide 3G outage and it has been happening for A WEEK. No resolution date in sight.

Not cool. I wanna play with my new toy.

 

[lynx2cross]

You may have a point, I just went through all my apps to check the permissions and only two have the "modify global settings" permission. One of them being Zedge which I downloaded and the other is a pre-installed program which is the "Where" application that I wanted to delete a long time ago but can't be unless you root your phone, something I'm not familiar with. I wonder if those who have rooted their phones have uninstalled these type of applications that modify the global settings are still having problems. That would give us our answer if these apps cause the problem.

First off, OcalaFLGuy, Call the Escalation Number! 1-866-553-9810

My wife and I bought 2 on Friday. I was a Virgin customer, but we moved my wife's number from Verizon.

My phone was fine. My wife's was without 3G from the beginning. The following day we called the main number 3 times until they created a trouble ticket. I called the escalation number the next morning and they fixed the "no 3g" problem right away. Tech said the problem was the account didn't have data setup. I realize this has been stated before (sorry for the repeats).

Once the phone was working, my wife started downloading all the apps she wanted. Facebook, Foursquare, Google Sky Map, Weather Bug, Zillow, and Barcode Scanner.

We were home and under the protection of our WiFi, but when we went out, her 3G dropped and would not come back. Tried the "Airplane Mode", Power Cycle...nothing.

Since my phone had all the apps EXCEPT "Barcode Scanner". I took a chance and uninstalled it and then power cycled. It came backup.

She would lose 3G every once in awhile after that, but Airplane Mode cycle worked.

Fast forward to today. I installed "Catch Notes" on my phone (the one with no problems). While driving home, I stopped at store...No 3G! Airplane Mode cycle didn't work...Power cycle didn't work.

I uninstalled Catch Notes and power cycled...3G back...no problems. I am now starting to compare the permissions of the apps I am running to try and find similarities with Barcode Scanner and Catch Notes.

I've been checking Download thousands of Android apps from the Android Market - AndroidZoom.com for the permissions for each of my apps. I'm thinking it has to do with the "Modify Global Settings" permission.

If we can narrow down the troublesome apps...

Any thoughts?...comments?

 

[OcalaFlGuy]

I've been having all the same newbie problems since Friday when I bought the phone. Everything works except web. (Fortunately I have wifi in many places!) The ticket got opened this AM, but for grins I just called the escalation number. She states there is a nationwide 3G outage and it has been happening for A WEEK. No resolution date in sight.

Not cool. I wanna play with my new toy.

Earth to LG, come in LG.

Get ready to devote a good portion of your Optimus assembly line to REFURBING THE STACKS of Optimuseses that VM will have being returned.

Bruce in Ocala -3 days into Best Buys 30 day return limit...

 

[Oyadroid]

I purchased my LG Optimus V at Radio Shack in Feb. The 3g data would go on and off randomly getting worse and worse until at day 30 it quite alltogether. I cannot connect to 3 g data no matter what I do. I have read everything on this forum about all the various 'fixes" and solutions to getting the 3G/Data connected. It may work for some intermittently and briefly, but NONE OF THIS WORKS PERMANENTLY. IT IS NOT THE PHONE! The phone is fine. The real problem is Virgin has exceeded the 3G network capacity of their contract with Sprint. They filled it up fast with this phone, which leaves many without their 3G connectivity. It is a major goof up by Virgin and they have not been upfront on telling the truth about this problem. Instead, they have decided to remain vague, deceptive and largely untruthful by failing to acknowledge the real reason, and instead choose to say to try this and that phony solution to fix it, knowing full well it won't work to fix it permanently. They are refusing to address this publicly with what the real problem is. I was told this by two Virgin CS reps 2 days ago. One said that Virgin is "throttling" the 3g data usage. The second one agreed, and said the estimated down time will be until the end of May!, but would not guarantee anything. I would encourage EVERYONE to call Virgin Mobile and confront them with this and demand they give the choice of a 100% refund immediately.

 

[Lanzagas]

According to Target I have 90 days to return the phone, I'll wait until day 89.

I hope that before that VM gets flooded of returns or gets a class action suit for bait and switch practices. It seems that they simply don't care.

 

[lynx2cross]

I purchased my LG Optimus V at Radio Shack in Feb. The 3g data would go on and off randomly getting worse and worse until at day 30 it quite alltogether. I cannot connect to 3 g data no matter what I do. I have read everything on this forum about all the various 'fixes" and solutions to getting the 3G/Data connected. It may work for some intermittently and briefly, but NONE OF THIS WORKS PERMANENTLY. IT IS NOT THE PHONE! The phone is fine. The real problem is Virgin has exceeded the 3G network capacity of their contract with Sprint. They filled it up fast with this phone, which leaves many without their 3G connectivity. It is a major goof up by Virgin and they have not been upfront on telling the truth about this problem. Instead, they have decided to remain vague, deceptive and largely untruthful by failing to acknowledge the real reason, and instead choose to say to try this and that phony solution to fix it, knowing full well it won't work to fix it permanently. They are refusing to address this publicly with what the real problem is. I was told this by two Virgin CS reps 2 days ago. One said that Virgin is "throttling" the 3g data usage. The second one agreed, and said the estimated down time will be until the end of May!, but would not guarantee anything. I would encourage EVERYONE to call Virgin Mobile and confront them with this and demand they give the choice of a 100% refund immediately.

That is unacceptable. Sprint owns VM so they are the one's behind it all, and I heard a rumor that Verizon and Sprint may be the next big merger if they are ever going to compete with the new At&T and T-mobile merger. Wonder where that will leave us and PCS Mobile. Remember when VM had the Helios phones, whatever became of that and the poor people who paid all that money for those phones and contracts.

 

[johnn1jm]

I'm in the Phoenix, AZ area and I have had no 3G drops in almost 4 days. Hope it continues .

 

[Thorsten]

Just got off the phone with the tech support escalation department. After putting me on hold a couple of times to look up my account, a very nice and very apologetic woman (General American accent, FWIW) volunteered (without being prompted) that my phone was fine, but data was essentially down throughout the network, with no immediate fix or workaround in sight.

I asked if there was a website where I could follow the status of this outage, but after checking, the rep couldn