Important Information for Everyone with this Phone Directly from HTC Escalation

[metal571]

Yeah, but for people who use their phone frequently, it's not that great. Don't try and say the simple fix is to use Google Voice either.

How much of a PITA will it be for you to have 100 minutes, disable your voicemail, use Google Voice, have to have two phone numbers, and rely on your data coverage for your calls when you run out of minutes? Is a Nexus worth that too?

I hardly need 100 minutes in my case, and if I want 200 or 300 minutes all you have to do is top up on that month...

 

[Droidula]

Yes, it's a 2-year contract. I look at it as that's 2 years I don't have to mess with it as I am completely happy with it (if I weren't, I have 14 days to "undo").

I understand your thought process, like I said, I'm almost tempted myself to sign a cursed contract to have a working phone. If this works out better for you, then more power to you. I am still surprised though that they gave you the phones, even though what you said makes sense, as far as gaining new customers. I guess you got the right people. I hope this works out for you, and those phones are going to be awesome!

 

[Leslie Ann]

Sms error fix thread with possible working solution using modified Sprint flash--> SMS Error fix (s-off required) - Android Forums

Just saying...
I don't have the problem as bad as my wife (probably because I don't text as much) but if this will fix the issue then it will probably become a standard step for people who root and Rom to improve functionality like me.

It's not perfect, the sms error is actually telling you that it's delayed, but people aren't being told that, they are just getting a stupid error message. However, it's too sensitive, so at the first sign of delay (timeout), it kicks out the error.

The newer PRI gives it a longer timeout, and a plain text message telling you it's delayed. The newer radio also will help once it's fully tested. The Hboot is beneficial for testing and for allowing other roms, but isn't necessary. Probably by tonight we should have a good idea where we stand on the radio.



And yes it is smart to let others experiment. Some people are just plain are reckless, some are more cautious, and some are just curious, but letting them all go first can certainly save you some hassle. LOL.

This phone was good out of the box, not great, but good. After all the Sprint tweaks, it's great.

 

[Droidula]

I think I will wait a little longer to make sure that there are not going to be any other errors after flashing the new radio, and to see if it does make a noticeable difference with the signal fluctuations. Also, I have not researched s-off enough yet. I know that it means that bootloader security is off, but I have to see if it's easy to do first, heh.

I have a quick noob question: I will also look this up a bit later, but I haven't read up on backing up enough yet. I am always reading about nandroid and 4EXT. I saw in the guide to rooting and flashing thread it talks about how to install 4EXT, but...4EXT and nandroid both perform a backup function, so I don't need both, right? Does it make a difference which I use? Do I install nandroid? I have backed up basic stuff after rooting, but haven't done anything else, and would have to before trying anything more complicated than the rooting.

 

[koopakid08]

I think I will wait a little longer to make sure that there are not going to be any other errors after flashing the new radio, and to see if it does make a noticeable difference with the signal fluctuations. Also, I have not researched s-off enough yet. I know that it means that bootloader security is off, but I have to see if it's easy to do first, heh.

I have a quick noob question: I will also look this up a bit later, but I haven't read up on backing up enough yet. I am always reading about nandroid and 4EXT. I saw in the guide to rooting and flashing thread it talks about how to install 4EXT, but...4EXT and nandroid both perform a backup function, so I don't need both, right? Does it make a difference which I use? Do I install nandroid? I have backed up basic stuff after rooting, but haven't done anything else, and would have to before trying anything more complicated than the rooting.

Nandroid is just what we call a complete backup. You can use any recovery to do a Nandroid backup, twrp, 4EXT, etc. But the Nandroid you make with that recovery should only be used with that same recovery. So don't go trying to restore a 4EXT backup on twrp or a twrp 1 backup on twrp 2.

 

[Droidula]

Nandroid is just what we call a complete backup. You can use any recovery to do a Nandroid backup, twrp, 4EXT, etc. But the Nandroid you make with that recovery should only be used with that same recovery. So don't go trying to restore a 4EXT backup on twrp or a twrp 1 backup on twrp 2.

Ah I gotcha, thank you. So flashing TWRP 1.1.1 was part of the rooting process, and I followed the backup step there- that backup would be good enough that I would be able to use that in case anything would go wrong with flashing something else?

 

[greysonbotts]

Ah I gotcha, thank you. So flashing TWRP 1.1.1 was part of the rooting process, and I followed the backup step there- that backup would be good enough that I would be able to use that in case anything would go wrong with flashing something else?

as I understand what we are talking about here is not backed up or recovered normally as it is a very protected and important area of the phones memory.

 

[greysonbotts]

Something in these radio files was changed by virgin or HTC for whatever reason and then not tested before release on our phones... Then we got upset about it and some very talented people got together and figured out how to fix it (for good) apparently
Yay!

 

[V8danny]

After spending hours with virgin mobile on the phone, I decided to sell my Evo V and switched to Sprint. I got the SIII and I am very pleased with it. SprInt's 3G speeds are not the best but coming from Virgin Mobile they are far superior.

 

[bsoplinger]

After spending hours with virgin mobile on the phone, I decided to sell my Evo V and switched to Sprint. I got the SIII and I am very pleased with it. SprInt's 3G speeds are not the best but coming from Virgin Mobile they are far superior.

I'm very confused here. The same towers, the same signal. How can there be a difference?

 

[metal571]

I'm very confused here. The same towers, the same signal. How can there be a difference?

The radio firmware is broken on the EVO V. It's not on the S3. Still, Sprint has by far the worst coverage, worst 3G AND worst overall 4G speed of any carrier, so I'm really confused as to why he didn't go with something like T-Mo prepaid...

 

[V8danny]

The radio firmware is broken on the EVO V. It's not on the S3. Still, Sprint has by far the worst coverage, worst 3G AND worst overall 4G speed of any carrier, so I'm really confused as to why he didn't go with something like T-Mo prepaid...

There has to be a difference. I can assure you. I've had the Optimus V, MT, and Evo V and never got the speeds that I get with the S3. Yes, Sprint has the worst 3G and 4G but it's unlimited. I also only pay $30+tax a month for unlimited everything except for landlines(Family plan) Sorry if the picture is too big and I never got higher than 250 with virgin mobile. Btw what I notIced Is that my sIgnal drops suddenly lIke when I had the EvoV but never gotten any error. So sprInt maybe does have somethIng to do wIth the problems the Evo V has.

 

[metal571]

There has to be a difference. I can assure you. I've had the Optimus V, MT, and Evo V and never got the speeds that I get with the S3. Yes, Sprint has the worst 3G and 4G but it's unlimited. I also only pay $30+tax a month for unlimited everything except for landlines(Family plan) Sorry if the picture is too big and I never got higher than 250 with virgin mobile. Btw what I notIced Is that my sIgnal drops suddenly lIke when I had the EvoV but never gotten any error. So sprInt maybe does have somethIng to do wIth the problems the Evo V has.

Interesting, and actually I've seen speeds over 1.2 mbps in my town with the EVO V. Wow you must have a lot of people on that family plan, I thought unlimited everything started at $80.

 

[koopakid08]

I'm very confused here. The same towers, the same signal. How can there be a difference?

Sprint has roaming, he could be on Verizon's towers.

Sprint customers also have higher priority over the data for obvious reasons.

 

[903Tex]

Sprint has roaming, he could be on Verizon's towers.

Sprint customers also have higher priority over the data for obvious reasons.

Virgin/boost customers get the backhaul on towers. Which is excepted(should be) since how much we pay for service. But i get pretty good data speeds on virgin so after doing a year contract with a evo 4g when it first came out. I dont see the point in signing a sprint contract for 2 years. Unless you need roaming, unlimited data, and up to date devices, the only points i can see anybody signing with sprint postpaid side.

Verizon data isnt any faster depending on where you are located, but what helps them is they have spent the money to pretty much cover the usa with voice and data.

With cdma (sprint/verizon) the highest you can get in data speeds is 3.1mbps. Wimax could have worked out but sprint to me waited to long to established it. Which is why its offered to us now, cause they don't have plans to upgrade or establish new wimax areas. so if you dont get wimax you wont ever unless you move to a area that has it! While even in my town verizon has LTE, but with its unlimited data gone i dont see the point in having fast data speeds with data caps! Smartphones are replacing feature phones. Before long its either you get a iphone, android, or windows phone or you won't have a phone at all!

Once sprint does this rev b plan you should see a increase in coverage for both voice and data, but if speeds are what you are after then pray sprint installs lte in your area then switch to postpaid, or cough up the extra money and find another carrier. Easier said then done, but its all using your senses. Do you really need blazing fast speeds on your phone? i guess if you dont have home internet maybe but you find more people wanting to root their phones to tether for free then paying extra for using tether.
To me this is what killing unlimited data. You, me and others don't tether or if we do we don't use much, but for every person on AF, you know somebody who tether more off their carrier data, then there home internet.

 

[903Tex]

Yeah, but for people who use their phone frequently, it's not that great. Don't try and say the simple fix is to use Google Voice either.

How much of a PITA will it be for you to have 100 minutes, disable your voicemail, use Google Voice, have to have two phone numbers, and rely on your data coverage for your calls when you run out of minutes? Is a Nexus worth that too?

Depends on how much somebody uses on voice. Not only a nexus but NO phone is worth having if you use more than 100 minutes a month but on a 100 minute plan. But there are other ways around that when using google voice, like porting your number. Not free(20 bucks)

straight talk sells BYOD sims for tmobile with unlimited talk/txt and 2-3gbs of data for 45 a month.(tax if your state charges it)

 

[KyngTech]

For everyone who has had the Radio Interface error and even those of you who don't, I just learned some very valuable information directly from an HTC Escalations Department rep by phone. Before you go on, I'm very serious about this. This guy knows what an RUU is. That's saying something when it comes to CS!

Alright here's what you need to know. The HTC EVO V 4G DOES have a SOFTWARE bug in it that causes this Error 64 Class 2 bug, and it is directly related to the fact that this phone was not designed for Virgin Mobile's specific network. The problem has nothing to do with "cell tower outages." All of that, and I mean all of that, if CS tells you that's related, is BULL. The phone has a software bug that is currently being worked on by HTC themselves. The worst part of all this is that this guy specifically said that the likelihood of the bug being fixed within the next 3 weeks (the end of my billing cycle, 8/20 for me) is slim to none. Thus, I will be selling my EVO and never looking back, never to touch VM ever again. This is bad business, bad practice, and poor planning. Don't you just wish more companies would at least do a serious field trial before actually releasing bugged out software? I sure do, and they probably didn't even bother. So now you know. Once again, this is definitive, and I just got off the phone with these guys less than an hour ago. There's not much you can do if you get this bug as it is related to the ROM (the guy I talked with even used the acronym ROM, so I kinda have to believe what he's saying here). Thanks for your attention guys, I wanted to make this a new thread so people would start seeing it, so spread the word. You'll have to either get out now while you can if you need the phone for important business, or wait it out, but don't hold your breath for an update within the next month, though.

I for one will be porting my number to T-Mobile prepaid @ $30 a month and add minutes whenever necessary, with the fabulous and all-powerful Jelly Bean loaded Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I'm done with this VM garbage.

Well i only got that message one time, but first why would you go talk to a CS? thats a stupid move cause they know hardly anything about the phones they have now. But when i got the message i just updated my profile and PRL and i was good. but the reason you get it is because when you move out your zipcode your phone was registered to be in the radio that gives your phone service is far away and it dont go from tower to tower on its own, yes that is a bug. But its not like your phone is defective or anything it just have a minor problem that needs minor fixing. But once HTC fixes it, it wont happen again.

 

[koopakid08]

Well i only got that message one time, but first why would you go talk to a CS? thats a stupid move cause they know hardly anything about the phones they have now. But when i got the message i just updated my profile and PRL and i was good. but the reason you get it is because when you move out your zipcode your phone was registered to be in the radio that gives your phone service is far away and it dont go from tower to tower on its own, yes that is a bug. But its not like your phone is defective or anything it just have a minor problem that needs minor fixing. But once HTC fixes it, it wont happen again.

No, it's a software problem much bigger than that. It's deep inside the pri and radio.

 

[KyngTech]

No, it's a software problem much bigger than that. It's deep inside the pri and radio.

I dont think you read everything i wrote because i acknowledged that it was a major software problem and i also said it was most likely the radio. But what i stated was just a quick fix for until the REAL fix is available. But i still dont think its big enough to throw the towel in and get a new phone unless the quick fix wont work at all. And i think this is a major problem for the phones that was sprint branded but not a BIG problem for the virgin branded phones cause it might not occur as much

 

[koopakid08]

I dont think you read everything i wrote because i acknowledged that it was a major software problem and i also said it was most likely the radio. But what i stated was just a quick fix for until the REAL fix is available. But i still dont think its big enough to throw the towel in and get a new phone unless the quick fix wont work at all. And i think this is a major problem for the phones that was sprint branded but not a BIG problem for the virgin branded phones cause it might not occur as much

No... Sprint and virgin phones are the EXACT SAME PHONE. This problem has nothing to do with your zip code or anything. Before I fixed this I would get the error without leaving my zip code for days.

I agree that it isn't anything to leave this phone over as long as you get s-off and fix it yourself with the working pri, radio, and hboot that our awesome devs found and cooked up. Otherwise have fun updating your prl and profile everyday.

 

[KyngTech]

No... Sprint and virgin phones are the EXACT SAME PHONE. This problem has nothing to do with your zip code or anything. Before I fixed this I would get the error without leaving my zip code for days.

I agree that it isn't anything to leave this phone over as long as you get s-off and fix it yourself with the working pri, radio, and hboot that our awesome devs found and cooked up. Otherwise have fun updating your prl and profile everyday.

Well it gotta be some kinda difference cause my friends sprint branded phone constantly displayed the message and my phone which is virgin branded it only occurred twice and it was always cause i had went about 5 or 6 miles out but that was some months ago which is why i never really needed to update the profile and PRL

 

[RonDotCom]

But once HTC fixes it, it wont happen again.

I wouldn't wait on them to try and fix it. Virgin gets their phones because they are near end of life for mainstream carriers, hence htc doesn't really care about this phone anymore. Additionally Virgin offers little to no support on anything hardware or software related -- see the Motorola Triumph

 

[mogelijk]

Thank you for the update. Now I have to think about whether or not to keep this phone. This is my third phone and second carrier switch this year. It's getting a bit ridiculous. I almost feel like getting a "normal" plan. Almost. I wonder what the chances are of them fixing this at all? As hchen42 said above, this problem has plagued those on Sprint with the 3D as well. So I wonder what he meant about the issue being a problem with the design for Virgin. I really hope they create a fix soon. Tmobile doesn't work for me because of the low minutes, and the more expensive plan has 100 mb regular speed data before you're throttled. (WTF.) If HTC hasn't even fixed the 3D yet, what are the chances of them fixing the V. If they're really working on it. What to do, what to do.

If T-Mobile doesn't work for you, you can always get the Nexus and use Straight Talk for $45 month with unlimited talk (they throttle data at about 2GB). Also, you can check out Solavei, which starts service in about a month on T-Mobile's network, $49/month for unlimited talk and "unlimited" data, throttled at 4GB.

 

[OverByter]

I wouldn't wait on them to try and fix it. Virgin gets their phones because they are near end of life for mainstream carriers, hence htc doesn't really care about this phone anymore. Additionally Virgin offers little to no support on anything hardware or software related -- see the Motorola Triumph

You're contradicting yourself, the Triumph was not end of life when released on Virgin, they were the first and only carrier to release that hardware in the USA. You can't compare the Triumph to any other phone because for whatever reason it was a bastard child from day one. As for HTC they are one of the best manufacturers when it comes to supporting legacy hardware. That's why both the Evo 3d and the Sensation which were released over a year ago have received updates to ICS.

 

[Steven58]

yyyyyeah, I deleted a disrespectful post. Report your concerns, folks, don't react. Reacting makes YOU the target of mod scrutiny obscuring the root issue.

Steven