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Terrible call quality disappoints

I LOVE my new Charge as a device (except for the terrible battery life, but I can work around that) but am finding the call quality here in Dallas to be unacceptable. Callers are frequently asking me to repeat myself and calls are dropping. Usually I can hear callers fine, but on two occasions they became so garbled I had to get off the phone and use google voice on my computer. I am within my 14 day window with the device and am considering either getting a different device or just switching back to Sprint which is starting to look pretty good from here. I thought switching to Verizon would be a step up. And of course, with Sprint I had complete google voice integration. Any advice?

Comments

WCMack

I suggest you take the phone back and get another Charge within the 14-day window. No charge for this switch, you will/should get a NEW 14-day window (confirm that with the store) and can then see if is was a bad radio in one phone or if the problem is endemic to the Charge. Once you decide that, you can either keep or switch out to a new phone (although you may suffer penalties or a restocking fee),

Good luck!

HoustonHeart

SHould have no issues in dallas. Pre-EE4 update perhaps but not post.

WCMack

HoustonHeart makes a good point - you should check the Build number on your phone to make sure you have the latest. To do this, from any home screen, press the Menu button (left at bottom of phone), then select Settings > About phone and scroll down to the bottom of the list to check the build number. I think the latest is SCH-I510.EE4, but others can chime in if there is a newer one.

If your build number ends in EE2 or something else, you should update the phone. To do this, scroll back up to the top on that screen and select System updates, and follow the prompts.

Good luck!

colfrmb2

Well, I don't LOVE my charge but I do like it - I have had it for a week. Except that Verizon seems to like giving you features on a phone and then slowly taking them away and making you pay for them (tethering, encoding voicemail passwords,tiered usage plans, etc) which isn't related to the individual phone. That being said, my Charge's call quality is really bad at various times in places where I have always gotten great reception. I have tried *228 but it doesn't make a difference. At the VW store, they all acted like they had never heard about bad call quality with the charge. So they ordered me a new (refurbished) phone. I went through multiple HTC Tbolts with the last one being unable to latch onto a GPS signal before they decided to move me over to the Charge. Now I have my doubts about this phone... We'll see tomorrow when the "new" charge comes in the mail.

WCMack

Dear colfrmb2,

I hope the new device they send you does not have the same problem.

I am certainly not an expert on this, but my own experience plus reading this forum suggests to me that the Charge does not have as good an antenna or radio as other phones I have owned. Like many others who have posted here, I have less signal strength in many areas I regularly travel through locally than I did with prior smartphones (Motorola Droid 1, Droid X2).

This could be the problem with call quality as well. I hope I am wrong on this one, but that's what I suspect.

colfrmb2

Well, thank you for your thoughts and I hope you are wrong because call quality is number one for me. I might as well drop back to a stupid phone or switch to back to ATT if you are correct. But mark my words, if this phone is faulty also, it goes back and they all keep going back until I get one that works the way it is supposed to. No work around for call quality.

ArnettH_VZW

Hello lynnba,

As you may already know, we here at Verizon Wireless put call quality in the forefront of our priorities. I am eagerly available to assist you on this issue you have. I will send you a private message requesting some additional info so we can tailor a solution that meets you needs.

Thank you...

Gvillecharge

Maybe verizon doesnt know how widespread this issue is. From reading these forums, and from several people I know with the phone, call quality is awful. My personal experience has been similar. People are all the time telling me they can't hear me, and I know its in areas wehre service is great because other verizon users will have no problems. My phone also drops calls like crazy. And I frequently hear loud screaching noises on the phone. I use my phone to run a business so these issues are a huge problem. The only solution theyve offered me is a refurb phone, which is unaccaptable to me. My suggestion to verizon would be to seriously look into this issue, because I thiunk it is a problem with the radio inside most Charges. Doesn't anyone else think its a little suspicous that Samsung has now dropped Qualcomm and switched to VIa to make the radios inside all new Charges?

lynnba

I did a factory reset of the phone and things seem to have gotten somewhat better, although I'm getting reports of some garbling. But much better.

lynnba

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post. I do have the latest firmware. A factory reset seemed to help, and I am being more judicious in my application choices on the off chance some programs interfere due to data hogging or something like that (don't know if there's any truth to that or not!) I am at the point where I am comfortable keeping the phone and staying with Verizon, although I do feel like it is a step down from Sprint in some ways.But for now, my husband isn't complaining he can't hear me!

Thanks again.

colfrmb2

So, I got a replacement Charge because my first Charge had such bad call quality. After two days of the very same disappointing scenarios, I called customer service and said, "it is the Charge." I need a phone that works as a phone and I know it can happen because before the Tbolt and the Charge I did have good call quality. Actually the Tbolt had better call quality than the Charge overall but the Tbolt had other issues. So now they are switching me to a Droid 2X which is 3G and clearly a lesser phone - and all the phones have been refurbiished. I asked, what about the Iphone? They said, we can't offer the IPhone under the format we are working with you because of the demand for the IPhone. Okayyyyyy. I said, well, if this 2X doesn't work as a phone for me one of two things will happen, either I will leave Verizon or you will give me an Iphone. (I paid for the Tbolt and now I am down to the 2x which is buy one get one free. ) But I will try the 2X for now - mostly because I prefer the bigger screen of the Droid vs the Iphone screen size. I am really exhausted by all this. So much time spent just to get a smart phone that works...

WCMack

Dear colfrmb2,

It may be small consolation, but I had the Droid X2 before the Charge and liked it a lot. Very fast and good call quality. My problem with it (and the reason I traded out of it to the Charge) was a very glitchy music player. If this is not a big deal for you (or if your X2 does not have that problem), you may find that it has a lot of good qualities.

colfrmb2

WCMack - thanks for the vote of confidence for the X2. I don't use the music player on my phone much so maybe I will be okay with it. I'm looking forward to something that works...Thanks again, really, I needed some hope.

WCMack

Dear colfrmb2,

Come back and let us know how it turned out. Others who might be in the same position would be interested to know how you rate the X2 vs. the Charge. Overall, I like my Charge, and can put up with the few idiosyncrasies I have found so far. But I never would have gotten it if the X2's music player weren't so problem-ridden.

ChristinaB_VZW

Hi Colfrmb2,

I just wanted to follow up with you since you have most likely already received your replacement device. Do you find that your issues have been resolved? Please post back so we can ensure everything is OK with your device and your service.

Thank you!

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