I'm a die hard VZW fan. I have been with them for over 5 years. Never had any problems with their network, no dropped calls, excellent signal, and quality hardware from its makers. I even "converted" a couple of my friends over to the VZW network from one of their competitors. My initial android device was Motorola Droid. Yes the first droid. Finally VZW offered a third choice to my phone selection, the other being Microsoft and Apple. I love the network and heard rave reviews about HTC devices and how open they were. Great battery life and the rest.
When time came about for me to upgrade to a new phone. My Moto Droid still works but was dying for the latest and greatest. I jumped right on over to the HTC thunderbolt. At the time, there wasn't any other choice for me. It didn't make sense to me to jump to another 3g phone since in two years time all phone will probably be on 4g. I ordered the Thunderbolt the second week it came out. I was stoked. I knew that I couldn't use 4g yet. I live in Portage, MI but I travel to Grand Rapids, MI every weekend. So I knew sometime in 2011 I could use 4g.
A couple weeks ago I went on vacation and the very first city I used 4g in was Denver. I was stoked at how fast it was. I switched it between using 4g to 3g cause I noticed my battery draining very fast. But wow. . . even the 3g was faster in Denver than it was where I live. I loved the thunderbolt except for the battery life.
I knew that a OTA would come out and was checking for a software update every now and then during my vacation. I was hoping this would fix the battery issue. It kinda did but. . . . now I'm suffering from random reboots. Im looking on forum sites and saw an article on Engadget about the reboots.
The camel's back is slowly breaking here. I got home and went back to work. I noticed that my phone would reboot about 8 times all before noon. The first day it has done that I went to the local verizon store. The rep told me that VZW is working with HTC for a fix and it wouldn't be 3 to 4 months out either. It would be sooner than that.
So what is happening now withe my thunderbolt? I cannot do data from my home from whence I could get a 3g data signal. Sometimes its 1x, sometimes its 3g but unable to do any data transfers. I'm unable to do data while I'm on the phone. My calls drop because my phone will reboot during a call from time to time. And just this last weekend, my phone got stuck in a reboot cycle, HTC white screen, the thunderbolt animation, the cloud screen and then poof, back to the HTC white screen. I ended up calling Verizon tech support, for help. I took out my battery and put it back in. Ok I'm back to the homescreen and it seems to be responsive. And then I was told by the VZW tech support person that no one else is having reboot issues. My jaw dropped.
Service and quality of software (firmware included) have been quite subpar from what I am used to. I know that implementing a new technology takes lots of testing yet some how I don't think enough testing was done. Even from the design aspect, the thunderbolt seems to have its pit falls. For instance: the inability to charge the Thunderbolt while using the kickstand. I know not every device is going to be perfect.
I some how feel that VZW or HTC owes Thunderbolt users something. No I don't want a refurbished phone. I would like a brand new HTC thunderbolt with the ability to: 1. not have reboots 2. no dropped calls 3. Ability to do data and voice at the same time (hence why there are two radios inside) 4. Have network reliability back
Or offer me the 2 year discounted price to jump over to another HTC 4g device (when one comes out) or even another 4g phone. My confidence is waning with HTC and VZW. I'm also seriously considering paying the amount to break my contract if you don't break it for me when you go to tiered data. I'd even be happy with you offering to pay one month's bill or a portion of it to hold me over for the next month or so til we have a fix OTA update.
dwindling loyalty,
Benjamin
Great note. I'm in exactly the same boat as you are. It's beyond frustrating.
Unfortunately, no one from HTC ever responds to post here. It's like they don't care. I'd be shocked if they replied to your post. They already have your money.
I can only hope that HTC or VZW sees it cause I posted it in both of their "forums" today.
I just purchased and received my Thunderbolt today. It's charging for the first time as I type this. I am disheartened by this rebooting problem I am just now hearing about and may have purchased a different phone if I was aware of it. This is my first smartphone. In fact, my previous phone was an old, reliable Tracphone with no contract. I will be beyond upset if my first foray into the smartphone market results in an inferior product choice.
1. Don't ask for a new Bolt I am on my second and it's new and still reboots. VZ says HTC as a ticket open for this.
2. Turn on wifi and my clock sets to china on the weather widget along with the phone and stamps all my mail with the wrong time. VZ says no ticket open with HTC to fix this after 4 weeks. Fun looking for email a person sent with the wrong time stamp not matching my desktop.
3. Email client keeps dropping accounts in the reader section and says no accounts set up but the accounts are still in the settings which are frozen. Add back in the accounts as new and it works but the counter for how many emails in the box starts at the old number of unread and never resets to zero. - Waiting a month for a fix and no ticket at HTC per VZ.
4. Passed the return time and VZ says no more options except keep sending phones.
5. Any lawyers out there this is a great class action case.
6. I want my phone to work, or the opportunity to get another 4g from HTC when it comes out, or switch to another 4g phone now for someone else.
7. Until that happens service should be free on HTC's tab.
I too have been a loyal customer and no problems as well, till the TBOLT. Complete mess. The only thing I have done is purchased 2 generic batts on ebay with a charger for $14.00. I will not spend $60 on a big bulky batt, which they should give us for free or at least at a discount. The answer they have is turn everything off to conserve battery life,BS thats not why I purcased the phone......they dont seem to get it! I hope they fix this real soon, til then I will just carry that extra battery and use the phone the way it was intended .I am also looking into other options, there has to be something that can be done for this inconvience.....will keep you posted
I have had the same problems! I have been saying for 2 years that I was getting an iphone as soon as Verizon had it available. When I went to the store, I decided to go with the Thunderbolt instead. I live in a small town, and therefore have no 4G capabilities. Nonetheless, I wanted the newest and neatest phone out there. I ultimately decided on the Thunderbolt because it had removable data storage. I have been sooooo disappointed! First, the battery is horrible! Secondly, the force closes are so annoying. I thought that perhaps I had downloaded an app that was causing it. I deleted practically all of my apps, but that didn't solve the problem. I have lost confidence in HTC, and that's a horrible way to start a first impression. I am considering purchasing another phone at full retail....I can't deal with this for 2 years!
I emphatically agree with Benjamin! Everything he described has happened to me. This is what I left Motorola for? I went back to my Droid X for now simply because as an undergraduate student, a mother of an autistic child and a dedicated community outreach manager, this is simply unacceptable! At first, the VZW rep tried to shrug off my issue and direct me to the last app I installed, as if I wasn't savvy enough to already troubleshoot the device. I too have been a loyal VZW and Android gal since the original Moto Droid. This is reminiscent of why I ditched the Incredible a week after it's release. I assumed it was just me and that I didn't like it. I was right ! At least then, I managed to sell it to Best Buy for only a 20 loss! So, as posted by rsuri2, run as fast as you can, because they already have our money is right, and that's all this has become is a money game! The policies get stricter and stricter (now a 14 day "new device" policy instead of 30 , yes, yes, I know, nothing at all to do with HTC ( baloney!) . I am shipping mine off to Best Buy and or Target's tomorrow, whomever will give me the most money for this brick! I have been struck alright! Right in my wallet! I am seriously considering jumping ship to (egads, don't say it, yep, that's right, APPLE! ) The battery life has always been an issue as well as with the eggheads that still tell consumers to use a task killer and an antivirus! If two people hadn't of walked into the store right behind me, I would still be being treated like a bothersome consumer. I have no problem breaking my contract, they can get in line with the rest of the creditors. One of the major problems with this country right now, is that no one cares about quality any longer, and it is quantity that matters. Sell more, service none! This is absolutely ridiculous for us to have to resort to posting on forums to vent our displeasure at such shoddy service. I will tell you this, I have three Motorola devices, Droid, Droid 2 Global and the Xoom. All of them work beautifully and I will never ever, ever, ever, buy an HTC Device again! I don't want a refurbished phone and that is what we are going to get in the mail. HTC stands for HORRIBLE TECHNO COMPANY, HORRENDOUS TERRIBLE COMPANY, .... HUGE TROUBLE COMING .. ANYTHING ELSE THAT IS UNFIT TO PRINT...
It should have been apparent when one couldn't even change their forum alias, due to a misspelling, that this would be a company that has no ethics at all when it comes to servicing their customers! I too, only went with the Thunderbolt for the 4g capability and am so disgusted with this company. The rep's at VZW don't care how many of us complain to them, they still get paid whether their customers are happy or not. They tried to blow me off as well and blame it on a third party app! As with the HTC representatives. I knew I should have waited for the new MOTOROLA device, they have never ever let me down yet. Run as fast as you can to Target's, they trade in old electronics on the spot! Thank goodness I only paid 200 bucks for this brick. I hate to flood the market, but Best Buy will buy them as well. I didn't learn from the Droid Incredible and by the time I RE DISCOVERED why I got rid of that device one week after purchase, it was too late.
I am in same boat here, i were waiting for 2nd update and hope not to get this random rebot .. after i got my update it seem work find except just this pass 3 days it start to reboot randomly .. sometime while i do something with phone sometime it just sit there do nothing i see it reboot by it self ... this is my 1st HTC .. make me never want to touch their products again .. !!!
I purchased my Thunderbolt on May 25 and Settings indicates I have the 2.2.1 version software. I began having "random reboots" 5 to 7 days ago.
I spoke with VZW tech rep today (Sat June 4) and he recommended I obtain a replacement phone at the VZW that would have an HTC update from my 2.2.1 version "assuming" this was an "older" version downloaded at the time of purchase and activation. He said the updated version would resolve my "random rebooting" problem.
I contacted the nearest VZW company store and was advised by rep Carolyn (Hickory, NC) that her Thunderbolt is having identical problems as are other Thunderbolt users. She said the HTC Thunderbolt software was to be updated, but this was pending and there was no reason to replace my phone with a new phone having the same software.
I then called HTC Support (Sat June 4, a.230pm EST) to verify this pending update for this issue. The HTC tech rep said there is no pending software upgrade and the only HTC solution was to send my phone to HTC for a "factory reset" and that this would solve my "random reboot" issue. I of course would lose information not on the SD card. He did acknowledge this "random reboot" was a common problem among other Thunderbolt users. I ask the rep if my 2.2.1 version was the latest version available and he said I would need to check the HTC webpage and that he could not advise if it was or not (an odd response I thought).
An update to my (ncmountie) post above... My software version is 1.13.605.7
The 2.2.1 refers to the Android version.
Right on Benjamin!! Great letter! I'm having 100% the same problems as you, and I also called verizon and was told the same thing "No one else has reported this reboot issue". GEEZZZZZZ
As an IT sysadmin I'm finding it hard to want to recommend HTC phones to anyone. I realize that there must be enough people out there that aren't having problems for them to take so long in fixing them but by the same token it seems like a ton of us are having these problems. Maybe people are just returning them and not bothering to wait around? <shrug> All I know is that I'm feeling lucky that my phone only reboots once a day instead of several like others have reported. I'm feeling clever using a 3rd party app to toggle my 3g-4g settings several times a day to conserve battery...needless to say I shouldn't have to feel that way with a smartphone that I had to fork out 2 bills for on top of the 2 year contract. I'm a late adopter of the smartphones because I didn't want to pay the monthly for data but I reached a point where it became necessary for my profession to stop putting it off and bite the monthly fee bullet. HTC is not contributing to me getting my monthly moneys worth with these inconveniences and that makes Verizon look bad too. I don't like getting dropped calls, I don't like losing my data connection, I don't like my phone rebooting and I'm sick of having to leave it plugged in all of the time.
It's bad enough that they haven't unlocked the bootloader for this phone and have forced me to lug around all of this bloatware because I want to see how long I can stand it before I decide to root it.. When they introduce new problems with updates and don't even really fix the original problem I become concerned that I have purchased a lemon and backed a complacent company with my money when I could have just as easily went with Motorolla or heaven forbid....and iPhone!
If HTC has any hope of taking some market share away from the cult of Apple, they had better straighten up their act because we aren't just talking about teed off users hear, we are talking about corporate decision makers who have influence on picking technology for their employers to invest in, we are talking about word of mouth and for every bad phone experience 1 person has, you can be sure that 10 people are going to hear about it.
HTC get with it, fix the gorilla in the living room and unlock the bootloader or you will start loosing MORE market share to Apple instead of taking it away from them.
Great letter! I have been having the same reboot issues as everyone else, ever since the last update.
I went into one of my local VZW stores last weekend to ask about the Gingerbread rumor and the tiered data plan. When I told the manager that I have a Thunderbolt, he responded, "I'm sorry." At least it was some acknowledgement that it sucks right now, but still didn't make me feel any better!