Day 11 of 14, New too Verizon and the new Thunderbolt, do we keep it or send it back?

I have had a number of surprises so far after coming to Verizon with the new Thunderbolt.. We ordered 2 bolts. The battery issue was disappointing, but a bigger battery will fix it, and/or a daily charge seems to take care of it.

I live in the country on fridge of the city, my wife came from provider Sprint, and I came from AT&T. We never had problems with our prior carriers, but must be out of range for the Verizon tower due to the bad signal and sound quality when making calls from the house. Verizon suggested a network extender, so we had them send us one. It did fix the signal and the noise problems at home. Plus can take with us on the road,, guess this problem is fixed too.

My wife's Bolt had static and noise in any area, 3G or 4G. Mine has been great. I called Verizon they said to take it to a Verizon store for an exchange. I bought the phone online with Verizon, but the brick and mortar stores said they could not do it, I complained and did get them to change out the wife's Bolt. The replacement serial and mac address was several thousand letters and numbers higher, so expect her phone was built early, but the new replacement is quiet, no noise problem solved.

The 4G is very fast, speetest.net I was surprised how fast it is. I love the phone, but I worry with all the issues people keep finding, and I really have not seen any official Verizon communications on what is actual and what might be in progress to fix for good. Forums are great, but does Verizon read these posts?

I am on day 11 of 14. First timer to Verizon, Thunderbolts aside, do you like them as a wireless carrier? Thunderbolt's, we like them very much, but I now wonder if maybe insurance is a good idea, seems like we may have many issues in the future too. I was on the build team for the HP Glisten, we had many issues on our first phones too, but eventually got it fixed too, in fact the prototype I still had when I left AT&T to come to Verizon. I think we are going to give the phones a couple more days of heavy workout, and then decide.

Accepted answers

jeffpc

So far so good, a few hiccups but Verizon has supported me so far on each issue. Some responders from the support line where not as good as others, but I did find several who were more than helpful. The forums here are helpful too, aggravation does make some of the posts bias against the phone, but there are some good posts out there and the solution found posts will help us all.

Everyone who owns a Thunderbolt just needs a little patience, it is a new and powerful device. I'm sure HTC and Verizon are working out the confirmed bugs, and will roll out confirmed updates when they have gathered more data. When I was prototyping the obsidian, which we marketed as the glisten, we had many issues too, but in the end worked most of them out.

The thunderbolt should also follow same result as long as Verizon and HTC keep it in the front line, so far they are still marketing it, even with having the Iphone now in their portfolio. I viewed a wirefly.com smackdown between the Thunderbolt and the new Iphone, and to me, I do like the Thunderbolt best. On to day 12, so far so good. :smileyhappy:

All comments

AZSALUKI

don't have my tbolt yet, but i have been pleased with verizon for 10 years and it sounds like they've helped you fix any issues with your new devices. i know there have been many complaints and issues on this forum, but from what i've seen, almost everyone that was willing to do a little homework and learn a bit about the phone's settings, has resolved their issues.

unhappy54

I have just come back from returning my second Thunderbolt. Twice I spent hours trying to get the phone to activate, first 14 hours, then 24 hours. I was told by the Help desk that 8% of Thunderbolt upgrades reported activation problems. There is reportedly a master ticket on the activation problem that has been outlying since the phone was issued. There are also data problems and battery problems on the phone. The last time that tried the upgrade the network locked my old phone and phone number on the system so that they could not even reactivate my old phone. I have been with Verizon for more than ten years. It is time for me to re-examine that loyalty and if I do not get satisfaction I will make these problems known to everyone with a listening ear. Verizon, are you listening?

sandyinmiami

I've been with Verizon, non-stop, same number, since 1997 - when it was still Primeco out here in Miami. It may not sound like a big deal, but I can't count the number of hurricanes we've been through and I have NEVER lost service. Family, friends and neighbors that didn't have Verizon were begging to use my phone - I had service when no one else did. It does cost more than some other services, but no one else's can compare, imho.

I just got the Thunderbolt a week ago, it's my first smartphone. The learning curve is daunting. I'm on page 80 of the 339 pg online manual and am no closer to tapping the abilities of this phone than I was on the first day. So I can't offer much of an opinion on the phone itself, but Verizon is tops in my book as far as cell phone service, reception and consistency is concerned.

My only complaint is I waited the 2 years for my "new every 2" deal and only got a crappy $30 credit towards the TB. I would've gotten a smartphone **and the $30/mo data plan** months ago had I known I was only going to save $30. Not the smartest strategy Verizon has ever had....

AZSALUKI

yeah...they changed the NE2 program a while back. i only get $50 off (instead of $100). this is also the last time you got to use it. they did away with it, but are giving people who were eligible one last discount. from now on it will simply be the promotional price with a new 2 year contract (or one year for a bit more on devices that are eligible for one year contracts).

jeffpc