Hello all,
My daughter's Esteem was just in test mode last weekend. Only difference is that she didn't have data at all. I followed Fuzzy's guide to the letter, and everything went great. I was able to get the phone out of test mode and write the necessary information to the device. Flawless! I still didn't have data, but things were looking up!
I attempted to make a phone call, but it didn't completely go through. I received a recording about collect calls. I dialed *228 to update my PRL, and it failed. I tried to make another phone call, but ended up getting the same results. I grabbed my girlfriend's phone (LG Spirit on Metro), checked the about phone information, and her MIN and CDMA Home SID numbers were different than my daughters'. I went back into LGNPST and changed the Esteem's MIN1/2 and CDMA Home SID to match hers (girlfriend). I left the PRL at 3036. After a reboot, I tried another call. This time, I received a recording stating, "You don't need to dial an area code to place this call." For a second, I looked at it as progress. After removing the area code from the number and trying the call again, I received the exact same recording. I knew I was only spinning my wheels. I went back into LGNPST, changed the numbers back, and rebooted. I tried PRL's 3030 & 3033, but ended with the same result.
From reading several pages throughout this thread, I was well aware of several possible outcomes. I immediately knew that my CDMA Home SID/NID, MIN1, MIN2, or all three could be incorrect.
I decided to call Metro to
ensure that all numbers were matching. Turns out, MIN1 & MIN2 were wrong (not identical to my MDN). I went through the usual steps with Metro (##626*, etc), and set everything up properly. After a reboot, the phone still didn't have data, nor could it complete *228. The operator was stumped and suggested a factory reset. I declined (rooted, backup needed). She then suggested that I take it into a corporate store at my earliest convenience. Call ended.
Saturday November 23rd, 2013.
I backed up important info on the internal storage and removed the SD card. From there, I proceeded to follow Gbiggie's guide
here. Downgrading from ZVD to ZVB couldn't have went any smoother. After the phone rebooted, I performed a hard reset. Bone stock. Still no data.
Monday morning, I took the device into a corporate store and explained the issue. After cleaning up the sim card,
verifying all of the numbers, and going through all of the steps that I had previously performed, she told me that the phone has water damage. I was politely handed a claim form, informed that the deductible would be $99, and told that there wasn't anything else that could be done.
Once I made it home, I re-read Fuzzy's guide to make sure that I didn't overlook anything. Nope, all green flags. What else can I do now? I'm pissed!
Tuesday evening, after hours of searching and reading, I came across
this thread. In post #6, BRAINZ2013 stated that only a supervisor could perform online programming. A light bulb came on! Why hadn't I demanded this?
I jumped right on the phone with Metro. I asked the first person that I reached to connect me to a supervisor. After running a few tests of her own and
verifying the numbers, the phone got the best of her. She put me right through to the shift supervisor. After unsuccessfully trying to work a little magic on her end, she finally requested that we get into the menus (##626*).
MDM: Correct!
SID: Correct!
MIN:
INCORRECT!!! WTF?!
The friggin MIN number, which had been
verified by three different reps, was wrong! As it turns out, the area code (which was 732 and set by the corporate store last), should have been 734. LMAO!
So, we proceeded to reboot. Once the Esteem made it back up, the data was immediately connected. It was only 1x, but Mobile Network State now read Connected! Damn I was happy! I figured everything was a cakewalk from here. How wrong would I be. She (the supervisor) instructed me to perform a *228 update. The damn thing was unsuccessful. Not only did it not complete, it immediately kept disconnecting, returning a "Call has been lost" message (I think). Okay, well, lets try a phone call or two. The first call ended with the same message. The second call resulted in a "No signal" message.
The supervisor sent me a text and asked if I received it. I did. She asked me to send a text to my personal phone to see if it goes through. It did. She decided to call me on the Esteem to check if it receives calls. It surely does, loud and clear. At this point, she didn't know what else to do. She gave up and resulted to transferring me back to the previous rep to submit a 5 day trouble ticket. Call ended. Tuesday November 26th, 2013.
Sidenote 1:
I noticed that during each normal call attempt, the dialed number doesn't ring. The calling screen just sits there at "Dialing." What's even more strange is that the signal bars go from white to greyed out, two different times, for around 1 second during each call. Shortly after the bars go grey for the second time, the call drops. Stranger still, the dialpad will not function while a call is in progress (dialing). For instance, after holding down #1 to access the voicemail, the call doesn't connect, but the dialpad is inaccessible. The button is there, but tapping it does nothing. No haptic feedback or anything. However, I can tap and activate speaker, access contacts, or end the call before it drops. This info was being shared with the supervisor during our conversation. /End sidenote
Today (11-27-2013) 3:30pm, I made it my business to go back up to the corporate store and relay the information regarding the wrong MIN numbers. "I'm sorry about that sir. That's what it says on my end." What about the water damage you referred to, miss? "Well, that's what we normally see with the Esteem, sir, even from perspiration." Really? Okay, no problem. Lets get down to business. An update is in order. The male tech obliged and got right on it. He said they were up to ZVG and that's what it would be updated to. Upon starting the process, he recanted that statement and said that it would be ZVE instead. Didn't matter to me either way. I just hoped it would fix the issues with connecting calls and the dialpad.
Sidenote 2:
On the flip side of Tuesday evening's conversation with the supervisor, when a call is received, the dialpad is able to be shown or hidden without issue. Not only that, while on a received call, I am able to use the dialpad to make a 3-way call. It dials out, connects successfully, and merges the calls together seamlessly. All three people on the call are able to hear each other clearly across the board. I just tried this at at
11:10pm 11-27-2013. /End sidenote
Well, here I am, fully updated and completely stock. I'm able to receive calls and send/receive texts. I now have four full bars of 4G coverage. I just can't dial out.
Any help would be appreciated.
JSB