Call quality

colfrmb
Newbie

I've had my Motorola Droid for 4 days and I am returning it today.  My biggest issue is that this is a phone and it drops calls constantly in places I have never, ever dropped calls before.  Also often it all sounds clear on my side but person on the other end keeps saying WHAT?, WHAT?  - I cannot have that.  Other issues: the keyboard is really not useable and I avoid it like the plague.  The Unread Email feature doesn't coordinate with your accounts.  My phone tells me I have unread email all the time when I have read them all either on the phone or on my laptop. I won't bother to review the other features because a phone should be a phone first and I have to be able to take calls.  With today's technology, nobody should have to say "WHAT, I CANT HEAR YOU, OH THERE YOU ARE" .  That is bad business.  So I have to return this phone.   I cannot accept  such bad phone reception. The rest is novelty and I might as well get an ITouch and use my 3 YO phone that never let me down.

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colfrmb
Newbie

My question to you out there is, which smart phone has the best phone in it?  I'd like a smart phone but I can't go through this again.

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snorkel
Newbie

You know for the touted coverage, My AT&T phone gets more bars in the same places or so it seems.

I was not on Verizon before so I don't have any thing to compare to.

 

It's possible that there is something wrong with the way the antenna is mounted in the Droid causing poor reception.

You coulld wait a week or so, that way they will have exhuasted the intial run of phones and you might get a better one.

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colfrmb
Newbie

Very good idea to wait to return.  I returned to the Verizon store tonight and they uploaded some kind of patch using *22 which I saw referenced in another thread.  I asked if there was a way to keep track of patches and the clerk said that the phone automatically uploads fixes? I said, why didn't this fix get automatically uploaded and why did I have to come in to get it fixed?  She said because software fixes get uploaded automatically but not this kind of fix (maybe firmware)?  Every time I go to the store I get different stories. When I called customer support, they couldn't help me at all and suggested going to the store.  Time will tell whether this patch fixes things and if it doesn't, I'll wait til next week to get another phone.  Very good idea.  Thanks!

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alxnet
Newbie

 


snorkel wrote:

You know for the touted coverage, My AT&T phone gets more bars in the same places or so it seems.

I was not on Verizon before so I don't have any thing to compare to.

 

It's possible that there is something wrong with the way the antenna is mounted in the Droid causing poor reception.

You coulld wait a week or so, that way they will have exhuasted the intial run of phones and you might get a better one.


 

 

Bars really aren't too indicative of much.  Different makes of phones have different ways of displaying signal quality.

 

My office is a walled off stainless steel environment (inside a restaurant).  I get crazy reception problems with ATT but Verizon cuts through the walls and remains solid in both voice and data.  For all you people with reception or voice quality issues, have you done the following?  1) *28 programming to set your cell tower locations.  2) Disable "voice privacy".  I've read a number of posts over the years about this feature (voice privacy) creating all sorts of havoc with call quality (echoes, static, etc.).

 

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fezzik
Contributor - Level 3

Unless they have changed something the PRL upgrade number is *228 and it is your responsibility to update it yourself.  You will get conflicting information as to whether to do it on a regular basis or whether to wait until you are having issues with reception.  Personally I try to do it about once a month or once every 2 months and I usually do the full programming cause it upgrades the PRL as well as any other software updates like firmware, browser, Get it now, and others.  It may be the smartphones are on a different system but we shall see.  I imagine most of our updates will come to our Gmail accounts or as a text telling us to call this number or click this link.  For instance when Eris gets the update it will either come in a text or a notification to call *228.  They used to do those notifications now you just have to do it your self. 

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BI
Newbie

*228 works. Disabling Voice Privacy works very well for static and cut out issues. 

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colfrmb
Newbie

Did the *228 and still no good and I have clicking too.  After I used *228, my phone went to silent mode somehow and I missed a couple of calls and then I reset the ring to be on.  Very strange. 

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alxnet
Newbie

 


colfrmb wrote:

Did the *228 and still no good and I have clicking too.  After I used *228, my phone went to silent mode somehow and I missed a couple of calls and then I reset the ring to be on.  Very strange. 


 

Did you disable voice privacy?  Disable it and power cycle your phone.

 

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colfrmb
Newbie

I disabled the voice privacy as soon as I got the phone.  I also realize that if I turn the phone off, I can't get it to turn on without plugging it into the USB and charging it either via a computer or the power charger.  That even happened at the store but I didn't put 2 + 2 together at the time.  I keep hoping that the next time I call someone, the call will be stellar but every time this is a chore.  Like others have reported, my people dread calling me now.  I am hoping that it is hardware but I don't have time to try another phone.  So I may revert to my old phone and wait a few months to see what happens with all the new phones.  Sorry Verizon.  Why is it so difficult to get customer service to help me?  Like others have said as well, I am WANTING to spend more money for this phone and the service but I need a phone first and foremost and this piece doesn't cut the mustard.

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scubaguyjohn
Newbie

I too have found the reception quality to be worse than my blackberry...

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colfrmb
Newbie

did you do the *22 procedure?

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alxnet
Newbie

 


colfrmb wrote:

I've had my Motorola Droid for 4 days and I am returning it today.  My biggest issue is that this is a phone and it drops calls constantly in places I have never, ever dropped calls before.  Also often it all sounds clear on my side but person on the other end keeps saying WHAT?, WHAT?  - I cannot have that.  Other issues: the keyboard is really not useable and I avoid it like the plague.  The Unread Email feature doesn't coordinate with your accounts.  My phone tells me I have unread email all the time when I have read them all either on the phone or on my laptop. I won't bother to review the other features because a phone should be a phone first and I have to be able to take calls.  With today's technology, nobody should have to say "WHAT, I CANT HEAR YOU, OH THERE YOU ARE" .  That is bad business.  So I have to return this phone.   I cannot accept  such bad phone reception. The rest is novelty and I might as well get an ITouch and use my 3 YO phone that never let me down.


 

 

Yikes.  It clearly sounds like a defective phone.  I have none of the problems that you're having and call quality is superb.  I've been through a lot of QWERTY phones and this one's okay.  Not as good as blackberry but to me still head and shoulders above using a touch screen.

 

The Email coordination is a bug which they'll have to patch.  I have zero problems coordinating my Gmail account, but my Yahoo account switches back and forth between read and unread.

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cem95z
Contributor - Level 1

I too am having the same problem while making calls. I am talking with someone else, I feel a couple vibrations, and then the other person starts saying, are you there? We have to end the call and start all over. I am going to take it in Tuesday, and am willing to give Verizon ONE more try with this phone before completely returning it. I have called Tech support and they cannot help me. (This is my second defective Droid.)

 

 

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colfrmb
Newbie

I have noticed that vibration during choppy calls too.  I also often notice the phone vibrating when I touch the screen but I guess I'm not touching it hard enough to activate the element.  I wonder why it vibrates and does nothing?

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stephano7
Newbie

I have the same problem regarding sound quality with my Droid.  I can hear callers just fine, but nearly everyone I talk to says I sound like I'm in a tunnel, like I'm using a cheap headset, that my voice sounds tinny or they can barely hear me.

 

I tell them I can hear them fine and just got a new Droid.  Callers insist there's a problem and my voice doesn't sound crisp or clear.

 

This is embarrassing while on business calls because its distracting to the person I'm talking to and makes me look (sound) unprofessional.   This isn't exactly good word-of-mouth publicity for the Droid either.

 

Has anyone else with this poor sound quality problem found a resolution?

 

Thank you very much!

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mezmo
Newbie

I started having this same problem soon after getting my droid. Turned out that the phone talking volume got moved way up during a reset. Even though the control said the volume was as far down as it would go, I had to turn it all the way up, then back down, and that took care of it.

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cherylb
Newbie

I have the same problem. Talking on the phone – feel vibrations – than the other person talking but not able to hear me. Has anyone had any luck fixing this?

 

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ksxox10
Contributor - Level 2

cherylb wrote:

I have the same problem. Talking on the phone – feel vibrations – than the other person talking but not able to hear me. Has anyone had any luck fixing this?

 


I had the exact same problem with my first 2 Droids. I would feel a vibration, or a thud, as I had noted in other threads and then the other person could not hear me.

 

It was very frustrating. I have had my third Droid for about 3 weeks and I have not lost a single call. I would advise you to return it for another Droid. Hopefully you will get one that works well for you.

 

Good Luck!

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colfrmb
Newbie

So did your new phone solve your problems?  I ended up returning my phone, waited until January to get another one and for almost 2 months this one has been pretty dang good.  Til now.  Now I have the thunk and disconnect in the middle of calls.  It also will stop transmitting my voice and I look at the screen and there is no MUTE button to push.  I have to kill the call and call them back.  This isn't good...

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ksxox10
Contributor - Level 2

colfrmb wrote:

So did your new phone solve your problems?  I ended up returning my phone, waited until January to get another one and for almost 2 months this one has been pretty dang good.  Til now.  Now I have the thunk and disconnect in the middle of calls.  It also will stop transmitting my voice and I look at the screen and there is no MUTE button to push.  I have to kill the call and call them back.  This isn't good...


I am on my third Moto Droid. I am sorry to say that it didn't totally solve my problem. This one does seem to be a little better though. I would honestly say that 65-70% of the time I am able to complete my phone call without incident. However, when it happens, it happens just the way I described it in my post and you did in your post. It is very frustrating! I have no screen protector on my phone. I used to, but I decided to try it without one to see what would happen. It is very strange. It seems to happen in spurts. It will be fine  and then it will happen a few times, then be fine again. I hold the very carefully so that I don't accidentally hit any buttons. I am always tense when I am on a phone call now because I am afraid that at any moment I will hear the dreaded thud.

 

Good luck to you! Love your lax icon!

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