Ongoing issues w/ calls & texts not working; phone randomly shuts off or restarts
koneko
Enthusiast - Level 1

I've been a long time customer of VZW and am fairly familiar with (read: "used to") the quirks of the services.  Unfortunately, the negatives are seriously outweighing the positives with the service quality and I'm at my wit's end. I'd appreciate some assistance in trying to remedy these issues.

I'm posting here as I'm sick and tired of dealing with the standard routes for customer service, e.g., going into a store, calling into a rep, and getting no where with my HTC Droid Incredible.  I have worked with reps either in person or on the phone many times in the past, and have simply tried to bite the bullet and "deal" with the issues.  Unfortunately, it's gotten so bad that I simply do not have a reliably working phone now.

Symptoms & Details

  • Phone shuts off at random (without notice, no error messages; no consistent circumstances, apps in use, or otherwise to blame)
  • Incoming or outgoing texts are not received by either party (myself or other person). 
    a) This issue occurs randomly (I have not been able to reproduce it at any give set time of day or week).
    b) Rebooting/restarting the phone does *not* fix any message-related issues that I have seen (it doesn't suddenly "push" messages through, for example).
    c) I sometimes receive a message from one person, but not from another (no iPhone concerns, all android or basic phone users in this example). 
    d) Messages sometimes take >24 hours to process and be received (i.e., message sent yesterday afternoon doesn't show up until later tonight).
  • Voice calls typically do not work:
    a) someone has called me and it does not ring on my end (only sometimes are they forwarded to voicemail),
    b) someone has called me and they receive a message saying the line is not in service or disconnected (my plan has always been active and in effect),
    c) I try to call out and it either rings w/out answer or I get cut off with an error message from Verizon (lines are busy at this time, cannot complete at this time, etc). 

  • I primarily use WiFi to avoid data usage - I've found the mobile data connection is unreliable, spotty, and slow regardless of where I am, even next to a tower with max signal bars.
  • Calling into *228 to update the phone does not work (I get an error message that it cannot complete at this time); it's not just for me but for everyone I know who has VZW (we've tried on their phones, basic and smart models). We've tried both #228 and *228 in case we were remembering it incorrectly and typically have the same problem.  //Edit// Of course, now that I decided to try again, I was able to update my roaming today. Hah!  And I'm suddenly getting a couple text messages that weren't coming through before.  I swear my connection to the towers is faulty! I also thought I should note that I'm out of the Las Vegas, NV area.  Last time I tested the activation/update line was a week or two ago.
  • I've completed all standard troubleshooting tasks with reps and on my own, including reformatting the entire thing down to factory presets and even removing or replacing the micro-SD card and battery.
  • I've run for extended periods of time with only the factory default apps and had ALL the same problems. (No third-party messaging apps, etc., to consider.)
  • This phone is already a replacement for a previously defective one!  The "newer" one I'm on now ran worse than previous ones out-of-the-box upon receipt!

At this point, I'm honestly not sure what to do.  Others I know who have had some of these issues have tried multiple options, including different apps and custom ROMs.  The issues typically don't go away, or only some of them do.   Trying to fight with customer support is a nightmare and I get fed lies or crap about how it's some application I'm running on the phone (even when I've just done a full factory reset and have nothing installed and no personal data present).

Aside from replacing this phone with a newer, different model and hope that fixes these problems, what options do I have?

Thanks for your time.

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Re: Ongoing issues w/ calls & texts not working; phone randomly shuts off or restarts
AnthonyTa_VZW
Verizon Employee

Hi koneko,

I hate that you had to go through so much to try and resolve your phone issues!  I would like to restore your confidence in our service, and would like to offer you my assistance.

Looks like you have done all the necessary troubleshooting; can you please tell me the current software version you are running on your Incredible?  Let me know so I can see what we need to do next.

Thanks, again, for your patience and for being a part of Verizon Wireless,

AnthonyTa_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: Ongoing issues w/ calls & texts not working; phone randomly shuts off or restarts
jam34jam
Newbie

I am having the same issues as koneko.

PLEASE HELP!  It is extremely frustrating!!  It turns off and continues to re-start, the only way for me to stop it is to take the battery out.  After taking the battery out, I try to turn the phone back on it doesn't respond for about 2-4minutes.

I've confirmed I have the latest update.  Here is my phone info:

  • Android version 2.3.4
  • Baseband version  2.15.10.07.07
  • Kernel version  2.6.35.13-g03546aa htc-kernel@and18-2 #1 Friday Oct 7 10:52:52 CST 2011
  • Build number  4.08.605.2 CL 185897 release-keys
  • Software number 4.08.605.2
  • Browser version WebKit/533.1
  • PRI version 1.28_002
  • PRL version 52642
  • ERI version 5
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Re: Ongoing issues w/ calls & texts not working; phone randomly shuts off or restarts
AnthonyTa_VZW
Verizon Employee

Hello jam34jam,

Let's try a couple of troubleshooting steps so we can get your device working properly again.

First, I suggest you test the device in "Safe Mode" to see if the problems are really application related.  Safe Mode allows the phone to start without running any non-essential applications and determine if one of the applications is the cause of the device issue(s).  Please test for a couple of days and let me know the result of your testing.

Thanks,

AnthonyTa_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: Ongoing issues w/ calls & texts not working; phone randomly shuts off or restarts
jam34jam
Newbie

I am on safe mode now. The safe mode instructions say to remove the most

recently installed applications. How do I do that? I did a factory reset

on Monday I haven't installed anything.

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 3:36 PM, AnthonyTa_VZW <community@verizonwireless.com

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Re: Ongoing issues w/ calls & texts not working; phone randomly shuts off or restarts
AnthonyTa_VZW
Verizon Employee

Oh great!

Uninstall applications by following the steps provided here.

Please let me know the results of your testing.

Thanks again,

AnthonyTa_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: Ongoing issues w/ calls & texts not working; phone randomly shuts off or restarts
dufus1997
Newbie

Anybody experience jamming at Progressive Field in Cleveland.  Phone showed substantial signal, but would not connect with any number.

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