Help Call quality very sub-par (not signal strength)

Deleted User · May 3, 2010

sta7ic said:
i live in webster and just got the phone today. I just tested in using the land line against my phone and the call quality was superb. I'm not sure what is going on for you guys. I've had nothing but good things with this phone today. Keep us updated

Thanks for the local info, that helps.

eleazar · May 3, 2010

ShiftLft said:
Sounds exactly what I'm experiencing. "Garbled" speech and quick moments of silence, just enough to disrupt the conversation.

Yeah, it seems like we are all having very similar issues which would lead me to believe it's the phone itself, not the towers/reception/etc.

mochapenguin · May 3, 2010

Can anyone confirm if getting a replacement phone fixed the issue?

I'm coming from AT&T (iPhone 3G) and although I had dropped calls all the time, the quality was fine. I was really shocked when I made a call the first time on the Incredible and from the first ring it sounded garbled, kind of cutting in and out. Same as most others, people say I sound fine, it's just on my end it sounds bad.

I've spent all weekend customizing my phone to my liking and I REALLY don't want to exchange it....but this is one of the reasons I switched from AT&T, so what's the point if the quality sucks? I'm in Omaha, NE and signal seems fine, just the quality is never clear.

jamor · May 3, 2010

mochapenguin said:
Can anyone confirm if getting a replacement phone fixed the issue?

>>

dc006 said:
It was really bad on my first phone. Not as bad, but still bad on my second. I guess I will try a third.

I wonder how many times they will allow me to return it for replacement.

Doug

jamor · May 3, 2010

Let me make a bunch of calls today and I'll get back to this thread with how my phone sounds. Haven't really noticed anything bad yet but didn't jump around telling everyone how clear they were either.

But in the basement of our house - I am the only one who can get reception among a t-mobile blackberry, an att iphone, and an att nokia..

So it's probably not the signal and most likely the hardware..

Deleted User · May 3, 2010

I will be receiving a replacement phone within a few days and will post whether or not the new phone has problems. My guess is that the issues are isolated to the hardware in individual phones.

Samzy · May 3, 2010

Add me to the list of bad call quality, issues such as:
Deep muffled sound
Last syllables of every word cut off
Some crackling
Sometimes total word cut offs

I went from a Curve (nice sound) to the DRINC and so far my complaints are the above along with the short battery life!

The sound clarity and quality are extremely important for me. I also will try exchanging my handset (if its in stock) after all the time I spent customizing it to my liking. Bummer! :mad:

bsdbytes · May 3, 2010

Add me to the list too. I'm constantly saying "what" or "say again." This is in multiple locations with varying signal strength. BTW, I know the signal strength isn't accurate but I've never seen more than 2 bars on this phone.

tranceFusion · May 3, 2010

do they even have replacements to send out at this point?

eleazar · May 3, 2010

Samzy said:
I also will try exchanging my handset (if its in stock) after all the time I spent customizing it to my liking. Bummer!

At least grab MyBackup from the android market. It has a free 30 day trial. That's what I have been using to backup everything so far. I know I'll be exchanging mine tomorrow, so I'll just restore from the backup when I get the new one.

amarryat · May 3, 2010

jbdan said:
Not an issue here...this is my 2nd HTC android phone and for me the call quality is phenomenal....far beyond my previous BB's.

Was the tech able to reproduce any of these issues you hear? If so I would think they would want to replace it.

Same here. It sounds great to me, and my wife says that this is the best sounding phone (on the other end of the call) that I have had in a long time (2 Blackberrys).

Just read all the other posts - this definitely sounds like a hardware issue to me that affected quite a few Incredibles. I went thru similar baloney with the Blackberry Storm and complained over on Crackberry for a long time. But for that phone, it was the people on the other end that couldn't understand me. I eventually got one that didn't sound muffled. I think that when it is blatently obvious to a bunch of people that the phone sounds muffled, that there is a hardware problem with their phone. I say take it back, do the exchange, and before you leave the store, make sure the new one sounds right. It should sound every bit as good as the best phone you have had - I am very happy with the one I got.

owlmatt · May 3, 2010

ShiftLft said:
I will be receiving a replacement phone within a few days and will post whether or not the new phone has problems. My guess is that the issues are isolated to the hardware in individual phones.

Same here. Will have mine on Friday. I will let you know the results.

TheLurg1687 · May 3, 2010

Ugh you guys are getting me paranoid. I don't THINK my phone sounds bad. I always say what n such though.. Maybe I'm just crazy hah. Is it really obvious? I really haven't called much. From what I recall, it sounds better than my DARE. I dunno.
My only problems are that the battery doesn't last long, and the phone gets HOT

kyle1745 · May 3, 2010

Any chance you have a case causing interference? (covering mic or etc)

My call quality is amazing, actually the best I have ever had on a cell phone. My tour was average at best and this is clear as can be.

TheLurg1687 · May 3, 2010

kyle1745 said:
Any chance you have a case causing interference? (covering mic or etc)

My call quality is amazing, actually the best I have ever had on a cell phone. My tour was average at best and this is clear as can be.

Yea, so far I think mine is like that, unless I am in a bad signal place. Actually, the dead spots in my house aren't there..the call is not dropped due to signal..I was shocked. When the signal is weak..that's when it doesn't sound so hot. But what phone does?

anthonykash · May 3, 2010

Went down to VZW today to swap my Incredible b/c of shitty call quality. Same bullshit, crappy reception on my end. I don't know what to do. I love the phone, but it's a phone i need to be able to talk to people. I switch from ATT, had a iPhone 3gs. Any suggestions, the new phone didn't work.

tranceFusion · May 3, 2010

My signal has been sitting at -82 dB (although the bars are all over the place) and it always sounds very muffled. The thing is that it is now late and I wanted to screw around with it, so I thought I would call Movie Fone rather than a human.. that dude came through with startling clarity.

jeffreycentex · May 3, 2010

Have any of you tried changing your vocoder setting?

I'd do it, but I have the best call quality I have had on this device... Maybe it is hardware... When I had the droid, it was great when it started, but after a few months I could barely hear anyone...

TheLurg1687 · May 3, 2010

O also, if the sound is up too high it can make the voice sound muffled and cracky. I realized this with my last phone.

tranceFusion · May 3, 2010

anthonykash said:
Went down to VZW today to swap my Incredible b/c of shitty call quality. Same bullshit, crappy reception on my end. I don't know what to do. I love the phone, but it's a phone i need to be able to talk to people. I switch from ATT, had a iPhone 3gs. Any suggestions, the new phone didn't work.

Maybe if it was a bad batch, you need to get one from a different source.. maybe you should try to get a replacement shipped out to you from a different location?

Although I ordered mine online, and it sounds like crap. I was hoping you guys would have some good reports back. I have come to grips with all the other issues with this phone because I am enjoying so much about it, but this is really a little ridiculous.. Too bad we can't just our voice plan and use a dumb phone for talking..

I think the thing that pisses me off the most is that I went down to interview a couple times at a place that did cell phone testing - the companies sent in their prototypes and the phone got put through a rigorous test process, with a detailed report sent back to the client regarding voice and data quality in a variety of conditions.. Basically, both Verizon and HTC know exactly the kind of crap they are putting out.

tranceFusion · May 3, 2010

jeffreycentex said:
Have any of you tried changing your vocoder setting?

How do you do this?

anthonykash · May 4, 2010

Just to let you guys know. I got my first one online... I got the second one from the local VZW store. I also was able to fix the battery by draining it down until the phone shut off then charging it back up all the way.. I had to do that b/c my battery was draining rapidly.

jeffreycentex · May 4, 2010

It's in the programming menu. Be very careful with things that are changed there as you can corrupt the programming of your phone and (possibly) brick it...

Apparently the DI has a choice between EVRC and EVRC-B

Vocoder Discussion - Android Central Forums

Procedure:

Go to Phone and dial ##PROGRAM and press Call.
The password is six 0's (000000)
Go to NAM CDMA Settings
Change "Preferred Voice service option for Home Page", "Preferred Voice Service option for Home Origination", and "Preferred Voice Service Option for Roam Origination".
Then press Menu and hit the "Commit Modifications" option.

REMEMBER: CHANGING RANDOM SETTINGS IN THE PROGRAMMING MAY CAUSE YOUR PHONE TO STOP FUNCTIONING. Also, EVRC-B is not available in all locations, so you may need to switch back if your tower doesn't support it...

From the earlier thread I linked to:

Enhanced Variable Rate CODEC (EVRC) is a speech codec used in CDMA networks. It was developed in 1995 to replace the QCELP vocoder which used more bandwidth on the carrier's network, thus EVRC's primary goal was to offer the mobile carriers more capacity on their networks while not increasing the amount of bandwidth or wireless spectrum needed.[1]. EVRC uses RCELP technology, which Qualcomm claims improves speech quality with lower bit rates

Enhanced Variable Rate Codec B (EVRC-B) is a speech codec used by CDMA networks. EVRC-B is an enhancement to EVRC and compresses each 20 milliseconds of 8000 Hz, 16-bit sampled speech input into output frames of one of the four different sizes: Rate 1 - 171 bits, Rate 1/2 - 80 bits, Rate 1/4 - 40 bits, Rate 1/8 - 16 bits.

anthonykash · May 4, 2010

Jeffery how do i change that setting on the incredible

Deleted User · May 4, 2010

TheLurg1687 said:
Ugh you guys are getting me paranoid. I don't THINK my phone sounds bad. I always say what n such though.. Maybe I'm just crazy hah. Is it really obvious? I really haven't called much. From what I recall, it sounds better than my DARE. I dunno.
My only problems are that the battery doesn't last long, and the phone gets HOT

No reason to be paranoid, if you didn't immediately notice bad quality you are fine. Spending 2 minutes on a call on my phone it's more than noticeable.

Help Call quality very sub-par (not signal strength)

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