Samsung CHARGE ---- DROPPED CALLS

[E_T]

Samsung CHARGE

This is sooo frustrating, lately my phone and my husbands phone  both Samsung CHARGES are dropping calls left and right! Literally the calls don't last longer than a minute; It doesn't even come close to a minute long. I checked my call history/usage and there were over 25 calls that were interrupted due to dropped calls. I dont understand it!!       I have calls last only 1 min. 12 sec., 49 seconds, 55 seconds and the latest call I tried to make lasted 16 seconds when the call was dropped. The last two attempts were to my husband who was literally 4 feet away from me!! 

I have had this phone since the beginning of June and like I said it is just been recently (2 week) that the phone calls have been very inconsistent. Today I have just had it!! Can anyone help me resolve this issue or give me a heads up to what is causing this before I go screaming into the store?

I needs to be said that I don't hate this phone, I just wish its primary reason for being a phone would actually work.

The plus side to this phone is all the apps, the amazing camera, and mult media you can view and use on this hand held device.

Does anyone have a solution for this problem?

[#2]

I have some good news to share about the audio going out on these devices.  I did a query in our trouble ticket system about the Charge losing audio and randomly muting the call.  What I found was actually surprising to me.  SOME Charges were affected by network element in their market, and how the Charge responds to a switch element.  Because it was so widespread, we assumed it was only a software problem (Samsung is fixing this issue as well with a software update).  Here's an abbreviated resolution from one of the tickets that had this problem resolved: "There was an issue with the Samsung Charge in markets that use the Tellabs 3700 PAEC and that was resolved on Friday 8/12 BY changes on the 3700 PAEC ECANS .. Customers should be fine since then .. In MD - the issue was fixed on the night of 8/19."  So many customers have already seen improvements.

So, what this means is each person that is experiencing issues with audio going out randomly while in good coverage should call tech support directly at 866-892-7957 > 1 > Enter number > Choose the option for advanced devices and PDAs. This will get you connected with tech support.  If you'd like to give them a ticket to reference, use NRB ticket 4574701 as a reference. It's possible that the network your Charge is connecting to did not receive the 3700 PAEC ECANS update. If your issue is not resolvable by the NRB, it will by fixed by the Samsung software update (of course I have no ETA on that other than soon).

I want to keep you all in the loop as much as possible, so I figured I'd give you all this information.  More info to come as we near a final resolution!

Regards,

[Dangriga]

Finally a sane response from Verizon, rather than "check your phone release levels and do a lot of meaningless things because it will keep you busy." 

If it's a handshake mismatch between Samsung Charge firmware and Telllabs' Multimedia Controller, that makes sense.  That it's easily fixable and is being fixed at both ends is even better.

Verizon, please take this forum more seriously in the future.  We're here to help diagnose problems, but when we're ignored, and have conversations with and see posts by technical dolts representing you, we get agitated AND START SHOUTING!

I have noticed no call problems in the last several days, it may well be fixed.  Thanks.

OK, no more rant, have a hurricane to deal with...

[addysdaddy]

Thanks Mike for the trying to be part of the solution.  Like many others, I've just recently started experiencing the dead air and dropped call thing.  What seemed to help my situation was to remove the battery & sim card for 5 minutes.  Rebooted the phone and went into Airplane mode, waited 2 minutes and then changed back to normal operation.  This seems to help.  Have had several call this evening and it seems all good.  But like so many others, the drop call issue appeared from nowhere, after working flawlessly for two months.  Seems that you've isolated the problem so that's great.  Again my personal thanks.

I'm in south Florida in the West Palm Beach area and my phone specifics are:

hardware ver        i510.06

firmware ver         2.2.1

baseband ver     i510.06 v.ee4  sch-i510.ee1

build #                  sch-i510.ee4

[JerryF]

Addysdaddy,

It's most likely the towers but if it occurs again and you are have a charger close at hand try this before your multi-step recovery process.  First, plug it into a charger preferably the more powerful 110 volt 1 amp one that came with the Charge phone.

If a battery (looks like a flashlight dry cell) appears on the screen your phone did a complete shutdown.  OTOH, if the phone starts charging it is still on but needs some gas (electrical power).

Either way give it 3 or 4 minutes on the charger and then see if you can use it.

The purpose of this is to see if maybe low battery power caused the problem.

I just had my first problem with my otherwise PERFECT Charge phone so I immediately plugged it in for 2-3 minutes, waited,  and it fixed the problem and all has been well since.  BY checking the battery I found it was 21% when I had the problem and after charging for 2-3 minutes it was 31%.

BTW, my phone specifics are identical to yours.

Please post any results if you get to try this.

Thanks,

JerryF

[addysdaddy]

Will do Jerry.  Frankly I haven't noticed the battery level when the problems occurred but will keep that in mind for the next time.  My issues seem a bit more random then others, but I understand the frustration.  Again I don't really think my "dance" fixed the issue but forcing the phone to disconnect and reconnect to the network via the airplane mode does seem to help.  And for that matter, a soft reset every once in a while can never hurt either.

 I just feel for the people who are experiencing this issue on every call - that's really unacceptable.  But the good news is MikeS has apparently found a technical explanation and things have started to get better.  That is wonderful news.

[ChristinaB_VZW]

Hi Davriss,

I researched this for you and wanted to assure you and the community that this issue has been lifted to our Product Support Team and Samsung. We will let you know of any updates.

Thank you,

[ChaunceyM_VZW]

Hello Richs10. I know it can be frustrating when you drop calls. We would need to complete troubleshooting to determine the reason for the dropped calls. Have you contacted Technical Support regarding this issue? Have we opened a troubleticket for your area? These are the next steps we would take to find a solution. If you have not completed any of these steps, please send me a PM. Include a contact number and the best time to call. 

ChaunceyM_VZWSupport

Follow us on twitter @VZWSupport 

[bh123]

Well as of last Thursday the problem seems to be fixed in West Tennessee.  I Hope I am not jinxing myself.  Good luck to everyone else.

[Richs10]

Hi Chauncey

Just so we are clear, this is not a 'dropped call' problem, but rather a 'loss of audio' issue while speaking on the Charge to another Verizon customer.  The call stays connected, but the audio unexpectedly drops out.  I think the problem is well documented by the 143 other posts in this thread.

I have spoken to Verizon, both on the Tech phone support level and in the Store.  It appears that Verizon is very much aware of this issue and (hopefully) is working on it.  A rep at my local store said she is pulling her hair out since she sold 12 Charges to a business customer and his employees are constantly experiencing the problem.  She also said it was especially embarassing since it was only affecting Verizon to Verizon calls.  The phone tech I spoke with several days ago was also aware of the problem and said the issue had been escalated up to Samsung since the problem seems limited to the Charge.  He also noted the problems I was having on my account.

For these reasons, I don't think the problem is specifically limited to my phone.  Hopefully, this issue will get resolved soon.

Thanks,

Rich

[Davriss]

As far as the audio dropping out it appears they made it a bit better with the last software release.  It used to just insert a nasty noise to the party you are talking to whenever you said anything and it was just quite on your end when they talked back.  I have noticed the audio just dropping out lately wth my charge as well. 

With the Bionic coming out I wonder if Verizon will be willing to switch the charge phones over to the Bionic, or at least come out with the software update for it.  If they come out wih an update that actually fixes this phone it is a great phone, just too many problems out there for it right now.  Guess we are all playing the waiting game.  As far as 4G goes there is not much to choose from right now.

[Davidoo]

Knocking on wood......the no audio calls have now been fixed for me, and it appears others, in Arizona for at least 2 weeks now.  It went away as fast as it started, so there is definitely something VZW did to fix it.  As AZ seemed to be the first area that experienced this possibly we were corrected first.

On another note, this is the first time I have been able to get into the forums to post since last weekend.  Whenever I would log in and click Support Community Forums I would get a "Page Not Available" message.  I called a couple of times to customer support and the reps on the phone said they got the same screen.  At least for right now this is working again too.

Now if we can just get Gingerbread on this phone like it already should have I would have something I am happy to keep for 2 years.!

[DC5_K20Z1]

My Droid Charge nor my wife's Charge had Lookout on the phone at all and we had the "Dead Air" issue with anyone that we called on VZW for about 2 weeks. It has seemed to have just suddenly stopped now. We have not had "Dead air" or dropped calls now for about 6-7 days. Everything seems to be fine, without doing a thing to our phones. It had to have been on Verizon's end, it must have been something that they did to their network or to their towers.

[Davidoo]

All my dropped calls have been to other Verizon phones.  It just goes silent but the timer is still running.  I tried it this weekend with my home phone through Cox Cable and it stayed connected for almost an hour with no problem.  I must say I had this problem probably the last 3 days of last week but have now not had any dropped calls Sunday or Monday.

[bh123]

I live in Tennesse and have had the Charge since 7/28/11.  After first week of working fine started dropping calls and as i have marked them for the verizon team i have noticed that it is only verizon to verizon it drops.

[bh123]

They called me back about my marked calls today.  Told me that it wasnt a switching issue or a certain tower.  They offered me to completely change models.  That is how I ended up up with the Charge after months of complaining about fascinate.  My problem is that I am out money for cases and screen protectors for both phones.  I am also out gas money to drive  20 miles from home to the Verizon store.  Sure I can change models but then there is more money for cases and protectors for that phone.  What makes me mad is that i point this out to them and they dont offer to reimburse me anything.  Dont get me wrong, they have all been nice to me and i have been nice too.  I am assuming it is a recent 4g problem on the entire network because all my families dumb phones work fine and even 3g phones.  It just me and my sisters Charges and our friends Thunderbolt(he has had it a long time without problems till recently).  I have to make up my mind on what i want to do as far as changing models.  URGHH!!!!

[DC5_K20Z1]

Hmmm....this is no good. First the problems with the fascinate now the charge. At least they still get my money every month!

[jimithing]

I dont even know what to.I now paid for a new phone and own a refurbed phone.My Mom and wife dont even call me because they said there is no point.My network is crap and cant stay connected.This is not at all what I signed up for. Not the best decision I have made for a smartphone.My old Env touch was 10 times better.I really dont know what to do at this point.

[DC5_K20Z1]

yea I hear ya. My lg dare never had any problems. Now my wife and I can't even call eachother for more than two minutes without loosing the call. This is frustrating for a bill well over one hundred dollars a month!

[jeh]

Glad to see all these posts, as I suspected this must be a widespread problem.  I frequently lose calls during phone conversations on my new (5/29/11) Samsung Droid Charge.  I've also noticed signal strength degradation while using data functions with both Wi-Fi and mobile data connections. 

My theory is that the problem is in the device design:  specifically, the location of the antenna on the back of the phone - exactly where a user will naturally hold the phone. 

When using data functions, I’ve noticed that if I move my hand up (so that it doesn't block the antenna), the signal strength improves.  Conversely, if I move my hand back to the natural holding position (where it covers the antenna), the signal strength degrades.  So I assume the same happens when I talk on the phone - and, I suspect, could explain the dropped calls.

However, holding the phone near the top during a phone call (in an effort to keep the antenna exposed) is not only awkward and uncomfortable, it also creates another call-dropping hazard.  That is, it’s very easy to hit the Power/Lock Key accidentally, and the call is gone!  (Can't seem to win...!)

It seems intuitively like a stupid design -- placing an antenna where a user's hand is most naturally going to cover it up, instead of placing it on the top of the phone! 

Any support out there for this theory?

[DC5_K20Z1]

Jeh....I like ur theory. Makes sense...just wish there was a fix for this. What a bad design....kinda like the Iphone death grip issue...I wish one of the Verizon employees would get on here and give us some information, at least confirm there is a problem and let us know that they will be working on a fix...or if the towers are causing this issue...I love this phone, I want to keep it, but I need to know what is causing it, the hardware or software, the design, or is it just Verizon's towers?

[jimithing]

Interesting theory.I dont think that is it.I have always had network issues since day one.The dropped call thing has happend for the last 3 weeks.The verizon store and customer service have been terrible.I got a call with about a hundred questions the other day from a verizon research center.They asked questions about all the flaws.I wonder if they are aware but dont have a plan. I really wish I would have kept my original phone.I find it ridiculous that I paid for a new phone and have a refurb. I told them I should get a credit and they said they would credit the dropped calls.I said I am not using the phone due to the dropped calls.I am getting very frustrated with this issue.