Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
AES2
Enthusiast - Level 2

Both Windows 7 Phones on my US Cellular account were great.  Unfortunately they died of old age right at the time US Cellular was abandoning Chicago, so I moved to Verizon and gave the HTC 8X a try.

In addition to dropping calls, during a conversation where the contact name or phone number is displayed it would change to "In Call" and then go silent in both directions.  The only thing I could do was hang up and try again.  Nobody at Verizon's second level support had any idea what that meant.  And sometimes when I tried to send a text, words to the effect of send failure were appended to the message followed by a link Try Again.  You could try again forever and keep getting the same failure.  Sometimes you could immediately retype the same text and send it, but the failed one would never go out.  And every now and then, usually more than weekly, it went nuts and had to have its power cycled, and every now and then it had to be reset to factory settings.

I got a replacement, and then another one.  All three HTC 8Xs had the dropped call, In Call, text failure, need to cycle power, and need to reset to factory settings problems.  I never had one long enough to download any apps.  Other than voice and text when they worked, I only used Internet Explorer, HTC weather, and maps.

After three failed 8Xs I asked for a Lumia 928 and got one, reconditioned of course.  My favorite feature was maybe three times per week while I was on a call it would  redial the number I was talking to and create a conference call for both of them.  If it was a business with multiple lines I would get two calls in conference.  If it was a land line with a contact that had a mobile number it would dial the mobile number for a conference.  Otherwise after redialing it would hang up the first call while the second call was ringing, but the other phone was still off the hook, so it returned busy.  After the other party hung up I could redial.

And it went nuts and needed a power cycle to recover more frequently than the 8Xs.  Finally last night it stopped paying attention to the screen, which I could not slide down to turn off.  I called 611 and got a clueless support guy who either was not trained or was untrainable.  He told me a probable cause was the SD card.  I told him the 928 doesn't have one.  Then he told me to remove the battery.  I told him it's not removable.  I didn't know about this forum, so I did not read that power + volume down will shut it down.  I brought it to a store at 10:01 this morning, where a gentleman who knew something showed me how to shut it down.

At least I can use it between power cycles and dropped calls, and a replacement is on order.  Unfortunately I cannot get a new one.  After a bad new one and three factory refurbished to like new that are all what kids call epic fails, as much as I like Windows it's more important to me that a phone ring when someone calls me, that the phone on the other end ring when I call, and that texts go in and out.  Is that too much to ask of a Windows phone?  Has this been a futile exercise and when the next Lumia fails should I just cut my losses and ask for an S4?

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
primortal
Master - Level 1

I've had my 822 since launch and I have had flawless experience with the phone.  Phone works like it should, text messaging and emails work.  I think it does a random reboot about once a month if that.

I don't know what Nokia or VZW did to the 928's.  It could either be a bad batch of devices they keep recycling to other customers when one sends it back in for being faulty or just poor QA done on the device.

The only thing I can think of is filing a complaint with the BBB and FCC that VZW keeps issuing faulty devices to their customers.

Reach out to one of the executives, http://aboutus.verizonwireless.com/leadership/executive/index.html and voice your anger that you are constantly receiving faulty devices.

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
AES2
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks for pointing me to the top dogs.  I sent the above with a little introductory text to John Bianchi, Vice President - National Customer Service.  Putting the frosting on the cake, the first time I hit Send it said

Error 503 Service Unavailable

Service Unavailable

Guru Meditation:

XID: 747815552

The second time I hit Send the window went away with no complaints.  I'll post here if Mr. Bianchi answers.

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
LanceAngel
Enthusiast - Level 2

My 822 works very well.  The Nokia call blocker doesn't work - but that could be Verizon wanting you to pay for this service.  Other than that, I'm happy.   

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
jroeder
Specialist - Level 2

I don't know anyone with 928's or 8X's that work well. Escpecially since the new software update. And it's primarily because Verizon keeps sending out refurbished ones that were only returned in the first place because of those issues. I don't get that either, why send out a "refurbished" phone that already has the issues as a replacement for a phone with the same issues?

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
SuzyQ
Community Leader
Community Leader

jroeder wrote:

I don't know anyone with 928's or 8X's that work well.

We have a Lumia 928 - that has worked quite well for the 3 months we've had it. Last weekend it started showing some glitchy behavior, but after a reset (soft reset - no settings or apps were touched) it seems to have settled back to "normal" behavior and is the solid, dependable phone I've come to enjoy.

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
jroeder
Specialist - Level 2

Correction, I now know 1 person with a 8X/928 that works well. I know it's a good phone I just wish they didn't keep refurbishing ones that are bad

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
demmo86rt
Champion - Level 3

The 928 I have works just fine as well.

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
rednibkram
Specialist - Level 1

I have had my 928 for several months now and have had no problems.  I love my 928 and wouldn't go back to Apple or Android!  When the new GDR3 update is released, this will (IMO) put Windows Phone above the other operating systems.   PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Verizon, DON'T DRAG YOUR FEET ON THE GDR3 UPDATE?!!!

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Re: Does anyone have a Windows Phone 8 that works?
jroeder
Specialist - Level 2

I can believe that some people have them and they work fine. I find it odd that 2 community leaders commented on this saying their 928's work fine. Sorry but I have a hard time believing you guys now.......the software is the software. It's not the hardware. If it was it would be having the exact same problems on other networks. But it's not. So anyone reading this that's trying to get a W8 phone through VzW. Don't. Get a Android or iPhone depending on your preference.

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