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Galaxy S3 - built to last exactly 2 years!

My husband and I have been loyal Verizon customers for years and years. We signed up during the "New every 2" promotion 10+ years ago. Two years ago we (finally) booted the kids off our plan and got two Galaxy S3 (which cost us a small fortune) phones and were very happy with them until a bout 2 months ago. First my phone would randomly re-boot once every couple days, now it's rebooting once a day (always at the most inopportune time), and I get the message stating Verizon services have stopped (which is not a problem, evidently, because it does not keep me from using the phone as I normally would). My phone has also slowed to a crawl, and after taking a picture it takes 15-30 seconds to be able to look at it in the gallery. This, is after I made pic/doc dump to my laptop and cleaned out my cell. It seems there is a timed self destruct feature in these phones that activates right at or around the time the contract time is over. Strange...

For the last week or so, my husband's phone has been doing the same thing. Our contract renewal date is early October. I love Verizon Service, but I think I may have to switch providers this time. We were going to hold on to these phones to save the upgrade $$$. Right now an upgrade for both of us to the S5 would be over $550 out of pocket. Edge is not an option because I refuse to "LEASE/RENT" a phone.

Loyalty used to be rewarded, but the only way to get a break these days is to provider-hop for freebies or discounts.

Sad!

It's been fun but you're a luxury we can no longer afford...

Comments

tikibar1

A system cache clear might help:

Turn off phone

Remove the battery and reinsert.

Hold down the Home and Volume Up keys

Press and hold the Power button while still holding the other keys.

As soon as you see the Samsung logo, release all keys/buttons.

Press on the Volume Down to scroll down to Wipe Cache Partition.

Press the Power button to select it.

Wait a few minutes for the phone to clear the data.

Then press the Power button to select reboot system now.

Wait for your phone to reboot.

Ladybuc

I just did exactly what you said, it went through all the steps. Clearign cache did only take a couple of seconds...then it said " error". Starting back up now though.

Any thoughts?

B33

Try this instead: If your Galaxy s3 needs any further adjustments Follow the Link I provided it is from T-Mobile but the Instructions work the same for our Galaxies... Hope this Helps.. b

Reset: Samsung Galaxy S III | T-Mobile Support

To wipe the cache partition, follow these steps:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time:
- Volume Up key
- Home key
- Power key
When the phone vibrates, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
Press the Volume Down key to highlight 'wipe cache partition.'
Press the Power key to select and wipe the cache.
With 'reboot system now' highlighted, press the Power key to restart the device.

rcschnoor

ladybuc99 wrote:

It seems there is a timed self destruct feature in these phones that activates right at or around the time the contract time is over. Strange...

This is absolutely true, which is why I disabled that feature on my S3 and it is still working at well over 2 years now.

ladybuc99 wrote:

Edge is not an option because I refuse to "LEASE/RENT" a phone.

This is only the case if you choose to trade in that phone(i.e. Edge Up) BEFORE you have made all the payments. Once you have made all the payments, the phone is yours to do with what you would like.

ladybuc99 wrote:

Loyalty used to be rewarded, but the only way to get a break these days is to provider-hop for freebies or discounts.

Sad!

It's been fun but you're a luxury we can no longer afford...

You should always go with the provider which best suits your needs.

pzjagd1

That is about the time of the latest Kitkat release. Coincidence?? No, seems everyone is having some type of problem since that update; battery won't charge or drains quickly, GPS stopped working, constant rebooting. But no one at Verizon or Samsung seems to give a rat's ***. Google should be embarrassed that their "partners" broke their OS and won't fix it.

stef7

Why aren't people buying their smartphones for $.01? That's what I do. I don't get this small fortune outlay to purchase some of these phones under contract. I didn't think it was necessary.

Anyway a Factory Data Reset following backing up all the critical data seems like a good idea.

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