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3G Drops & Standby Battery Drain (Solutions)

VeloMichael said:
At the very least, anyone having 3G problems should call Virgin and demand some credit to your account for the 3G downtime. And spread the word as widely as you can. The more they get the message we're not going to "just put up with this" the more likely they are to get it fixed sooner (or ever).

I doubt they want to end up with a horrible reputation like AT&T did in many cities with the iPhone. Those problems, ultimately, caused the most of massive "defection" from AT&T to Verizon as soon as that option became available.

Granted, we don't have another $25 unlimited plan to defect to. But we can at least make things more expensive for Virgin as added incentive to fix the problem(s).
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A good way to make it expensive for them is to start returning phones and getting new ones, I did it with my first phone and I'm doing it with my second, I'm going to keep doing it until there is no more Optimus in Orlando. Then at the end of the month ask for a free month (since I'm not getting what my contract is advertising)... If I don't get it I'll return my phones and dispute the charge for the 2x25 for not receiving the service.... if we return all our phones they may do something... and maybe we can get a refurbish at a discounted price!!!:D
 
BTW anybody has a phone where I can talk to a tech representative, I'm tired of calling the same number and hearing the same excuses... at least I want new bullshit, something more elaborated that sound real....
 
VeloMichael said:
I doubt they want to end up with a horrible reputation like AT&T did in many cities with the iPhone. Those problems, ultimately, caused the most of massive "defection" from AT&T to Verizon as soon as that option became available.
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We are, unfortunately, at the bottom of the food chain, in terms of account holders that VM (or any other provider) would care about keeping happy. When you take the cheapest no-contract plan available, you can't expect them to work their hardest at pleasing you. You should, however, be able to expect the service that you agreed to pay for. If they are not providing said service on a consistent basis, then they should have to adjust their pricing accordingly.

btw, I just tried the fix that the original poster suggested, and it seemed to work, at least for now.
 
still no 3G data, I really envy all of you loosing connection... I'm not able to establish one!

weird thing I've being up for 1.5 hours and I have a 3% time without signal... I was always above 50%... but anyway no data connection....
 
Sounds like you're doing that strictly out of SPITE. VM/Sprint could probably care less.

Stores are only gonna let you return so many phones.

I can assure you, it wont be hurting VM/Sprint.....you'll just be wasting your time, gas, and money trying to "get back" at Virgin Mobile.

All returned phones go to a central return center. Virgin Mobile will just them as replacement phones for defective ones for the ones people have problems with.

Many stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and more recently BESTBUY are limiting the number of returns you can have within a specified period.

Good luck on your "I'll get your back VM" plan......

maxjav said:
A good way to make it expensive for them is to start returning phones and getting new ones, I did it with my first phone and I'm doing it with my second, I'm going to keep doing it until there is no more Optimus in Orlando. Then at the end of the month ask for a free month (since I'm not getting what my contract is advertising)... If I don't get it I'll return my phones and dispute the charge for the 2x25 for not receiving the service.... if we return all our phones they may do something... and maybe we can get a refurbish at a discounted price!!!:D
Click to expand...
 
greg4android said:
Sounds like you're doing that strictly out of SPITE. VM/Sprint could probably care less.

Stores are only gonna let you return so many phones.

I can assure you, it wont be hurting VM/Sprint.....you'll just be wasting your time, gas, and money trying to "get back" at Virgin Mobile.

All returned phones go to a central return center. Virgin Mobile will just them as replacement phones for defective ones for the ones people have problems with.

Many stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and more recently BESTBUY are limiting the number of returns you can have within a specified period.

Good luck on your "I'll get your back VM" plan......
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it is not really a "get your back" plan, I really want this to work, even if I have to reset the phone 4 times a day... that is the main reason I keep trying... I would be more than happy if I don't have to return any more phones.... the returning part is more to test a theory that Leslie Ann posted about the problem being caused by users changing settings and/or installing applications ... so far I have not installed nor change a setting in the phone with the exception of the number and PIN and 3G is not working. So I just talk to a representative, and suggest that the problem was in my account they are "reseting" my account and she ask me to try in 10 minutes at least this time is not 4 hours.... to be honest I don't believe her.... lets see

It looks like they did something because I don't get the 3G icon now... that maybe good.... or bad...

I'll keep all posted
 
Ok, I wasn't sure about your intent.

" I did it with my first phone and I'm doing it with my second, I'm going to keep doing it until there is no more Optimus in Orlando. "

didn't really make alot of sense. But if you think you might have a bum
phone, that be an option
 
lou61166 said:
I feel these wireless providers are addicted to getting new uses by any means possible without any consideration if their networks can handle it,they are taking risks that in the long run could cost them either in class action suites or heavy FCC fines.the corporate greed factor is in full swing.i am sticking it out because it has not yet reared it's ugly head on me.
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Very True it s a War out there to see who can cover the world, be a while before the cease fire will happen. Come on quite bitching heck I am just under a Sprint tower and shows one-two bars farther get away from its full bars so go figure that one out, so telling you that jamming is going on out there bet anything its ATT doing.
 
Quite graping over it its not Vm fault beside is brandname of Sprint. Sprint is to blame in all of this, Att is out for a massive ownership of towers, so now that T-mobile part of their clan, Sprint might as well get some two maybe get metroPCS.
 
Quite graping over it its not Vm fault beside is brandname of Sprint. Sprint is to blame in all of this, Att is out for a massive ownership of towers, so now that T-mobile part of their clan, Sprint might as well get some too maybe get whatever company is out there left. Sprint hasVirgin, Boost(Nextel)which are there biggest brands,Commenesense,Talkright,few other smal ones
 
For many of us, 3G is usable less than half the time we attempt it. For some of us, it's not usable at all. It's been this way for weeks and is getting worse instead of better.

Some here seem to think it's not worth complaining about. Really? When I signed up nobody explained accessing the internet with my "unlimited data plan" was going to be mostly an exercise in frustration.

I know you get what you pay for. When I signed I expected slower data speeds, not being allowed to tether (hot spot), etc. I did not expect complete and frequent 3G failures especially when a Sprint phone right next to me is working great. 90% of why anyone would want an Android phone becomes unusable without a data connection.

I'm honestly not sure what the relationship is between VM and Sprint. For example, do they share customer service departments and just have different voice response messages? Do they have the same or different network provisioning engineers? Sprint owns the show, so I guess they're likley to blame. But we're stuck complaining to Virgin.
 
I was really jacked up when I realized I could cut my price in half with Virgin Mobile and get a good Android phone in the Olympus. Things started to get bleak the moment I bought the phone. It took the Radio Shack guy over an hour to program the phone and it still did not work the next day. I finally got it working, but now I have had since day 1 (2 weeks ago) Internet connectivity problems. I can only get Internet if I turn off and on the phone.

I called VM 3 different times and was told the following:
1-It may take a few months to fix the issue and to be patient
2-My phone did not have 3G Android and they would push the update out to me
3-I was told my phone was activated incorrectly and my phone would be fine once reactivated

I am extremely dissapointed that VM is not telling the customers the truth that there is an issue with the Olympus phone. As far as I am concerned they should not be selling the phone until the issue is fixed.
 
Join the Club, everyone here shares your frustration. If you have a facebook page you might want to go to the virgin mobile page and you will find lots others in the same predicament. You will have to "Like" the page in order to post comments. I believe it will get fixed eventually but it will take awhile, I'm hearing at least another month or two before it is fully restored. I emailed VM at VMUSocialCare <VMUSocialCare@sprint.com> you have to give them your phone number and pin and the problem your having and tell them that you feel that you deserve some type of compensation. They credited my account for another month so I'm willing to deal with these issues a little while longer. I had the Blackberry previously when it first came out and it took about two month to work out some issues with MMS and streaming youtube, but they did eventually fix it. This is the price you pay for not having a contract.

loumalnati said:
I was really jacked up when I realized I could cut my price in half with Virgin Mobile and get a good Android phone in the Olympus. Things started to get bleak the moment I bought the phone. It took the Radio Shack guy over an hour to program the phone and it still did not work the next day. I finally got it working, but now I have had since day 1 (2 weeks ago) Internet connectivity problems. I can only get Internet if I turn off and on the phone.

I called VM 3 different times and was told the following:
1-It may take a few months to fix the issue and to be patient
2-My phone did not have 3G Android and they would push the update out to me
3-I was told my phone was activated incorrectly and my phone would be fine once reactivated

I am extremely dissapointed that VM is not telling the customers the truth that there is an issue with the Olympus phone. As far as I am concerned they should not be selling the phone until the issue is fixed.
Click to expand...
 
greg4android said:
Ok, I wasn't sure about your intent.

" I did it with my first phone and I'm doing it with my second, I'm going to keep doing it until there is no more Optimus in Orlando. "

didn't really make alot of sense. But if you think you might have a bum
phone, that be an option
Click to expand...

you are right, that sentence come out of frustration.... I just returned one phone, and since the brand new is doing exactly the same out of the box (no app no settings changed) it is clear to me that it is not the phone (or if it is is affecting all of them), so I'll keep attempting to get my first 3G byte from the network.... yesterday after I call they did something and now I don't have any connectivity... I'm calling them again to follow on...

I'll do request from them a free month next billing cycle if they don't get this fix.... I think that is the minimum... if they are working in the issue and want us to be patient...

BTW anybody interested in a space walk in the Virgin space shuttle ... I think they have an offer $499.... one way only though...:)
 
maxjav said:
you are right, that sentence come out of frustration.... I just returned one phone, and since the brand new is doing exactly the same out of the box (no app no settings changed) it is clear to me that it is not the phone (or if it is is affecting all of them), so I'll keep attempting to get my first 3G byte from the network.... yesterday after I call they did something and now I don't have any connectivity... I'm calling them again to follow on...

I'll do request from them a free month next billing cycle if they don't get this fix.... I think that is the minimum... if they are working in the issue and want us to be patient...

BTW anybody interested in a space walk in the Virgin space shuttle ... I think they have an offer $499.... one way only though...:)
Click to expand...

well I never had connectivity what I meant is I don't have the 3G icon and the phone is not even trying to connect, it say no connectivity inmediatly without waiting for the time out...
 
Update

Another hour working on the problem&#8230;. But good news, I got one of the phones working!! And it is my phone!!

So here they are some details.

I call from my wife&#8217;s phone to solve my phone problem talk to a guy he gives me 30 minutes and put me in the priority list the technical department is working on it, etc etc&#8230;

I call from my phone to try to get something done in my wife&#8217;s phone, the guy pull a different trick this time, he wants to reprogram the phone, but first is going to clean up the memory. So after ##847446# he ask me to change the MSID to 1010101010 select done wait for review, repeat and change the MSID to the original again meanwhile he is going to do something back stage to reprogram the phone, he tell me to wait about an hour&#8230; since this guy looks like above the average level I ask to fix my phone but since I&#8217;m using it I can&#8217;t do the 1010101010&#8230; anyway we plan for him to do his magic and me resetting&#8230;. The funny thing is while I&#8217;m still booting my wife&#8217;s phone suddenly I got 3G working in my phone without even resetting it&#8230; my wife&#8217;s phone is not working yet though&#8230;

So the fix to my phone come directly for something done by the representative&#8230; my theory is when you activate the phone, depending on the area, you just get the voice plan activated, not the data plan. The data plan goes to a waiting list and you get eventually activated when the system can support X number of users&#8230;. But if you complain you get bumped higher in the list&#8230; if you complain enough they go and activate the account&#8230;. This maybe a crazy theory, but I started yesterday with a brand new phone and after activation the only thing I&#8217;ve done is complain by phone until something in my account has being changed and 3G works&#8230;. It even works at home where I have 1 or 2 bars!


Now I&#8217;ll start the battle for the second phone!
 
lou61166 said:
Congrats,know you are on the same level as most of us,activated data,but still having to do the radio toggle switching or battery pulls multiple times a day,though today at has worked great,at at least for me.
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Thanks... so far it is being good for phone#1, still waiting for #2.. speed looks decent... when you have no connection at all having to toggle radio does not look that bad.... although after a couple of weeks I will probably change my mind :)


Now i'm scared of installing applications, anyone had trouble with some specific ones? I'm thinking in "Advance Task Killer", "AVG antivirus", "speed test net", "Skype", "Evernote", "Quick settings" (especificall to activate hot spot), acCleaner, batery widget (just to check battery, not to control battery usage) app to SD", I don't want to install anything that may jeopardize the 3G connection!! Is there any known app that may kill the connection?
 
I complained to the BBB last week. Exec customer service called me today and are sending a replacement and providing credit. we'll see how the new one goes.
 
After being off work two days, I returned. TWO people at work have Sprint Phones. One girl I work with has the OPTIMUS S, anotherhas an EVO.

I asked them if they had any issues with their internet/data the last couple of days. Reply was NO.

So, at lunch, I told the girl the issues we'd been thru with Virgin Mobile, and asked her if I could borrow her phone during lunch, and see it the phones acted the same. This was the OPTIMUS S on SPRINT.

I turned her phone off, and restarted fresh. I turned the OPTIMUS V (mine) off and restarted fresh.

OPTIMUS S on sprint had 4 FULL BARS of 3G signal showing.
OPTIMUS V fluctuated between 2 and 3.

OPTIMUS S (SPRINT) had FULL INTERNET ACCESS. Speedtest around 1.23mbps.
OPTIMUS V (VM) **SAID** 3G, but there was NO CONNECTIVITY,
the up/down arrows would come up acting like there was activity on the internet, but the page would eventually time out.

SECOND TEST- - - At 1:30, I asked the guy with the EVO if he has internet connectivity, and he did (he launched a few pages for me...pretty snappy). at 1:30 the OPTIMUS V (VM) still had no data connection even after doing airplane mode, and toggling mobile data on/off.

We have 1 sprint tower here. The tower is across the street from where we were.

OK......TELL ME WHY ****TWO**** sprint phones connect to the SAME TOWER as this OPTIMUS V, YET the two SPRINT PHONES have perfect connectivity, yet the Virgin Mobile Optimus V (which connects the SAME TOWER) has NO CONNECTIVITY.

I think Virgin Mobile is feeding us a bunch of S**T!!!!!!! If an almost identical phone (OPTIMUS S) works off the same tower, WHY doesn't the OPTIMUS V work?

OBVIOUSLY, there is no outage here (not sure about nationally). A dedicated SPRINT phone connects. A Virgin Mobile phone doesn't.

So, that leads me to believe there is some kind of radio issue in the phone. The signal continually fluctuates (2 bars to 3 to 1) on the OPTIMUS V(VM)....The OPTIMUS S (sprint) maintained a constant 4 bars........

I believe Virgin Mobile phones are on the bottom of the data/processing queue. What ever bandwidth is left over, Virgin Mobile phones are allocated. Has to be some truth in this, because why would TWO sprint phones just move right along on the data aspect, and the VM phone is crippled????? the SPRINT PHONES were connected to the "SPRINT PCS" network. TWO days ago when I could connect, I did a speedtest test, and it showed me on the "SPRINT PCS" network.

something's screwy, and no one wants to tell EXACTLY what's going on.
I dont agree with the "national outage" excuses at all. the data's working up and running here. THREE PHONES on the same network. 2 Connect, 1 doesn't. TWO are Sprint phones, 1 is a Virgin Mobile (but they all connect thru the same tower.

Ok, enough analyzing....Virgin Mobile is bs'ing us outright!!!!! Virgin is
on the bottom of the tower when it comes to data allocation.
and exactly HOW are they adding "more capacity" when the "capacity" is there (for sprint phones anyway), but not for Virgin Mobile devices.

I believe its a botched firmware in the phone that's doing this. Why would Virgin Mobile offer to send replacement phones if they weren't different?

Last day to take mine back. its going back. If the issue ever seems to mysteriously become better, I might consider it again. you guys can believe what you want about what VM tells you is wrong. I'm convinced, its only with the Optimus V on the Sprint network.

ANYONE WANT TO BUY MY THREE EXTRA BATTERIES ?(phone's going back). PM me if you do.
 
greg4android - you almost have the understanding. This is a network provisioning issue. The tower deals with the radio and underlying transport mechanism. You are not going to the internet from systems based at the tower. That traffic is routed to a central location on Sprint's internal network (which we believe is in the Wichita, KS datacenter) and then fed out through the routers to the internet. Those routers to the internet have a specific bandwidth QoS limitation based on what VM is buying from Sprint. There may even be a QoS setting for VM subscribers within the internal Sprint network as well. Only Sprint and VM know this. Any combination of the service levels being hit will cause issues for VM users.

This issue has already been discussed many times on other forums for the VM LG Optimus V. All discussions also hark back to when VM rolled out the MiFi and the same thing happened at that time as well. They didn't prepare their network to handle the traffic ahead of time. It's a reactionary business. See what happens, then fix it after the fact. Keeps costs down but customers are very unhappy.
 
Well, yeah, I understand how it works, but you provided a much more techincal understanding of it.

In another post, I told that I was affected by the previous rollout of the MC760 "unlimited" and the mifi. When first rolled out, connectivity was very spotty. We were routed thru a server in walnut creek, CA. Essentially, it was overloaded. After the switched servers and routing, we ended up thru a server in KS, which seemed to make connectivity and data speeds better. So, I'm well aware of Virgin Mobile's history of launching devices/services with overwhelming response, then for them not being able to support them.

History repeats itself now with the Optimus V. I still think there are some bugs in the phone itself, and the Android O/s. the signal strength goes everywhere. When the phone actually DID access data, it would sometimes show NO bars, but would download at 500kbps. 2 minutes, later 4 bars.

Virgin Mobile is never going to be straight up about what's happening though. So for me, I just returned mine, and gave up. I'll be filing a chargeback month of service I paid for and got 5 days of use out (used 14 minutes of calling time, and 2 days of light internet).

ANYONE WANT TO BUY THE THREE EXTRA BATTERIES I PURCHASED??????? Pm me.

crush157 said:
greg4android - you almost have the understanding. This is a network provisioning issue. The tower deals with the radio and underlying transport mechanism. You are not going to the internet from systems based at the tower. That traffic is routed to a central location on Sprint's internal network (which we believe is in the Wichita, KS datacenter) and then fed out through the routers to the internet. Those routers to the internet have a specific bandwidth QoS limitation based on what VM is buying from Sprint. There may even be a QoS setting for VM subscribers within the internal Sprint network as well. Only Sprint and VM know this. Any combination of the service levels being hit will cause issues for VM users.

This issue has already been discussed many times on other forums for the VM LG Optimus V. All discussions also hark back to when VM rolled out the MiFi and the same thing happened at that time as well. They didn't prepare their network to handle the traffic ahead of time. It's a reactionary business. See what happens, then fix it after the fact. Keeps costs down but customers are very unhappy.
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So I disabled auto sync in the data settings and my 3g did not drop the entire day, very stable and sometimes even approaching 1.2 mbps.

donno if this is what caused it to be nice for the day, but i will see if it stays like this.

feel free to try this and report back.
 
I had my first day ever where I had 3G the whole day (Im in Chicago). My settings are normal..autosynch is on.. I have no idea why today was ok..

Can anyone tell me why I have no problems with my phone calls. What is the difference between the signal/data sent to the Sprint towers for my phone calls vs the signal/data sent to Sprint for the 3G. If Sprint is favoring Sprint customers with there signal/data, then why no problems with my phone.
 
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