Mobile hotspot. Losing 3g data droid x2

[Daddyforty]

I am soooo irritated with my 3g network connection dropping randomly. I decided to get the mobile hotspots so I could use it on my laptop. It works find for five minutes or so. Then my 3g icon disappears then comes back on. The pages on my internet hang..I then have to tether using USB and it sometimes works again then eventually stops.
Here is what I have done to try and resolve the issue.
1. Rename the ssid name and password. Restart the computer and it sometimes works. Usually ended up saying no internet connection or limited connection.

2. *228 sometimes fixes the issue for five minutes then its back to the issues.

3. Settings --Battery & Data Manager--Data delivery-- all top three boxes checked. Worked the first time.

4. Uninstalled all applications. Didn't help.

5. Factory reset phone. Didn't help. Same issues.

6. Finally took my phone back to best buy and exchanged it for another one. I though for sure this would fix it. It had to. According to Verizon technical support the phone had to be defective. Guess what ..same **bleep** issue.

7. I was told then that the problem was for sure the latest update. He told me they were sending out another update to fix this issue. He said I would be getting the update soon. I took off the hotspots feature cause I wasn't going to pay for services I don't use.

8. Today I finally got the update for my phone. I immediately called Verizon and I had them give me the hotspot back.

9. After five minutes....I had no more 3g/ internet. Same **bleep** problem.....

Does anyone have any ideas? Please help me...

[AnthonyTa_VZW]

Hello Daddyforty, thanks for posting!

I hear and understand your frustrations with losing 3G signal using Mobile Hotspot!  I am happy to assist.

I see you've gone through extensive troubleshooting, including replacing your device and upgrading the software, but still having the same 3G signal issue.  Seems there is another factor causing the signal issue.  Where are you using the mobile hotspot feature, in your home / at work / indoors / floor?  Have you tested the hotspot in different locations, if so what did you experience?

Please let me know so I can further investigate; this may be something I would need to escalate to our network engineers.

[ewagner]

I have been having the exact same problem. My DroidX stays up in hotspot mode for a few minutes, then the 3G starts cutting in and out. Sometimes it comes back, sometimes not. Most of the time I need to kill and restart the hotspot. Sometimes I need to reboot the phone. I have tried pretty much everything the original poster tried. Nothing is helping. I am on 2.3.3 latest build and would LOVE to have someone actually give me useful help. Thanks.

[pilotdave01]

this is all exactly my scenario, except my DX has not been replace, VZ says i need to buy a new phone!

[Jsmithjr]

I have been having the same problem with my x2, i have had my phone replaced numerous times, done factory resets, updates, changed channels, it doesnt matter what i do, i constantly lose 3g hotspot wherever i am at, i travel all over the U.S. and even in cities like chicago, i still loose it. am ready to give up on verizon totally

[#6]

Thanks everyone for sharing your concerns with your device losing data connection when using the mobile hotspot. I understand how important the mobile hotspot is because I use my own device to tether daily. It sounds like you all have been thru quite a bit of troubleshooting through factory resets, replacement devices and used in multiple areas to make sure this is not a location issue. I have reported this issue to our product team so that we can further investigate this issue. I would also suggest contacting technical support at 800-922-0204 option 3 for technical support and opening a trouble ticket so our network team can investigate if there are any network issues causing the signal to drop. 

[Bobbiep]

I too am experiencing hotspot hangup issues!  I truly hope that Verizon will get this fixed NOW!

[Jsmithjr]

I have been having the same problem with my x2, i have had my phone replaced numerous times, done factory resets, updates, changed channels, it doesnt matter what i do, i constantly lose 3g hotspot wherever i am at, i travel all over the U.S. and even in cities like chicago, i still loose it. am ready to give up on verizon totally

[Aleavitt630]

Wow i have this same problem ans it is so frustrating bc all i want to do is use it. Paying money for something that never stays on more than 5 mins! ! This better not happen with my new htc rezound but i am not getting my hopes up. I called many times and they just cant help me. My friend has a atnt phone n it never drops! Just sayin

[mainexplorer]

I have a HTC Thunderbolt and my hotspot keeps dropping Data connectivity.. I also pay 29.99 a month for a service that i can't use like advertise.  I have also called Verizon, gone into a Verizon store, even switched phones back when I was under the return policy days. I have been told they dont know why I keep loosing data connection. I also am on old grand fathered customer and have unlimited data plan... So I am paynig twice to use the internet on my laptop.

  I even have tried to use a USB cord to connect my Thunderbolt to my ACER laptop and I instantly loose my 3G service and will not come back. I keep getting a message that a program called BOOTSTRAP.EXE wants to run on laptop when I plug my phone it to it.. Its really funny how Verizon can't tell me why this keeps poping up.. They even switched me to HTC telling me that its an HTC program wanting to run. HTC then tells me that its nothing on the HTC phone that its Verizon.. Kidding me??? Verizon cant even owen up to this either. I have read forums and the BOOTSTRAP.EXE has something to do with the Verizon VCAST program on your phone.. I have to unplug my phone and shut it off and then back on to get 3g back and sometimes that does not work..  I can't believe Verizon can not own up to this porblem and tell their customers we are aware of this porblem and working on it.

I think its time I give my Lawyer a call and see if there is anything they can do for me. Maybe false advertisement or even breaking the contract of providing reliable service to the customer.  Verizon is advertising Hotspot like there is no issues with it. But we the customers, that have it and  have been calling and <word filter> about this from day one they started this service know there is an issue with it.. I dont think its right they get away with this!!!. Maybe a class action suit is in order?!?!?!?!?!?!

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[dwstout]

SOS here Droid X2 and mobile HotSpot is worthless.  It works for 6-7 min then loses 3G and no more internet.  WiFi, USB tether doesn't matter.  Reset phone, got new? phone - still doesn't matter - guess I should have gotten an iPhone afterall

[higriff]

I have a droid x with the 3G hotspot and I also lose the connection.  Same as the other frustrated customes! Has verizon actually looked into this and come up with a solution?

[Ryan-Honolulu-Hawaii]

I have a Droid X2 and a Droid Pro both with the latest updates.  I have tested the hotspot feature with 3 laptops and an iPad2 and also have the same problems.  The connection works fine for maybe 5 minutes and then web pages start to freeze and I start being unable to view any websites.  It starts working in a few minutes but still intermittant.  I checked the phone and the 3G icon at the top disappeared and then it comes back and it says that the 3G connection was lost.  Tried various troubleshooting such as changing the Wi-Fi channel or changing from an WPA2 to open system or changing the range of IP addresses that the hone assigns, etc.  The problem continues.

Seems like there is a software or hardware design problem.

[MichiganDeb]

I am having the same issue on a Samsung Droid Charge with latest updates.  It connects and then within a few minutes, the 3g drops out (phone is capable of 4g, but it is not available in my area). I've tried all of the mentioned troubleshooting steps except replacing the phone, as from what I have read, it does not seem to be an issue with a faulty device... model yes, specific device, not. It seems like it has gotten significantly worse in the past few weeks, especially on weekends and evenings (i.e. when the network is busiest), which would make one wonder if there is some kind of QoS going on that gives Mobile Hotspot bottom priority. Funny thing is, I was previously using a Verizon MiFi, which connected flawlessly, every time, and stayed connected for days without issue, which verifies that my location is fine. When the contract on the MiFi ran out, I cancelled it, thinking I would be saving myself money by switching to Mobile Hotspot on my phone. That was a big mistake as this service, which in theory should be just like the MiFi service, is worthless and nothing but frustration.

[dukedave]

Another +1 here.

When I have some time I'll go through the steps listed here and see how they compare with my experience.

For what it's worth: I have had a little more success tethering over bluetooth (I'm using a MacBook Air, with Lion), it does suffer from the same problem, but 'seems' to be a little more stable.

[clairvoyant]

Have an HTC incredible 2, using a MacBook Pro/Lion. Have had similar problems with 3G hotspot "cycling" on and off. What has made it much better: Phone settings / Wireless & networks / 3G Mobile Hotspot settings / menu key on phone face to access Advanced / Wi-Fi channel. Then, I changed the Wi-Fi channel from "Auto" to a number. It may take you to try out several different channels to find one that works well, but it does work.

[ruccha]

I have exactly the same behavior on an LG Revolution, and I've done all the same troubleshooting, calling, complaining, etc..  Verizon has said that it's my location (not enough 3G coverage -- not even 4G -- 3G) in my area.

I really do think that there should be a mass action by customers to complain about this.  The service simply DOES NOT work as advertised, and in my opinion, Verizon should be held to account.

Paying 50 bucks a month for a service that essentially does not work (there's no way I could get all 6GB of my plan in a single month -- NO WAY, even if I had the hotspot on constantly).  That's how bad it is. 

Verizon -- when are you going to deal with this?

[ksgetting]

I believe the 3G hotspot reliability problems are known issues (at least by other users).  I have seen a number of other posts where people complained about the same issues.  I'm not sure how aware Verizon is though.  I have hit this problem many times when using my hot spot in a 3G area.  I don't believe these problems exist in a 4G network.  Here are the 4 triggers that I am aware of that cause the hotspot connection to drop:

1) Trying to upload a large file, such as a photo (well not a huge one really).  Files under 1 MG seem fine.  When I try to upload something in the range of 3 MB, my connection drops every time.

2) Trying to download too much data at one time.  This may vary depending on how busy the network is, but it's difficult to quantify.  It happened to me when I was trying to demo a project over the web using GoToMeeting (quite embarrassing).

3) Receiving an incoming call.

4) Making an outgoing call.

I don't know if this most recent phone update (Android - a couple days ago) addressed any of these issues/bugs, but I'm not holding my breath.

[vzw_customer_support]

Ksgetting, thank you for sharing your findings with your Droid X2. I'll be happy to assist with your service issues. Do you notice the phone losing 3G only when in a specific location? Does the phone still show connected to 3G when this happens and can you access internet on the browser?  For your scenarios, are you uploading files to a specific website when this happens? Also, for 3G devices, voice and data can not be used simultaneously, so making or receiving a call when using the Mobile hotspot will temporary disable data on the device.

Thank you and I look forward to your response.

MarquiaF_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[ksgetting]

I personally have only tested/experienced 3G from Stone Lake, WI.  But it the same problems have happened on separate occasions and the WIFI drops always occur when I attempt on of the 4 triggers listed earlier.  I'm not there now, but will be the next several weekends.

No, the phone does not show 3G when wifi is dropped.  I wait a 30-60 seconds for the 3G symbol to return.  Then the connection works again.  Or sometimes I toggle off/on the hotspot to get it working again.  But I think the connection generally recovers on it's own.  The same problems occur when I tether instead.

No the browser does not work when this happens.

For my scenario, when I upload, I'm usually trying to copy a jar file (3.5 MB in size) from my C drive to a network drive.  I normally have VPN active in order to connect to the network drive.  I use windows explorer and drag and drop.  Not sure if that is using FTP.  I also have tried Remote Desktop and attempted to copy from my C drive to a local drive.  The same issue occurs.  I usually am copying to 1 of 3 windows servers.

I figured that was a limitation of 3G.  The 1st 2 (upload, download) are the biggest issues for me.