This is my first post with this forum. I have been browsing it for some time and people here seem generally helpful, so I was encouraged to create this post. I have been having some difficulties with my HTC Thunderbolt, which I purchased last month. Hopefully someone here has experienced something similar, and any nudge in a better direction would be most helpful.
Specifically, the device seems to be incapable of maintaining a stable data connection. My home area is Charlotte, NC, which is universally renowned for having terrible cell service regardless of carrier, but this seems excessive even by the Queen City's standards. In the past, my wife's Droid 1 and my HTC Eris would occasionally drop 3G and lose data connection entirely, which led me to believe that it was just the area, the network, or one of the many, many joys of being a wireless customer, but it was always pretty temporary, and getting the connection back could be done manually. Since getting the phone, though, I've traveled a bit around the country and found that my luck doesn't seem to be tethered to the area. New York, New Jersey, Georgia, and Chicago all exhibit the same results, to my experience.
In short, what happens is:
1. 4G connection is indicated on the taskbar with good signal strength.
2. The indicator will disappear, though signal strength will not change.
At this point, one of a few things usually happens.
3a. The 4G indicator will come back, but no data comes in or out. Facebook will lag, Gmail will complain about not having a data connection, and everything stops communicating. There is a high probability of looping back to 2, above.
3b. 3G will appear in its place. It never sticks, and there is a high probability of looping back to 2, above.
3c. The dreaded 1x appears in its place. I die a little inside, and there is a high probability of looping back to 2, above.
3d. Nothing. The data connection stays broken and while I can make calls and receive texts, I'm left essentially with a very nice, very expensive dumbphone (it's worth pointing out that none of my other dumbphones had a flippyclock, though, so at least there's that).
I have mixed success getting the data connection back by going into the Network Settings and manually shutting off the mobile data connection and then back on, but it doesn't work more often than not and to be totally honest now that I've read that I wrote that I feel like kind of a dummy for making that my go-to troubleshooting "solution."
Here is a brief list of things that have not worked:
- Restarting the phone
- Factory resetting the phone
- *228 (I'm reading elsewhere that this has been replaced with something much longer, but no one seems to be reporting success with the reprogramming)
- Toggling Airplane Mode (this worked wonders on my Eris)
- Manually manipulating the wireless data connection
- Offering to share my Dairy Queen Blizzard with Heath Bar in it if 4G will toggle on and stay on for a few minutes (clearly it will not listen to REASON!)
At this point I'm at a loss for what the problem could be. I lack sufficient evidence to rule out the phone, since elsewhere on the Internet people seem to have the same complaint, though since the latest OTA update I cannot seem to find any recent discussions detailing this problem. I similarly lack sufficient evidence
I want to love this phone, I really do. I loved my Eris before it was marked EOL. I have been and remain a loyal Verizon customer and love the 4G when I have it. Which is what makes not having it all the worse.
Has anyone had any luck with this problem, or can you share some advice for me that might point me in a direction that may reach resolution? Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
