905 update

[Thom]

Did you try a soft reset (hold down volume up/volume down/power until a menu appears and then disappears)? That should reset and hopefully the ins all sill sart.

... Thom

 

[Britney]

Thanks Thom, I tried that as well as battery pull...no change.
Pulled battery and simm. Waited 30 seconds and rebooted. Installation began.

 

[ispamforfood]

Here's my take on 905's abilities regarding holding onto a 4G signal--while the symbol tends to stay blue much more of the time, there are obvious interruptions in the data flow, as noticed by me when loading pages and playing games. It seems to me that what I'm experiencing with 905 is the same old "drops" but the icon isn't switching to white or disappearing. I might be wrong, but I doubt it, given how I've seen a lot of slow-loading web pages that I often visit. ie, I think Moto played with the data icon parameters and connectivity is pretty much the same as it was on 902.

Anyone else notice this? I use a LOT of data--up to 10GB a month, so I have lots of opportunity to observe connectivity issues...and I rarely stream any video.

Ah, but did you notice the upload/download arrows lighting up? I've seen this, and sometimes even on 3G it's the early indication that the data connection has dropped. Or if only the upload arrow is lighting up, with no indication that your phone is downloading anything, that's also a sign of impending doom regarding your data connection.

 

[IFIXPCS]

I received the OTA update alert so I took a shot and ran it. It worked fine and I didn't lose my forever root either!!

It's been EXTREMELY annoying to end a call and then wit uo to 10 minutes to get the data network to reconnect.

I won't know for a couple of days whether it helped the constant network drops or 3G-4G switching, but I will let everyone know by the end of the week!

Thanks for all the great help here!

IFIXPCS

 

[dhworph]

905 rocks (in eclipse 3.0), much more stable connection and smoother ui.

 

[TexasBadger]

I have been having frequent 4G data drops for the past two weeks. Updating my firmware from 902 to 905 did not make things any better. Enough is enough. I just called Verizon and fought my way through their voice mail until I got a real person. She listened to my concerns and explained that all Motorola Droid Bionics were shipped with a SIM card that is now obsolete. She is sending me a new SIM card by Fedex and it will arrive in two days. An alternative would be to go to the nearest Verizon store and pick up a new SIM card. Either way, there is no cost to me except the time to install the new card. She says that she uses a Bionic as her personal phone and that she is confident that this will completely fix my data issues.

 

[CamoCustom]

I have been having frequent 4G data drops for the past two weeks. Updating my firmware from 902 to 905 did not make things any better. Enough is enough. I just called Verizon and fought my way through their voice mail until I got a real person. She listened to my concerns and explained that all Motorola Droid Bionics were shipped with a SIM card that is now obsolete. She is sending me a new SIM card by Fedex and it will arrive in two days. An alternative would be to go to the nearest Verizon store and pick up a new SIM card. Either way, there is no cost to me except the time to install the new card. She says that she uses a Bionic as her personal phone and that she is confident that this will completely fix my data issues.

Wonder if this is really the case.....

 

[dave1812]

I have been having frequent 4G data drops for the past two weeks. Updating my firmware from 902 to 905 did not make things any better. Enough is enough. I just called Verizon and fought my way through their voice mail until I got a real person. She listened to my concerns and explained that all Motorola Droid Bionics were shipped with a SIM card that is now obsolete. She is sending me a new SIM card by Fedex and it will arrive in two days. An alternative would be to go to the nearest Verizon store and pick up a new SIM card. Either way, there is no cost to me except the time to install the new card. She says that she uses a Bionic as her personal phone and that she is confident that this will completely fix my data issues.

sounds like BS to me, quite frankly (the "obsolete" comment by the rep). but I COULD be wrong...having said that, I called for, and received a new SIM card back in December when I had Verizon swap out my Bionic due to terrible connectivity. The replacement phone is 1000% better than the launch-day unit I had and I still have the SIM card tucked away.

 

[Stealthpanda]

Okay, so i got the 905 with everyone. Had terrible data drops. The signal would basically strobe...

So, in a fit i call verizon and they are shipping me the droid razr as my second replacement for this phone. After getting the replacement squared away i just thought i would troubleshoot using some of my oldmethods from back at launch day.

I discovered that if you put the phone into airplane mode, power down. Power up, wait for the apps and everything to boot up, like a solid boot up. Airplane mode will still be engaged, turn it off, while you do this, take a look at your lte signal do a glitch, it flashes from one set of bars to another. One set apears to have more bars, that are finer.

They quickly disapear and you see your usual four bar 4glte signal. At this point, if in a good coverage area(i have two bars al the time at home) I can almost guaruntee your phone wont skip a single beat. I am amazed that this worked so well. I mean, i do not in anyway want to refuse the new hardware i am receiving and becoming a bionic vet... But the fact of the matter is, since i bought my phone on luanch day, it has NEVER worked this good.

Its almost too good to be true. Now, please someone else try this and give us all the feedback. If we discover the root of the problem we can help moto develop the software fixes we need.

EDIT:

Also, i know this is my first post and you could be skeptical about it but im just a new member on the forum and i feel this information is critical to bionic owners like myself.

EDIT 2:

WARNING, if you turn the phone off and back on with airplane mode off the signal goes back to strobe. It is easily fixed by repeating the first process.

I will make a youtube vid or something showing how this works for me. I will show you strobe vs airplane glitch. So far, 100% signal up time for the last day and a half.

 

[bixler777]

Okay, so i got the 905 with everyone. Had terrible data drops. The signal would basically strobe...

So, in a fit i call verizon and they are shipping me the droid razr as my second replacement for this phone. After getting the replacement squared away i just thought i would troubleshoot using some of my oldmethods from back at launch day.

I discovered that if you put the phone into airplane mode, power down. Power up, wait for the apps and everything to boot up, like a solid boot up. Airplane mode will still be engaged, turn it off, while you do this, take a look at your lte signal do a glitch, it flashes from one set of bars to another. One set apears to have more bars, that are finer.

They quickly disapear and you see your usual four bar 4glte signal. At this point, if in a good coverage area(i have two bars al the time at home) I can almost guaruntee your phone wont skip a single beat. I am amazed that this worked so well. I mean, i do not in anyway want to refuse the new hardware i am receiving and becoming a bionic vet... But the fact of the matter is, since i bought my phone on luanch day, it has NEVER worked this good.

Its almost too good to be true. Now, please someone else try this and give us all the feedback. If we discover the root of the problem we can help moto develop the software fixes we need.

EDIT:

Also, i know this is my first post and you could be skeptical about it but im just a new member on the forum and i feel this information is critical to bionic owners like myself.

EDIT 2:

WARNING, if you turn the phone off and back on with airplane mode off the signal goes back to strobe. It is easily fixed by repeating the first process.

I will make a youtube vid or something showing how this works for me. I will show you strobe vs airplane glitch. So far, 100% signal up time for the last day and a half.

anyone else done this yet?

success??

 

[Stealthpanda]

To make sure we are clear here the steps are



1.With the phone on, put it into airplane mode

2.Power phone down

3.Power up, let the apps have a chance to start up first. Give it atleast a minute after the clock screen comes up.

4.The phone will have remained in airplane mode, turn off airplane mode.

The data connection will start shortly, this is when the glitch happens with the signal bars, btw its a bigger set of the same four bars, it shrinks and data boots up. You will have 100% connection tme in a well covered area.

I have discovered also that putting the phone back into airplane mde and out, as well as utilizing the wifi radio, or a powerdown out of airplane mode. Will put the phone back into submission. So refrain from altering the network connection after the airplane glitch.

I have contacted moto over the phone about this. They say "you are a genius sir" "keep dreaming up ideas and fixes." Hopefullybetween the phonecall and these posts i can get some serious crackdown on this.

 

[TexasBadger]

I tried the Stealth Panda technique last night, setting my Bionic to Airplane Mode and then turning it off and back on. It actually appears to have worked very well. This morning, my 4G connection is stable and I am consistently getting13 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up.

 

[bixler777]

To make sure we are clear here the steps are



1.With the phone on, put it into airplane mode

2.Power phone down

3.Power up, let the apps have a chance to start up first. Give it atleast a minute after the clock screen comes up.

4.The phone will have remained in airplane mode, turn off airplane mode.

The data connection will start shortly, this is when the glitch happens with the signal bars, btw its a bigger set of the same four bars, it shrinks and data boots up. You will have 100% connection tme in a well covered area.

I have discovered also that putting the phone back into airplane mde and out, as well as utilizing the wifi radio, or a powerdown out of airplane mode. Will put the phone back into submission. So refrain from altering the network connection after the airplane glitch.

I have contacted moto over the phone about this. They say "you are a genius sir" "keep dreaming up ideas and fixes." Hopefullybetween the phonecall and these posts i can get some serious crackdown on this.

i tried this last night, and it seems to hold a connection...as long as i don't toggle the Mobile on/off....which is what i normally do all day.

as soon as i turned off my mobile, then toggled it back on 20 mins later, i was back to a white "4g", with sparse or no connectivity.

so...it appears i still need a remedy for this, as i constantly toggle on/off my mobile (or wifi when near) during the day/night to save battery, etc.

 

[Stealthpanda]

i tried this last night, and it seems to hold a connection...as long as i don't toggle the Mobile on/off....which is what i normally do all day.

as soon as i turned off my mobile, then toggled it back on 20 mins later, i was back to a white "4g", with sparse or no connectivity.

so...it appears i still need a remedy for this, as i constantly toggle on/off my mobile (or wifi when near) during the day/night to save battery, etc.

Exactly my experience..

On the moto forums i made an update saying the wifi radio, going baack into airplane mode, or turning off data or the phone itself without the plane actually on airplane mode, willl give you a crap connection.

 

[meach5150]

Same experience for me. So far I'm stable, as long as I don't use my battery saver app, which cycles my data connection. My wife said that there are a couple other people at her office having the same issue and it has just started recently for them as well.

 

[sgschwend]

I tried it, even though I am in a 3G area. The screen was dark the first time I turned it on and I could not adjust it brighter. The second time the screen came up normally. As to the problem with the white bars and the reported signal coming and going. I have had that issue for the last three days (in 3G). I think the network has something to do with it too, since I am suggesting it often occurs in 3G.

As to the SIM card, unless they are miss using it, the card only have ID information on it. At least that is what Verizon is publishing.
4G SIM Information

 

[OutOfPhase]

since multiple people on multiple devices are have issues could it have some thing to do with Verizon trying to get their VoLTE working.

 

[dave1812]

since multiple people on multiple devices are have issues could it have some thing to do with Verizon trying to get their VoLTE working.

I asked Verizon about VoLTE recently. They said there is no way they will implement it until 4G is available pretty much on their entire US network, as one won't be able to connect a call between a 3 and 4G device. That's what THEY said. I've no idea as to the limitations of VoLTE calls, but I look forward to it with MUCH anticipation, having to repeat myself now on voice calls, or ask the caller to repeat themselves due to poor sound quality. If one is in a quiet environment the sound quality of a video chat using Google Talk is amazing. Once you have a bit of background noise though, the sound is gawdawful on a GT chat.

 

[Stealthpanda]

I asked Verizon about VoLTE recently. They said there is no way they will implement it until 4G is available pretty much on their entire US network, as one won't be able to connect a call between a 3 and 4G device. That's what THEY said. I've no idea as to the limitations of VoLTE calls, but I look forward to it with MUCH anticipation, having to repeat myself now on voice calls, or ask the caller to repeat themselves due to poor sound quality. If one is in a quiet environment the sound quality of a video chat using Google Talk is amazing. Once you have a bit of background noise though, the sound is gawdawful on a GT chat.

I think they are aiming for Q3 2013 on all of this. Thats when they suspect 4g will be available everywhere that 3g is.

 

[xmr405o]

To make sure we are clear here the steps are



1.With the phone on, put it into airplane mode

2.Power phone down

3.Power up, let the apps have a chance to start up first. Give it atleast a minute after the clock screen comes up.

4.The phone will have remained in airplane mode, turn off airplane mode.

The data connection will start shortly, this is when the glitch happens with the signal bars, btw its a bigger set of the same four bars, it shrinks and data boots up. You will have 100% connection tme in a well covered area.

I have discovered also that putting the phone back into airplane mde and out, as well as utilizing the wifi radio, or a powerdown out of airplane mode. Will put the phone back into submission. So refrain from altering the network connection after the airplane glitch.

I have contacted moto over the phone about this. They say "you are a genius sir" "keep dreaming up ideas and fixes." Hopefullybetween the phonecall and these posts i can get some serious crackdown on this.

I was getting so frustrated with the data drops where I never had issues before. It's ok so far but I'll test it out for a couple more days. Thanks for the post StealthPanda.

 

[TexasBadger]

My new SIM card arrived today and I promptly installed it. That solved nothing at all. Also, it has become obvious that Stealthpanda's workaround is only a temporary fix ... until WiFi is turned on, or Airplane Mode, or ...

I called Verizon again, for the second time this week. They insist that they have not received any widespread reports of 4G data drops in Bionics. Maybe I'll go in to the local VZ store next week and demand a new phone!

Unhappy in Texas

 

[CKwik240]

I've had .905 since it was leaked. Not sure if it started right away, but I've noticed some serious 4G data dropping. The signal at my apartment and school have been pretty good up until this started happening. I've been at this apartment since December. I was running .904 up until the .905 leak. It was rock solid everywhere except a couple of known areas with bad VZW reception. I decided to revert back to .902 to see if the problem resolved. Seemed to be just as bad, which is weird since it worked fine before. I just applied the .904 leak again and the 4G icon has been steadily blue. I think I'm sticking to .904 until ICS is released.

I've been pretty busy since I had posted this, but over the weekend, .904 went to crap as well. So much for that. Got back on the path and installed the leaked ICS. So far so good. Hopefully it holds up.

 

[global2]

I was getting so frustrated with the data drops where I never had issues before. It's ok so far but I'll test it out for a couple more days. Thanks for the post StealthPanda.

My data drops have been worse since 905 OTA update. Tried the StealthPanda workaround (Thanks). Droid users get lots of practice toggling!! After turning off Airplane mode after the reboot, got a strong 3G that turned to a 4G LTE after about 60 seconds. I'll keep an eye on it the next few days. My guess is that my JuiceDefender will throw a wrench in the workaround. I upgraded to an extended battery weeks ago (before 905) and have enjoyed much better battery performance. I guess I'll have to decide what is more important to me -~~ a day-long battery or a strong, constant 4G.

 

[lostinthewild]

I've tried this workaround that was posted on here, but I'm still not getting any 4g coverage here in Pittsburgh. I talked to Verizon a couple of times this week and they told me it was because they were removing some lines from the tunnels on the other side of the city from where I live. I know that would not affect me as I have a tower closer to where I live and where I work. They also told me the second time was that it was due to my phone being rooted. I've never had an issue with it before.

Any thoughts?

 

[Thom]

Do other people in your area who are using Verizon have the same problem? If yes then they are working on the tower ... the person you talked to might not have the information.

(I'm still in a 3G-only area and would actually welcome some 4G problems.)

... Thom