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Droid Charge Signal Strength after FP5 Update

tjgeek2012

I updated my Droid Charge this morning to FP5 and I noticed that I have half the signal bars that I used to. When I had FP1 and I was home connected to my Network Extender I had 4-5 bars lit up, now with FP5 I only have 2 bars. Anyone else see less bars after the update?

Comments

sallycell

Yes, I have noticed the same thing. I also notice that I'm on 3G a lot more than I used to be, and in many places where I used to connect to LTE. I also notice that I'm losing voice bars and not finding service in places where I've always has service.I haven't run into the "I can't hear you" phone call problem since the update though. Maybe they have finally fixed that problem.

The Droid Charge is getting to the age where early purchasers, on unlimited data plans, will be approaching early upgrade time in the next few months so I expect that everything will be done to make us as unhappy with the phone as possible so we want a new, different one and sign new 2 year plans to get it at subsidized rates. Call me a cynic, lol.

This phone has been a major disappointment, as has Samsung's and Verizon's apparent indifference to fix it. I can't imagine another type of product that so many people would spend so much money on and settle for such lousy performance as smart/cell phones and wireless data/cell phone service.

-s

tjgeek2012

I actually am connected to 4G in some places that were 3G before, but I am stuck with this phone until sometime next year, plus I really don't want to give up my unlimited data.

Verizon_Support

Thanks so much for visiting the forum. Although you now have 2 bars, are you having problems with calls and/or data connections?

Generally, as long as you have 2 or more bars you should be okay.

Please advise if this isn't the case for you.

Tamara H.

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

boobdole

Not surprising. My guess is that Verizon is trying to gradually make the phone worse so people want to upgrade and can lock people into another contract. But that's just me. I think Verizon are a bunch of snakes.

justinc

I've also seen this problem since I updated my phone last week.

In my office I always got 5 bars with the occasional 4 bar signal. Now I regularly get 2 bars there with a 3 bar signal once in a while. I checked with other people around me who have Verizon and they are still getting 4-5 bars while I'm standing directly next to them with 2.

I've noticed that when I'm outside in areas where 4+ bars were typical that I'll now get 1-2 and 1 is very common.

I even purchased a network extender for my home almost two months ago because the reception in my house was poor (typically 1-2 bars). That worked perfectly until I updated my phone. Now, I can be 5 feet away from the extender and my phone will suddenly drop to 1 bar for a little while. That never happened before the phone update.

I've also noticed that even when my phone says I have full bars on my network extender I have issues talking on the phone. The call doesn't drop, but the person can't hear me any longer and eventually calls back to try again. This is another problem that never happened while on the network extender prior to this phone update.

I have seen at least one issue where I got a voicemail without my phone ever ringing or reporting a missed call. That was a frequent occurrence at my house when I had poor reception before I got the network extender.

I have noticed that my data connection has been worse and that it at least seems that I'm more frequently in 3G where I would have typically been in 4G. I even had an issue the other day where the phone claimed it was in 4G but it would take several attempts to load any web pages. At that time I was standing next to someone with an IPhone and browsing freely on 3G to the same sites.

Now that my phone is often showing 1-2 bars I'm back to a situation where my battery drains more quickly - battery life was a major problem before I got my network extender. It seems that now the situation is flipped so at home the network extender seems to be working enough for that so the battery doesn't get killed, but when I leave the house I have to charge it midday to keep things running into the evening.

What can be done here? Is there any way to back out of this update?

boobdole

Yeah, I don't see any upsides for the new update. I'll stick with FP1, thanks (and I wish I could just use EP4 instead cuz FP1 screwed up my wireless).

There is one solution for you but it's not something you can discuss in these forums as it involves "freedom" for your phone, which they frown on (it might actually improve your phone and then you won't pay their upgrade fee and throw down more money their direction after their ruin your phone with "updates").

Good luck, though.

green8389

I have the same problem. I work right next to a mall and usually have full 3g signal there, but the other day I randomly lost all signal and had to restart my phone just to get any service at all. This isn't the only time either.

Possumjc

Same thing for me and a co-worker. It's so bad now that I turn off 4G most of the time. The 4G performance in general has gone WAY down since I got the phone last year. At first the 4G was blazing fast and worked very reliably at home and work. Now I hardly get any 4G service in either location. My signal in general has sucked since the FP5 update.

Come on Verizon. Improve service. Don't make it worse.

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