Frustrated - I regret ever buying this phone

[rhelfst]

I purchased an HTC 8X in April, happy to upgrade from the Incredible 2 (which was more of a nightmare.) I was looking for a change in scenery after the issues the last phone had, and thought it was possibly tied to the OS. The sales rep who helped me with my upgrade sold me on the 8X over my consideration of the Galaxy S3. I regret taking his advice.

It's a pretty phone, yes. But I have had issues with this since June. It was great for the first few months, but since then I have struggled with dropped calls, repetitive SIM card errors, random restarts, and the inability to send or receive MMS picture messages.

I'm on my 3rd phone (Second refurb.) I visited in store and they quickly shipped me a replacement. The first wouldn't start up - it sat on the turning gears for about 20 minutes before erroring out to the lightning bolt image. I shipped it back and contacted online support to send another.

Once I got the second turned on it wouldn't properly activate. This necessitated a 2 hour chat session with the most helpful support person I've ever worked with to get the phone updated, set correctly, and to get one test MMS up and running. These fixes worked for about a week.

I've missed pictures from my father's engagement. I've missed pictures of my girlfriend's toddler. I've missed pictures of my friend's proposal. I am sick and tired of missing out on important moments in my friend's lives due to faulty technology. Does anyone have advice of what my next steps should be?

Don't buy this phone. Save yourself the headache.

[vzw_customer_support]

We want you to be happy with your 8X. It is a pretty phone (as you mentioned earlier). I can't help but notice you mentioned events that include pictures. Are you receiving standard messages without issue? Are you able to send MMS messages? You can test this by trying to send yourself a message.
Do you have a problem with the MMS when WiFi is enabled & disabled?  Settings>Cellular>Data Connection should be on.

You can also check the available memory by going to Settings>Phone Storage>Phone. What does it have there?
Naturally, if the memory is full there is no way to get the messages unless items are deleted from the phone.

TamaraH_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[rhelfst]

I have no issues receiving SMS. However, group messages from iPhone or Android never arrive, leading to some very awkward social situations - there are only so many times you can point to your phone as an excuse. I can send MMS (both on network or wi-fi), but I never receive them. It's gotten to the point that my family knows to either post them on Facebook or email them to me, which is not how this smartphone is supposed to work.

As far as memory goes, I have purposely avoided loading up the memory since these issues have duplicated with the several copies of the 8X I've been through. I'd wager to say that 9.67 GB of internal storage should be more than enough space to receive a picture message of my girlfriend and her son during a long day at the office.

[vzw_customer_support]

I appreciate you taking the time to follow up and provide this additional information. I can certainly understand the concern here.

Lets take a look into a few things here. I just want to ensure that the MMS settings are currently on. In addition, is the device running on the latest software?

YosefT_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[rhelfst]

As of 10/28/13 at 11:21 AM EST my phone is up to date. Shows OS version 8.0.10327.77. Where would the MMS settings be?

[vzw_customer_support]

@rhelfst

Thanks for trying those steps and for providing the device software information!

On the same screen you viewed the "OS version", can you please provide me the "Firmware revision number"?  Have you, at any time, inserted a different carrier's SIM Card into this device?  That would cause the problems with the MMS settings on the device.  Please keep me updated.

AnthonyTa_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[rhelfst]

I hace never used a SIM card other than the 2 provided to me by Verizon. This is not a user error, as I've had the same thing occur across 3 different iterations of this device that were "refurbished."

Firmware Revision #: 3030.0.34201.605

Hardware revision #: 0002

Radio Software version: 0.17.50.0603

Radio hardware version: 2.126.3.D4

Bootloader version: 0.0.3030.0(173704)

Chip SOC version: 8960

[rhelfst]

Also, as of today, my phone is no longer able to receive SMS from my girlfriend or sister. Both are iPhone users, one ATT one Verizon. Have tried with wifi on and off, reset multiple times, pulled sim card. All to no avail. I am sick of paying for service that is nonexistent on a device that is at best a shiny paperweight. I just want out of this phone so I can go back to living my life.

[Yrral3215]

My wife and I both have been fighting the texting problem since the up-date and my wife has the sim card errors a lot.

We are getting fed up.

I just read on another forum about two different people returning their phones to Verizon and getting full credit for what they paid toward a brand new - different - phone.

You don't have to stick with HTC or Windows if you don't want to.

Apparently it takes some persistence with customer service and insisting on moving up the ladder to supervisors, but you can get a brand new phone and full credit for what you paid for this junk.

Id suggest everyone who is fed up with this do just that.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hey there Yrral3215,

I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues with the 8X as well. Are you experiencing the same issues with the text messaging application? Are you having issues both sending and receiving?

What is the sim card error that your wife is receiving?

I don't mean to ask similar questions I just want to make sure that we address your specific issues. Please provide additional details so I can better assist.

NicholasB_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[vzw_customer_support]

@rhelfst,

Let's get to the bottom of this and get those text messages coming through!

What phone do you have? Are you able to send them your girlfriend and sister text messages? Are they sending standard text or iMessages? How long has this been going on?

JohnB_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[rhelfst]

If you'd like to see the details you're asking for, most of them are in the rest of the thread you've neglected to read.

Let me restate:

Windows HTC 8x. I can send SMS, and MMS goes through intermittently. Apparently not linked to any geographical region or wi-fi issue. However, I cannot receive MMS from anyone, iPhone, android, or other. I have had 4 iterations of this phone: my original, a refurb that wouldn't start up, a previous one that displayed these same issues, and now this one with a new Verizon provided SIM card. This is obviously not a User error, but is intead due to hardware being issued that is faulty.

I'm fed up with this and just want out of this phone and Windows phone in general. An early upgrade or some sign of good faith for a long time customer could help make this right. This whole situation has been a nightmare every step of the way, up to and including having 4 different VZW support members respond to this thread, including one now who did nothing to avail himself of the situation before diving in.

[vzw_customer_support]

@Rhelfst,

I can appreciate your concern here and I do appreciate you providing this summary.

To find the MMS Settings mentioned earlier, can you please head into Settings > Cellular > Add MMS APN. Does it allow you to enter this area? If so, are you able to enter http://mms.vtext.com/servlets/mms in the MSC field and vzwinternet in the MMS APN field?

YosefT_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[Yrral3215]

Under  "Settings/Cellular" there is no "add MMS APN" on my HTC 8X.

There is an "Add Internet APN" but that is different and requires username, password, proxy server and proxy port.

Doesnt sound like this would do anything for MMS issues.

[rhelfst]

The more I read this "support" response the more frustrated I am. All the information had already been shared and it's posted in an HTC 8X specific forum. This has to be a joke.

[kclaar]

I couldn't agree more about the phone: nothing but problems anymore. I have had the problem with the SIM card, it was stuck in a boot-loop, it kept randomly shutting off, and now when I go to reply to a text, 85% of the time it freezes temporarily and then boots me to the start screen without ever showing I even typed a message. I loved Windows 8 from the beginning (I worked in IT), but this Windows Phone 8 device has been nothing but a nightmare

[radmanvr]

Hello,

I don't know if its already been mention or you have found a solution but my wife and I use to get the same sim errors that would stop MMS from happening as well as dropped calls and random power cycles.

The sim try is the culprit. There are 2 solutions to this.

Long Solution: Contact HTC and have them send you a new sim try for the HTC 8x. Make sure its sim try 2.0

Short Solution: Using scotch type tape place 1-2 layers on the back of the sim card. The back is the side without the metal piece. Depending on how loose it is some have even used 5 layers. Make sure it is flushed and trimmed around the edges. You want no slack. Then, place the sim back into the sim try and it should fix the issue of sim errors and sim related errors.

I opted for the short solution and since then I have not have any issues sim related. Although I still get SMS not being sent but thats due to GDR2.