Help For those of you experiencing data (3G / 4G) drops

johnlgalt · Nov 30, 2011

I just had a thought, and it is based on this post:

Do not take OTA if you want to keep root - Android Forums thread

I wonder if people who're experiencing data drops are, for the most part, in areas without 4G but about to receive 4G, or in areas where 4G is a recent addition to the VZW service area, or if they are in the original 4G services area rollout back in 2009 / 2010.

Please mark the appropriate selection only if you are experiencing frequent data drops, and please also tell me if you're experiencing data drops only after phone calls or randomly, or due to multiple reasons (all of which are reproducible).

johnlgalt · Nov 30, 2011

I voted mine - as I mentioned in the linked thread, the VZW local rep today told me that my area is slated for 4G this spring....

Jerm13 · Nov 30, 2011

I never had terribly frequent drops- maybe 3-5 a week. I upgraded myself to 5.7.893 and that has dropped it to 1, maybe 2 a week.

Thom · Nov 30, 2011

When I went it to look at the Razr (on "Razr day") the owner showed me the Razr. I mentioned data drops to him in our 3G area. He said they were probably "working on the upgrade".

We were supposed to get 4G at the beginning of the year. He told me it was probably going to be sooner.

I left LTE enabled.

Still don't have 4G. The drops occured randomly over 7-10 days and then stopped.

... Thom

New Rising · Nov 30, 2011

I live in Chicago so there's been 4g here since last year and I rarely ever have any data drops, never been much of a concern for me. Like I've said before, I've had troubles switching to 3g but I haven't had that problem in awhile.

amageus · Nov 30, 2011

When's the next 4G rollout? I know when they were upgrading some areas (not mine) for 4G I was experiencing drops.

jestexman · Nov 30, 2011

All 3g in my area... Rep did say that we would get 4g in Feb.. Then the guys working on the VZW tower that i can see from my window at work said 4g in this area?? in a few years maybe.. So i don't know. I tend to believe the guys working on the towers. Oh and since i upgraded myself to 5.7.893 i almost never drop and lose data anymore. When i drop data its because im in a low area and i should drop the data. After i come out of the low area it comes back. Unlike before it would drop data sitting in my office (remember i can see the tower from my window)

bezerk19 · Nov 30, 2011

I live in San Antonio, TX and we had 4G since 2010 I think, before the Thunderbolt was sold (to be more specific, there weren't any 4G phones at the time 4G LTE started rolling into San Antonio). That being said, the problems people are experiencing aren't as common here in San Antonio, (especially after I got a "new", actually refurbished unit), at least for me that is.

However, I will mention that during the Thanksgiving holiday I took a trip to El Paso, TX, which recently received 4G LTE, and I can tell you in this network coverage I started experiencing the problems everyone is common with, dropping signals, phone locking up, not easily transitioning between 3G and 4G, 4G icon is white instead of blue (thus not having internet). Yeah it was a mess. So I honestly think at this point its a network issues (along with its fair share of Bionic problems), but I'm glad I'm back home and since then haven't experienced those problems.

Hopefully that can help clear some things up for you all.

johnlgalt · Nov 30, 2011

Thanks, guys, I appreciate everyone thus far not only responding but elaborating. I'm going to post a link at the Moto forums for people to come read this thread - in a thread titled, no less, is the data connection a motorola or verizon issue for lte on bionic?

I think this will be an eye opener for all the people bitching and complaining about it being a Motorola issue....

At the very least, I think it is both Motorola's b/c of the new, relatively untested LTE chip as well as VZW performing network tests and whatnot without actually letting us know what they are dong. But, mostly, I think it is VZW's fault.

johnlgalt · Nov 30, 2011

amageus said:
When's the next 4G rollout? I know when they were upgrading some areas (not mine) for 4G I was experiencing drops.

I heard February as well.

bezerk19 · Nov 30, 2011

Just to make sure, those of you who "upgraded" to 5.7.893 and claim the problem is fixed or "reduced", I'm assuming you are rooted, right? Based on the fact that Verizon's customer support is clueless, they keep telling me they have no idea if and when and update will be pushed out.

johnlgalt · Nov 30, 2011

Well, yes, I'm rooted, and I've been running 5.7.893 for a long time now - since I made my upgrade post last month at least.

That's one reason why I found it odd that I had these 2 (so far) drops all of a sudden.

jestexman · Nov 30, 2011

I am not rooted... Still running 5.7.893..

WA_Bob · Nov 30, 2011

I'm just north of the Houston, TX area that received 4G in 2010 with the initial roll-out so most of my time is in 3G land. I've had 3G and 4G data drops, but they seem to be consistent with each other - i.e. both go down and come up at the same time. This has been while I used a Thunderbolt and while I've had my Bionic (both rooted) and might last part of a day but usually not more than that.

I will say that the reason I'm on a Bionic now is because the network might drop me and then come back up again, but the 3 Thunderbolts I went through crashed hard eventually and had to be replaced after a certain number of times when this happened. My Bionic deals with the drops much better!

One thing I'll add, regardless of which phone I used I always have a more consistent signal than friends using other carriers (big ones or pre-paid). Even when they've been in the same place as me. I'll take the occasional data drop over their experiences any day!

lykofos · Dec 1, 2011

I chose the option "I'm primarily in a 3G only area but I do travel to a 4G area" but there's a little more to my situation.

I'm in a fringe 4G area. My computer desk is literally 4ft wide. If I set my phone on the left side of the desk, I get consistent 4G, if I set it on the right side of the desk, I get fairly consistent 3G. If I move the Bionic back and forth from one side of the desk to the other, data signal drops completely eventually and I have to do an airplane mode toggle.

I get solid 3G signal in about 70% of the house, 4G signal in approx 30%. If I drive up the road about 3-5 miles, I get consistent 4G and no drops. 4G was originally rolled out in this area in Dec 2010.

johnlgalt · Dec 1, 2011

Lol that's about as fringe as you can get, narrowing it down to a 4 ft strip on your desktop

Thanks for sharing, both your coverage *and* how the switching between the two repeatedly eventually causes your connection to die altogether.

breadnatty08 · Dec 1, 2011

I believe DC was in the initial LTE rollout but not positive.
I get the drops occasionally, maybe 2-3 times a week. Either an airplane toggle or reboot fixes it (a pain, but oh well). Just switched to the latest Liberty ROM, haven't seen a huge difference. Haven't updated my baseband either. Hoping my upcoming Nexus doesn't have this problem.

johnlgalt · Dec 1, 2011

I'm hoping it won't also - but it would be interesting to see what frequency of dropped connections are occurring on other VZW-based smartphones right now.

I never thought of that - hmmm.

bryan.allen · Dec 1, 2011

Atlanta area. Drops data daily whether lte is enabled or not. On my second unit and its actually worse now. Everyone I hang up a long phone call, I have no data and it won't come back until I do the airport switch. Ive spoken to countless r er PS from verizon and they all blame moto for the slow update rollout. I talked with a moto rep yesterday and he said to expect the update around new years. I also asked if he knew anything about ICS for the bionic....he said the people on the forums know more than he does about that...lame

Thom · Dec 1, 2011

bryan.allen said:
... he said the people on the forums know more than he does about that...lame

No ... honest.

... Thom

johnlgalt · Dec 1, 2011

Thom's right - a lot of the forum members both there and here have inside ears that the CSRs don't. It's why these sites typically get pre-release info before the CSRs know about the info.

lykofos · Dec 1, 2011

johnlgalt said:
Lol that's about as fringe as you can get, narrowing it down to a 4 ft strip on your desktop

Thanks for sharing, both your coverage *and* how the switching between the two repeatedly eventually causes your connection to die altogether.

Lol, tell me about it! I'll have to try to make a video of it, it's funny and sad at the same time.

johnlgalt · Dec 3, 2011

Bumping his back to the main page.

Also, All of the respondees thus far:

Have any of you replaced your SIM card yet in an effort to fix your drop connections? If not, are any of you willing to try that to see if it alleviates your problem(s)?

lykofos · Dec 3, 2011

Haven't replaced the SIM yet, but not sure if it'll help in my case, b/c like i said, my data loss happens quite predictably only during the 3G to 4G hand-off. If i put it in CDMA only mode, rarely do i get data loss, and in a strong 4G area with LTE on, i rarely get data loss.

However, the Verizon store is only 5 min away. Think it's worth a try or not in my case?

johnlgalt · Dec 3, 2011

Heck yeah - if this works for you I'll make a new poll asking ppl to get their SIMs replaced and gauge whether the overall effect is an improvement or not.

And if it turns out that the majority of people are definitely having improvements, then I'm going to start pointing a finger at the shipping companies - I'm betting that at least one of them is using some sort of X-ray or other scanner technology that might, in fact, be hosing these cards.....

Help For those of you experiencing data (3G / 4G) drops

Network (data) drops and 4G area listed

I'm in a 4G area that was released in Dec 2010

I'm in an area that was released in early 2011

I'm in an area that was just released in November

I'm in an area that has no 4G

I'm primarily in a 3G only area but I do travel to a 4G area

I'm primarily in a new 4G area but I do travel to an older 4G area

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