Sorry that you had to leave Samsung due to this issue! Back in September, I chose the Note 3 over the One Max due to the fact that HTC foolishly decided to put the dated Snapdragon 600 processor (instead of the 800) into the One Max and also gave it only 2 gigs of Ram instead of 3. I kind of lucked out in getting my Note 3 from ATT because I left Verizon because they pulled the plug on our early upgrades (would have been September 14 for my HTC Rezound). I early terminated and now have the ATT variant of the Note 3. It has great call quality and blazing LTE speeds (up to 55 mbps down and 18 mbps up). This is by far the greatest phone I have had (compared to Storm 1&2,Evo 4G, Thunderbolt & Rezound)!
I love my HTC One Max, it is much better software wize then the Note 3 no dropped calls in server rooms anymore and also my office at work, (no service) before it uses the metal back to pull in the signals.
I absolutely don't blame you given the slow response by Verizon to these (call sound quality, and signal-related issues) problems. You had to do something if Verizon/Samsung was acting as if each incident was the first that they had heard of and can't seem to get out of their own ways in fixing the issue. The One Max is a great phablet (I have huge hands and lift weights LOL......it weighs 49 grams more than the Note 3)......if they had put the processor on the same plain (Snapdragon 800) as the Note 3 or the LGG2 or the Sony Phablet, my hands would probably be wrapped around a One Max (given that I have used 6 HTC devices--2 windows mobile and 4 Androids). I was just saying that TMobile and ATT Note 3 owners are by and large having a great time with the device (not sure about the Sprint owners who were having problems initially too). The only major complaint is the locked bootloader but Safestrap has made the hurdle obselete.
I think the CDMA models have the issues I heard no complaints from the GSM models, AT&T and TMobile have crappy coverage here, the leading carriers are U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless in this market, (Iowa)
I enjoy my 1-2 bars in my office compared to no signal on the Note 3. Everyone else here has Verizon and Samsung and I brag that I have service ha ha ha!
Nicholas
Good point it is important to know your coverage area. When I was arguing with how Verizon pulled a bait and switch with the early upgrade feature and threatening to leave, their smug reply was 'you will miss our excellent coverage'. Fortunately in the Baltimore/Washington area and over a lot of the east coast, ATT is neck and neck with Verizon for coverage. So their smugness lost them two customers on a 4 Gig share everything plan (LOL...... as if they care.....we are but 2 specks of dust ).
I honestly think that Samsung had a large bad run of phones for the Verizon Note 3. The first one I got would barely get a 3G signal and never go on 4G, except when in Verizon store. The replacement I got now gets better signal than my old Motorola Bionic, and gets better signal than my son's Razor Maxx. Signal strength is also on par with my daughters S3.
So I know its possible to get one that works. Its just harder than it should be to get it done. As every time you talk to someone they treat it as a new problem, not an ongoing problem. Which is why I have been telling folks to go to their local Verizon store and get a sales person or sales manager involved. (ask for their business card so you have their name) As it was much easier to get problem resolved when you can go back and talk to the same person after each attempt at a fix. Helped coach my coworker through getting his replaced as he had the same problem with his Note3 not getting 4G signals and having dropped calls. The Note3's that they usually have on the floor in the store generally work fine, if not they would have replaced it already. So go into the store and used something liked "advanced signal" from play store to compare the signal of your phone (while in store) against the signal on the demo unit. If you are getting less signal, then its a hardware problem and phone needs to be replaced.
By looking at the different android forums, and the people having problems, it "almost" appears that every phone is bad. But its not the case, it is possible to get a Note 3 that works. Its just unfortunate that Verizon hasn't recognized that its not just a one off problem, and that its an indication of a bad production run of phones.
I have the same issue. I investigated it thoroughly both with Best Buy and the Samsung rep at BB. The Samsung rep suggested that the GN3 comes with an unlocked Mobile Network setting set to Global by default. He suggested that this should be set for the network that you are on rather than global but this only seems to help some. The real issue is the upgrade to Bluetooth 4 in the Android operating system. The problem is happening with multiple carriers and multiple phone vendors so it it not limited to Samsung nor to Verizon. Any Android phone of 4.3 or higher will have this problem sporadically when using Bluetooth. The fix needs to come from Google. There is an app called Bluetooth Bug Fix that requires that your phone be rooted and I am not sure it fixes the problem and I am not going to root my phone.
We need to be pressing Google for a fix! Spread the word and keep people posted on what you find out.
Take care...
Bruce P.
Thanks for your response. Keep plugging away. Hopefully a resolution soon.
I am having major problems with both my phones. They drop calls or you have to try to stand by a window but that still does not help very much. My husbands phone just calls people when the phone is in his pocket and my phone is so bad I can't call him, if he is at home because half the time the phones do not ring and it goes right to the message. I will be leaving Verizon as soon as possible and get some decent customer service with someone else. We are both disabled and really need our phones but if they don't work they are of no use to us.
Had same problem. Discovered that if i disable WiFi during calls issue goes away. I think it has something with the device attempting to use HD Voice which only works if both devices are compatible.
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