My Motorola W755 phone's screen is flashing constantly!

I was about to send a text this morning, when suddenly my phone's screen started flashing / blinking on and off. The phone wouldn't respond to any button pressing, so I removed the battery and put it back in. That didn't help. Now it won't turn on - or when it does, the screen immediately starts blinking again. Anybody have an idea of what's going on? Is the device kaput?

Thanks!!

Accepted answers

Cricket822

I've had the phone since December 2009, but honestly I use it maybe 1/4 as much as a normal user... probably one reason why it's lasted a good 6 years! I also got it for free with renewal of a 2-year contract, so I do hope that when I need to replace it, I can find a deal just as good

The device did not respond differently when I plugged it in with its charger - still refused to respond. However, the day after it literally went on the blink, I was trying to turn it on again and the screen actually stayed lit long enough to tell me it had low battery. (It had had full power the morning it went crazy, so I know it wasn't a low battery issue to begin with.) After receiving a full charge, though, it started working again! So - I'm back in action, at least for a little while.

It sounds like there's no known, precise problem that would cause the screen to blink? Since the device is getting old, I'll plan to replace it if this happens again. Thanks to YaleK and Ssn5 for your input!

Jenny

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Verizon_Support

We want to see you back in action! How long have you had the device?? Does the device respond differently when connected to charger?
YaleK_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

Snn5

7-8 years (if you got it near release date) of flipping open and closed might have taken its toll on the display board. Good thing is that those phones are cheap to replace now.

Cricket822

Jenny

Snn5

Keep in mind though, your phone was not free. You paid a higher access charge for 2 years to offset the upfront cost. Now you either pay in full, pay in monthly installments for 24 months which is the total price divided but you do get a lower access rate, or you take the 2 year contract, if available and pay less up front but more each month.

Just saw this W755 for sale on eBay for $25 flat.

Cricket822

Hi Snn5,

This actually opens up a question I've had for years - maybe you can answer it! I don't quite understand what you mean by the fact that I paid a higher access charge for 2 years. We've got 5 basic phones on our grandfathered-in Nationwide Talk 700 Share Plan (we're a family of non-talkers, I guess!), paid $0 for each device by signing up for a 2-year contract at each purchase, and have paid the exact same rate for their access ($9.99 per line plus the $50 plan fee) since the beginning, even though all of them are now past their initial contracts and we're maintaining them all month-to-month. The line and plan charges didn't change after any of the contracts ran out. Would the plan access rates have been reduced if we'd paid for the devices up front? That wasn't indicated to me at the time of purchase.

Last year I was reading about Verizon Edge (now Verizon Device Payment), but haven't been able to tell whether it would save us money or actually cost us more to switch. So far as I can tell, the line access fee per basic phone in the Verizon Plan is a flat $20, with no additional plan fee on top of that - so with five phones, we're currently paying about $100 ($50 + 5x$9.99), and by switching to the Verizon Plan we'd still pay $100 (5x$20). We currently pay per message for texting, which between the 5 of us usually runs $10-15 or so per month. I see that the Verizon Plan allows unlimited texting, but seems also to require a data plan for a minimum of $30 - and we don't currently use data, so in that way switching would increase our base rate to $130 (for the lowest amount of data, 1 GB). The Verizon Device Payment costs would then be on top of the Verizon Plan access costs, right? So for us it'd $130 for access, plus whatever we'd pay for each device?

Like you say, it's easy enough to avoid the device fee (and upgrade fee!) by purchasing a device off eBay or something, and I'm guessing that's exactly what we will all be doing in the future!

Thanks for your help :smileyhappy:

Jenny

Cricket822

Snn5, Thank you so much for explaining all that and linking me to this information. It's great to understand the device fee previously hidden within the line fee. Things are making a LOT more sense now!

Thanks too for pointing out the data-free 700 minutes option in the new Verizon Plan. You went to a lot of work to help me out here - thank you!! I checked it out on my own login and saw that it is all as you say. It looks like we could switch to the Verizon Plan, pay total access fees of $105 for all 5 lines together, and that actually includes unlimited texting? Wow, for just a $5 difference, it might finally be time to switch plans!

Just to confirm, the phone payments of $2.08 each would be for each of us that bought a new flip phone (specifically the LG Revere 3, in this example), and those payments would exist for as long as we were with Verizon? I understand that the payments would be higher if we ever graduated to smart phones. Or, we could bring our own devices and skip the phone payments altogether. Am I getting all of that right?

Really appreciate all your help - this is the clearest the plan details have been to me in 10 years!

Snn5

Glad I could help out. That was the nicest response of thanks I have received in a while!!! :smileyhappy: The phone payments are only for device payment plans and only for 24 months, sooner if you pay it off in a lump sum. After that, no more phone payments, only the line access and the service plan.