East of Pittsburgh - Verizon says 4G, my Bionic says otherwise

[Leeds]

So who is right?

I just got the Droid Bionic in part because it's 4G.  I checked months ago and again this week and according to this website, I have 4G coverage out here (12 miles E of the burg).  I even put in my address and it all says 4G is literally here in my building. 

But there is no 4G connection available.  I even drove 1/2 way to Pittsburgh during lunch today and I didn't get any 4G the whole way there or back. 

Before anyone gets jumpy, I have checked the settings and it is set for CDMA/LTE, so that shouldn't be the problem.

Is Verizon lying about their 4G coverage, or did I get a dud of a Bionic? 

Anyone else have a similar sob story?

[CometMan]

I was testing a loaner LG Revolution 4G phone for my company for two weeks, and had great 4G reception in the Portland, OR area (as high as 15Mb down and 9Mb up).  Based on this successful test I bought the Bionic, which arrived today (9/9/11).  I  saw a 4G indicator shortly after going through the configuration, but I wasn't been able to get 4G again without shutting down and starting back up.  I've been in areas I was getting full bars for 4G signal strength with the LG Revolution, with the Bionic it won't leave 3G once it has dropped 4G, unless I power it down for a while, then turn it back on. Verizon/Motorola has a problem here!

[solomonshv]

It's not the network. It's the phone. 

I have been sruggling with my Bionic for almost 15 hours now. This phone is the biggest POS in existance! The reception is horrible. In areas where my Thunderbolt would get 3-4 bars of 3G AND 4G, the Bionic gest 1 bar or nothing at all. I can't place calls inside my own **bleep** house. In the 9 years that I've been with Verizon, this was never an issue. 

There are also 2 VZ iphones and 1 thunderbolt (aside from my own). The don't have ANY reception problems. The funny thing is that after my Droid X, I promised myself to never buy another Motorola product again. MotoBlur is by far the biggest, most annoying piece of bloatware to ever hit Android. But here I am, dumb enough to buy Motorola again. I guess I will just have to eat that $35 restocking fee. 

Thank You Verizon, for selling me a worthless block of sh!t for $300.

[Tidbits]

FYI - future reference...

3G/4G and such is for DATA

The bars is for VOICE.

So if you see 3-4 bars, and 3G it means you are have strong voice signal, but you 3G/4G signal could be weak.

[solomonshv]

Ok Mr. Smarty Pants. My Bionic can't load any webpages or send out calls when I see 1 or 0 bars, which is pretty much all the time. An HTC thuderbolt, standing 3 inches away, gets 3 bars and does everything. 

I know what the bars are for very well. 

[Elitist_Jerk]

so if you turn your mobile network off do your bars go away????

[Tidbits]

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solomonshv wrote:

Ok Mr. Smarty Pants. My Bionic can't load any webpages or send out calls when I see 1 or 0 bars, which is pretty much all the time. An HTC thuderbolt, standing 3 inches away, gets 3 bars and does everything. 

I know what the bars are for very well. 

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It was for future reference the signal bar is for voice, and the 3/4G icon lets you know if you are connected to data or not.

You assume I am claiming something or whatever, but I am not.  If you paid attention to what I said one could easily deduce...

You are connected to 3/4G and you have low voice signal.  It's one of two things...

Needs a PRL update(power off your device and take out the battery for 30 seconds).  DO NOT dial *228 to update your PRL that will not work and could damage your sim card.  You could call 611 and have them manually do it and you will have to power cycle.

If that doesn't work and your device has a new PRL then the device may be defective.  Nothing is perfect in mass production and there is always going to be a 5% fail rate, and those 5% scream and yell like that are the 95% in a user support forum...

[AnthonyTa_VZW]

Thanks for posting CometMan!

I understand your frustration with the 4G signal on your DROID Bionic, and would be happy to assist you!

This has been lifted up to our Product Support Team, and they are working diligently to resolve this as soon as possible.  In the meantime, they have suggested rebooting the device by powering it off for a few seconds and back on.  This will allow the device to regain the 4G signal when in a 4G coverage area.

I hope I have addressed your concern!

[dani90]

My Bionic did that too. It also lost cell service. In order for it to turn back on i had to turn it off, take out the battery AND the SIM card, then put them back in. And when I turned it back on, both the 4G and the cell signal were back. What could cause that to happen?

[EdW_VZW · Accepted solution]

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Hi there to our community members and thanks for providing your input.

Solomonshv, I apologize for the reception issues you are experiencing within your house, especially when comparing your Bionic with your other devices. Are you still having these reception issues inside your house? Are you seeing any error messages on your Bionic when your trying to place a call? Are you having this issue reception issue outside of your house or in other areas as well? Perhaps power cycling the device can address this issue. It does a soft reset on the device without any data loss and refreshes your connection that was interfered with in trying to make calls in your house. 

Another option available to assist you with the reception issues is obtaining a Network Extender. This device helps pull in our signal where a connection can be interfered with because of reasons like topography and materials inside a house. Here is a link  for information and benefits related with our Network Extender.  However, if you are still having these issues, I'll help you with some additional troubleshooting steps. If desired, please send me a private message with your contact information. I'll contact you back to assist you further. I hope this helps and thanks so much for your time!