I have the Thunderbolt and I've not had any of the issues others have. I have another post about recent, minor issues since the Gingerbread update, but those are minor.
One of the issues I had since the Gingerbread update I believe I've found the root cause, at least in my case, and would like some others to look into this as well if possible.
- I received the GB update on October 28th.
- I received a new case, a Trident Electra, the begining of October (BDay gift).
- The Electra case removes the back cover, uses an extended battery and does not use a back cover. The case is the back cover.
- The Electra case has the antena contacts built into it.
- November 8th I swapped out my Electra case and put the stock 1400mAh batter and orginal phone back cover on (to use my Trident Kraken case) for a change of pace and to see if the GB update improved the battery life (I know my battery life expectancy best with the standard battery in it).
- On November 8th I realized that I was not getting 4G connections while in the building I work in. Not terribly unusualy but the last month it seems I was getting a good strong 4G at my desk.
- I got 4G when I walked outside to go home but it dropped down to 1x when I got in my car.
- All day on the 9th and 10th my phone was showing 1x while at work, in the car or in my home which wasn't normal. I'd normally be 3G and occasionally 4G.
- Today I took the stock battery cover off and put my HTC extended battery in with the Trident Electra case (no back cover on the phone, just the Trident case) and i'm back to a very strong 4G connection.
My theory is that the antena on the stock battery cover is not sufficient. The antena in the Trident case is superior and once the phone is connected to an antena that is good enough it is able to maintain a solid 4G connection (in a 4G area) (I live and work close to I90 in Bellevue).
Does anyone know any tricks to improve the antena on the stock battery cover that could be tried? Tinfoil, extra copper sheeting, something that will not harm the phone but will increase the antena with the stock battery cover?
I believe a better antena in the battery cover would improve the reception and connection (3G/4G) of the Thunderbolt and possibly resolve some of the issues people are having with there phones.
Please, if your not willing to destroy your phone or don't know what your doing, please do not put mettle in your phone. I'm sure there are some people on this board that are knowledgable in electronics that could test this theory out and report the findings as well as suggest safe methods to do this (if it truely works).
