Galaxy Nexus and VZW's 4G LTE Problem

[vzw_customer_support]

Lisa, sounds like you've gone through a lot trying to resolve this!  I would love to assist!  Where exactly are you experiencing service issues (at home/work, indoors/outdoors or both, zip code)?  Let me know so I can further assist.  Thanks!

AnthonyTa_VZW
VZW Support
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[Crostian]

I too am experiencing this issue... I love my GNEX but this signal issue is a deal breaker if you ask me. Frankly, I've never had good signal quality both in data and voice... My first GNEX had a baseband version of IF515.09. I was experiencing these issues so I went into Verzion and they replaced the sim card with a new one thinking it was a defective batch of sims. That did absolutely nothing... My Replacement GNEX has a baseband version of IF515.10 and needless to say I am still experiencing this issue... Not sure why people are stating that the later baseband version causes this problem when I was experiencing it on the earlier version as well.. Friends and Family have different Verzion devices and they get great service! I've done troughput testing utilizing Speed Test on my GNEX and other Verizon 4g phones and the GNEX is lackluster at best... I'll get in the vicinity of 5 to 9 mb down while other devices get in excess of 13 to 20 mb down (keep in mind, devices are side by side when conducting this test). I also get terrible signal strength when compared to other Verizon phones as well. Also, the 4g connection always drops when I am using it, even with the older phone... I've talked to Verizon Tech support and they give you the general scripted answers and resolutions... They tell me to check software version, baseband version, power down the device and pop the battery and sim card out; all of which do nothing to improve signal. They also tell me that they are going to create a trouble ticket so a technician will come out to my residence and conduct a signal survey. Trying to inform them that I already know the signal will be good does nothing. They can't seem to understand the logic that if other Verzion phones get great service at my residence then the survey will dictate the same. (Again, scripted answers). They did offer to give me a replacement device which was the Droid Razr, HTC Rezound, or a LG Lucid (Quite frankly, it felt like Verzion spitting in my face at this point...). It essentially felt like them telling me to take a hike when they refered me to Samsung after I told them I am not interested in their offered replacement devices... I didn't buy the GNEX to have crappy signal or wait forever for software updates. I bought it because it's suppose to be a pure google managed OS and it has bleeding edge components. I didn't spend hard-earned money on a device to operate below nominal standards and to be offered a low end device if it doesn't work properly.

[emgillis]

I have had the same issue. Originally, my Galaxy Nexus had GREAT 4G connectivity (Jan/Feb 2012). By March 2012, my phone started to not stay connected to 4G. It would attempt to connect, give signal as if it IS connected, then have zero connection: no data, and no cell (the cell bars would have an "x" on it). About 30 seconds later, it would loop that scenario (connection, then nothing), and continue to repeat every 30 seconds.

I took my phone into my local Verizon store, and I mentioned what was happening. The first thing to do was order a replacement phone to see if that works. I received a REFURBISHED phone, and it still didn't work. If a refurbished phone is supposed to be double checked for functionality, how come it still didn't work for a major function like 4G connectivity.

I went back to my local store (with my refurbished, non-working phone) and the person there suggested I change my SIM card. So I did, but the same thing would happen. The rep then called a customer service and the rep on the phone said they knew of the issue (so it is a known issue, but not being publicly announced??). The rep on the phone told the rep in the store I needed an software update for the phone, but they could not push it to me. I would have to wait for a software update.

Two months have passed since that initial visit. I have yet to get ANY software update (even though I've learned that several updates have actually been released), I have gone back to my local service center again, and the same answer of waiting for software update is still what I'm told.

So..... @Verizon Wireless Customer Support ... would there be information you may be able to tell us? Obviously, if it's not a known issue, then it must be a known issue now: There are many people posting in this thread about it for one, and, as I mentioned, the phone rep who spoke with my local store rep said they knew of the issue.

I'd also like to know what my options are. If I've paid for this phone and plan to be able to use 4G but I'm unable to. My preference is to have a fully functioning Samsung Galaxy Nexus so I can utilize 4G. If that's not possible, then send me a comparable Samsung phone that works on 4G and has at least Ice Cream Sandwich on it. Otherwise, my last option would be to allow my to break my contract without penalty so I can go to a provider who will give 4G access on a Samsung Ice Cream Sandwich (or later) phone.

[Crostian]

>Post deleted to comply with VZW ToS. Cross posting is not permitted<

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Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[dstigue]

Yeah same issue had it since day 1. I didn't realize for the longest time that it was related to LTE so would miss calls texts and everything. Because once it lost signal it wouldn't regain it. I would have to reboot phone for it to regain signal. Also when it lost signal it would drain battery at high rate and get super hot. Sometimes I would know it's happening because I would feel a burning in my pocket.  I am at the point where I am just fed up and want to upgrade. Explained my problem to rep and they offered $150 credit to account if I get a new phone through verizon. Problem is most smartphones are upwards of 600 these days. So a droid razr max with their discount will still be 500 dollars. Not worth it in my opinion. So I switched from Sprint to Verizon to get a 4g phone with a pure google experience and I now have to run in cdma all the time. Not only that I switched from unlimited everything to limited that cost more. So it's another stab in the ribs. I know what the solution is. Wait until my contract is up which is November and get the **** out of dodge.

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Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[jack166]

I had exact same issues with my NEXUS S.... -.-;;

[steampunk_cowboy]

Here it is one year later (June, 2013) and our Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE phones still are dropping 4G connections, even with all of the OTA Jelly Bean updates. I honestly like this phone in spite of the quirks and look forward to the much-talked-about release of 4.3 (or some version of it) in July, August, ...?

This 4G 'bug' seems to me to be more than a SIM card issue that Google and Samsung haven't got a real grip on the problem and solution/s. As of this posting, I've struggled with fluctuating 3G connections now for a week or so, and it's very frustrating to say the least.

I'm expecting a replacement SIM card next week from VZW Technical Support. Meanwhile, I've tested my GNex SIM in my Samsung Stratosphere (kept it as a backup phone) and got the same no 4G.

If the 4.3 update is simply cosmetic as some say, there's still a long shot that Google will include the GNex in the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie release.

[MichiganJack]

I think it might have to do with the Jelly Bean updates. When the GNex was still on ICS I never had a problem. Now with every update the frequency of complete connection failure has increased ten-fold. I might do the same as you and request a new SIM card, because this has become a huge problem.

Have you had any problems with the YouTube app? It seems every time open that app my connection will either go from full 4G bars to full 3G bars, and then to no connection at all. Just a wanted to see if anyone else was having the same issues with that app.

[ajaxbomb]

The whole problem to me is Verizon getting in the way and curing Googles updates before their sent out to the devices. I bought the Nexus expecting to get the updates straight from Google but got slapped upside the head when everyone was getting the updates before me.

I been going through this mess for months and I believe I know exactly what is wrong here, but nothing can be done till Verizon sends out a patch for what they broke in the first place. This all began in the beginning of March when the latest 4.2.2 update came out (late of course, but fast in terms of Verizon). I was actually suprised to get it so fast and was suped up about the rollout. But that's when my nightmare began. I noticed my signal had pretty much completely dissapeared, both cdma and LTE. I called Verizon and we did some troubleshooting. It was still the same so I called again about a week later and did some more troubleshootong. Still the same. So the Insurance company because the handset I had was a replacement I got from them for a broken screen. Got that phone. It came with 4.1.1 The signal was fine till about 5 minutes later when I did the OTA update to 4.2.2. Bam, signal gone. 1 or no bars at home where I usually got 3 or 4, plus the 4g would drop out and switch over to cdma, which was also 1 or no bars. So I call verizon again And we trouble-shoot again, blah blah blah. Still virtually no signal.

So I went down to the Verizon store and they confirmed something was wrong because their handset had a higher dbm strength than mine when put side by side. He changed the sim card after saying it most likely wouldn't work, which it didn't.  So I come back and we do some things again and I end up getting reffered to Assurion again. Ok. So assurion sends me a brand new as in brand spankin new device, not a refurb. I boot it up and what do ya know everything is peachy cream. Untul I hit the update of course, which you pretty much can't help but doing because it pops up and stops everything your doing like an iPhone message does. So I call again and it seems we keep ending up going in the same pattern and I pretty much know at this point what the problem is so I hold off getting yet another replacement from the insurance company and decide to take things into my own hands.

So after a few weeks of having this problem yet again it just becomes too un barable. I wanna use my phone and not have to wait till I get wifi so I end up unlocking and rooting the phone so I can bring it back to stock 4.1.1. Guess what happened? That's right, my bars reappeared and I had some decent internet and can now use my phone again. Until I accidently hit the update by accident cause it just wouldn't stop popping up literally every 30 seconds. So I ended up with 4.2.2 again and no signal of course. So I re-root it again and restore 4.1.1 again. This is a very tedius process mind you with the backing up, rooting, restoring, redownloading all my programs and settings and losing some stuff in the process. But the update thing keeps popping up on me and completely interrupting what I'm doing so it gets to be a pain and once in a while I would hit it by accident and would have to do this process all over again. Just yesterday I tried, as a last resort, to flash the 4.1.1 radio baseband on top of 4.2.2 but the result was still the same. 1 or no bars. I tried flashing all the radio basebands as a matter of fact. So I called customer service and explained that I'm still having issues.  She ended up saying something about contacting Samsung but I told her Samsung doesn't have anything to do with the software on this phone, they just make the hardware. Then she said Assurion again so I told her they can give me all the phones they want it won't make a difference. I just wanted her to put my complaint on file so hopefully enough people will say something and something will get done.

So I'ts obviously something wrong with this update that Verizon sent out. Can we get a patch or something? All I want to do is use the internet and not get gargly and dropped calls on my phone. Having those killer features of 4.2.2 would be nice but I would rather have a phone that's not just a WiFi only device. It's just that I keep hitting that update by accident once in a while. I wan't that latest Nexus experience like everyone else has. Is that too much to ask for?

[MichiganJack]

I just talked to Verizon about a week ago, pretty much explaining to them the same thing you've mentioned. To be quite honest the problems all started with the first update to Jelly Bean. When got my phone with 4.0 Ice Cream  no connection problems, no lag problems, no sticky menu screens. But with each subsequent Verizon Approved Google updates, our "top tier phone" has become nothing more then a brick that sucks up power like no other.

The features of this phone are great, but the way the product has been mishandled by "The Big Red" is a real shame.

My contract with Verizon is up in December, and I might just move to https://ting.com/ - they don't have the coverage as Verizon but I like the flexibility of their plans. Because right now (even with the grandfathered in unlimited data plan) I'm over paying. The minimum phone plan, no text messaging, and unlimited data my bill is over $80 a month. I don't touch the phone minutes, I would like to use my data plan but the phone now has such a poor reception I can't even do that. All in all not a happy customer.  Heck! I feel really bad for anyone that is over paying for Verizon's current data subscription model.