OK - here's my take on who is complaining and who is not.......
When I have good signal, and I hold the phone normally (hand on back of phone) - I lose about 20dB of signal. That's a lot of signal, but if I am in a strong signal area, it doesn't make any difference on the call quality (not that I could hear).
When you are in a average signal area (my home is about 79) and I put my hand on the back, as normal. I get 99 to 101, which absolutely results in bad call quality. I hold the phone with my fingertips at the top and it gets better, hold it normall and quality gets worse.
Went to the store yesterday, they all have this problem and guess what the antenna is right where your hand would be on the back! So what are the choices... Switch to the DROID - a step back in my opinion, but they got one out and i checked it. It also loses some signal, but I could only see a loss of about 5dB worst case, so it would likely be ok.
So it is a real problem... It does appear to be HW, I cannot see how a SW fix could solve the sgnail drain caused by your hand absorbing the signal from the antenna.
I don't want to go backwards and was still in my 30 days with Verizon and the phone, so it is Hello EVO at Sprint for me and so far - it is absolutely great!
Good luck.. you need to demand a fix!!!!!, but I can't see how they can deal with it in the field.
Nick
I had the same problem with my Incredible. I was missing calls left and right. The phone simply was not ringing, even though I'd have 2 bars or more of reception. However, if I made a call OUT with the phone, it would "wake up" and begin receiving calls. However, after about an hour of idle time it would again go dormant. I tried all of the standard procedures from verizon tech support including a complete wipe of the phone. None of it helped. They are now in the process of sending me another Incredible to try. However, after reading these postings I don't think a new phone is going to fix the problem.
Since I switched to Verizon/Incredible I get one or two bars at the most around my house and it keeps going to zero bars. This is in an area where, according to their maps and representatives, I am supposed to have full signal and 3G (I keep loosing 3G, as well). The reps are telling me that I have 3 towers nearby, one about a mile form me. But I CONTINUE TO MISS CALLS!!!! (the phone never rings even though it is on - right next to me)
The phone seems to "wake up" when I try to dial out, so I never have any issues with making calls (although the call quality is very very poor even in areas where I have good signal).
LOL!
I live in the country, the reception is ok, every now and then I loose signal but that has happen with any phone I have had poor reception
Hello guys!
Here I am back with some updates.
A while back I posted my thread with the HTC CS. Since it became useless I gave up replying and posting it here. After that, I received a survey about how they did. I blasted them in it. As a consequence, a higher level CS rep got back to me to ask what was the problem. I have explained him/her and (s)he offered to help me further. Here are the last 3 replies that you may find useful, if you haven's seen these answers elsewhere. They are about hot topics like: signal/reception, battery life, screen visibility. They appear to be coming from a way more intelligent CS rep, and they also look pretty honest to me, although I do not like the news they transmit. Feel free to follow the CS rep's advices below, and please post your feedback here. I will reply back to the CS rep based on my experience and yours. So, be honest and as objective as you can, please.
2010/06/08 01:09:52 Danty (North America Support (Tech)):
Hello (Me), I understand your frustration with the agent, and I will get that addressed. However, for the issues you are having on your Droid Incredible other than signal issue which I have addressed, is there anything else I can assist you with?
2010/06/08 13:03:40 Me:
Hi! I appreciate your perseverance. In fact, there is something else.
The other major issue with the Incredible is the quick battery drainage. Now, please don't give me the speech about how this kind of devices drain the battery fast due to power, usage pattern etc. I'm all aware of that. I didn't expect the battery to last a week, but at least a full working day without having to charge it, with moderate usage. Doesn't happen. I hope you took note of your own fault at this issue, and I'm talking about your "Facebook by HTC" app that comes with the phone, and that you are tempted to use when setting up the phone the first time. That app is an energy hog by not letting the phone go to sleep. I do hope that you read at least your own forum on this device, to find out about the issues. This is how I found out about this issue, form the others. I turned that app off, and the battery definitely lasts much longer. I hope you're gonna fix this up with an update. In general, there are complaints about quite a few of your Sense UI widgets. Therefore, any tips on how to prolong the battery life? And please, don't read me from the book. Don't tell me to turn off this, not use that. I know that not using the device makes the battery last longer. I'm talking about tips like the one with your Facebook app.
Going back to the signal: how are you planning to solve the issue that when holding the phone in the palm the signal strength decreases by about 7 dBm as compared to when one holds it with 2 fingers from the upper left corner? When I read this on one of the forums I thought it was a joke. But I tried it myself and it was true. What kind of crappy antenna did you put in this device? And don't tell me that I have to hold the phone with the tips of my fingers, like I saw posted an advice from one of your reps. That's just ridiculous. And because of this signal issue I do drop calls, the other party's speech breaks off or the voice gets "robotic".
Any advice on how to make the screen more visible in direct sunlight, it's often times literally unusable, no exaggeration? I live in FL. I'm outside a lot. I'm sure you know this is another major issue.
Overall this device is very nice. But unfortunately it has a few major flows, the once discussed above. There are many other small things, but they are not a pain in the neck. That's about it for now. Thanks.
2010/06/14 08:19:56 Danty (North America Support (Tech)):
Hello (Me), I would like you to try these steps to help improve your battery life. First connect your phone to the charger with it powered on. Once it is fully charged, disconnect the phone from the charger and then power the phone off. Connect the phone back to the charger and charge it with the phone powered OFF until its fully charged. Next disconnect the phone, power it on, and the power it off, and reconnect the phone with it OFF and charge the phone until it is fully charged. Disconnect and use. As far as the Facebook goes you can change the update frequency by pressing Menu from the Home screen, select Settings, tap on Accounts and Sync, select Facebook, and change the Account Settings. I would recommend changing the other email accounts, and other accounts sync frequencies. As far as the HTC Sense widgets, these only update if you scroll to the home screen they are on.
As far as the ROM update for the signal issue, this will most likely be released as an Over-The-Air or OTA update for your phone. These issues with the signal may also be causing some of the battery issues as well. Until then, yes, you will most likely have to adjust how you are holding the phone or possibly use a Bluetooth headset to allow you to place the phone in a holster that may not cover the antenna.
For the screen issue, unfortunately, these screens are AMOLED screens and are not specifically designed to be use direct sunlight. These are more designed to be office and home based phones. You can attempt to tilt the screen towards you, i.e. Hold the phone vertical, then tilt the front closer to you similar to this ( / ) and look downward to the screen, this may provide some better viewing.
Otherwise, I do apologize for the inconveniences. Thanks, Danty.
I agree, these aren't the "Wow, that's great" answers I was hoping for, but their realistic and I'm glad to see the acknowledgement of the Signal issue.
Actually, those are pretty good answers in my opinion.
The AMOLED screen answer was the only answer that might be given. I knew of this "problem" in advance of purchasing my Incredible because of my previous familiarity with OLED screens of all types, and it only seems to be debilitating when the screen is used in actually direct sunlight. I can usually shade the screen with my hand and MARGINALLY use it then, but it's a bigger problem on the Incredible than it might be on other phones because of its dependence on the AMOLED touchscreen for so many functions.
The battery "solution," which seems a bit much for a battery that wise users need to recharge every night anyhow, is just plain weird. It's almost like it's an old NiCad with the charge memory problems they used to have. Lithium Ion batteries aren't supposed to work that way, and I wonder if it's some strategy they have decided to pursue to prevent overcharging and overheating.
As for the hand positioning issue, like I have said previously, this is an issue for all cell phones -- it's a law of physics thing. If it is worse on the Incredible (something, I must point out, that does not seem to affect my own unit -- I do get a signal drop but only of about two-to-five Db no matter how I cup my hands around it to deliberately try to obscure the signal), it does not seem that any kind of software/OS/firmware solution would apply.
But if this really IS an issue it would seem to me that it has to do with the antenna's physical position within the phone, something I am curious how it might be handled by a software or firmware upgrade. I am even curiouser about what "Danty" meant when describing the ROM-based solution as being "most likely be released." If something will improve the already quite good performance of my Incredible, I want it for real now, and not "most likely."
The Bluetooth suggestion seemed a bit ill thought out, though, particularly when your chief complaint was battery life and Bluetooth is about as big a battery hog as anything you can run on a phone.
Update on my incredible headache.
I complained to HTC, who gave me generic bs responses. A guy did a follow up call and he did not leave his number for some reason. He called 3 times and said the third was the last time he would call. What is this a UPS package? Leave a call back number buddy. I did not answer the phone because the reception sucks, and I have to screen my calls. He left a voicemail apologizing about the reception issues, said they are aware, and there is no ETA for a fix. But they are working hard to fix it he said. I heard that over 30 days ago. I can no longer deal with this issue and therefore have taken action with Verizon.
Verizon transfers me to tech support. I go over the whole situation. His solution is to send me a replacement DINC. I say, well if HTC is acknowledging there is a problem, why would a replacement work. The guy could not understand this logic, so I agreed to get a replacement. The replacement arrives and has a sticker like new. Honestly, I do not care if it is used if it works. I turn it on, and its the same as my original phone. -95dBM, cutting it and out. You would think that if the phone was already used they would test it out.
So I call verizon on my wife's phone and tell them that the new one has the same problem, just like I thought it would. I proposed that give me a third line on my family plan (10 bucks a month), and they should pick up the tab. No dice there.
They told me that my 30 days were up. I said that the reason I waited was because HTC said they were working to fix it and I just needed to be patient. They said they would switch me out to another phone of my choosing. I stated I had a blackberry with T-mobile on a much cheaper plan, and that I was happy with it. If I have to switch to a blackberry for verizon for a more expensive plan, this sucks. I would have never switched. She then tried to sell me on the Moto Droid. I stated that I would not have switched from T-mobile for that phone. I also heard that they were coming out with a new moto droid in july. I do not want to be stuck with this outdated phone for two years because of bad timing. I suggested I would take the moto droid if they were willing to give me a free upgade when the next moto droid 2 comes out in July. She would not budge and said no to that.
Well I told her if I have to take a lesser phone for 2 years, at the expensive verizon plan, my wife and I will surely not renew our contracts. Also I will be writing the better business bureau and FCC about my story on how I switched to Verizon on the basis that I would be getting a working droid incredible.
To her credit, she did not want to leave it at this. So she said she was going to call her manager and HTC and do some more research. She also called me on the DINC to see the difference between this and my wifes phone.
Either verizon should:
a. Let me out of my contract (which is still a major inconvenience).
b. Swap me for a moto droid with an agreement to let me upgrade for free in the next 3-6 months.
c. Or pay for me to have a third line until HTC solves the DINC problem (which will probably be never).
Its really a shame, as the DINC would be awesome if not for the reception issues. I could have stayed on T-mobile and switched to verizon when the Moto Droid 2 came out, but now if they let me out of my contract, I can't just go back to T-mobile for 3 months. (I will not go to spring or buy an HTC phone again so the EVO is NOT an option for me).
what to do, what to do. She said she will call me back by tomorrow the latest. Does anyone have a phone number for an HTC executive?
your problem is you believed them in the beginning
the beef is with Verizon, and not HTC, and they will NEVER let you out of your contract
Your only recourse is to sell the inc on ebay, and hopefully recover most of the cost of ETF and the phone
I dumped mine at day 28 because I knew this problem would take more than 30 days to resolve, if they even can resolve it
HTC North America Headquarters 425-679-5318. I got this by scrolling to the bottom right of this page under "About HTC" and clicking "Contact Us"
Can I add the replacement phone was used in like new condition. Tonight I just realized that the wifi does not even work on this replacement phone. So while I am waiting to hear back from the more senior person, I called tech support to troubleshoot, and they said it was defective. They said they could send me another replacement. I told the lady I'll wait to speak to my case worker tomorrow and update her. The tech support lady was so confused. I started to tell her the story then said nevermind, its not worth getting worked up about again.
The thing is my wife is on verizon, and I was actually happy to be on a family plan with one bill. So even if they let me out of the contract I am not sure what I would do. What a nightmare.
Sad, I returned the device. Verizon tried to charge me an early termination fee too, even though I was 28 days into my 30 days. Calls to Customer support fixed the problem though.
The incredible was the best device I'd ever used. I hope HTC and Verizon figure out a fix for it.
My WiFi works just fine, like everything else on my Incredible. I have two wireless networks in my house and the thing connects as well as the NICs in my computers do.
If you want best-in-the-industry connection reliability, wait for the Motorola. They have a long record of excelling in such things, dating back to the earliest radiophones and walkie-talkies. I just can't deal with the weight of the things, because I carry my cell phone in my shirt pocket.
It is now June 16. I got my Incredible on April 29. I have yet to drop my first call.