Verizon cell phone issue

[JLMannin]

This is my "ask Off Camber" day!

My wife's two-year old Razer V3m is acting all FUBAR lately. She will have a strong signal, say three of four bars, input a number, press send, and PRESTO, zero bars or even no service, a painfully long delay, and then a 50/50 chance of either call failed or the phone magically regaining signal strength and completing the call. Inbound calls are just fine, problem is just with outbound calls, and it does not matter where - home, work, car, etc.

Actually, we both have V3m phones, both with the same firmware and software and identical configurations, as far as I can tell. I called Verizon tech support last night and the lady I talked to had me do the usual stuff: disconnect the battery without turning off the phone, wait 10 seconds, put battery back, turn back on; repeat over the air programming (this was fun - during the reprogramming, the phone had max signal strength, then as soon as it was complete, poof, no service) She had me punch in some codes and read data to her, look up the software version, ect. Her final assessment was that I should take it to a Verizon wireless store and have the software updated, as "this can cause problems" she says. I explained that I was talking to her on an identical V3m with the same software and that my phone does not do this lost signal thing.

If getting the firmware updated will wipe the phone (I don't think it will), I might as well skip that part and just get the wife a new phone.

So, is this worth messing around with, or should I just get a new phone? She likes this one OK, but it is not like she has hundreds of contacts and many $$ worth of ring tones and apps on it either, so getting a new phone will not be all that painful for her (well, me, as I will be the one transferring all the contacts and stuff - she downloads all the techie stuff to me).

[Gnam]

Has she dropped it recently? A damaged antenna could explain why it can't get a signal, when everything else works.

Also, cell phones are built to fail so it may just be it's time to die.
Ashes to ashes. Silicon to Silicon. ;)

[dando]

Sounds like a hardware issue to me. I had a Samsung something or other (my first cell phone) that acted similarly, and I had it replaced a couple of times.

-Kevin

[Andrew Longman]

I have the same phone and Verizon service.

Ordinarily I'd say avoid Verizon service at all costs unless you are into self mutilation and that sort of thing, but I'd say do the software update to eliminate it as a cause, then get a new phone if that doesn't work.

Also, there is a cool service with Verizon that will automatically back up all your contacts and stuff so if you lose or damage your phone it can be recovered. I can't tell you how to do it because my wife set my phone up to do it:gomer:, but it is free with your service

[JLMannin]

I have the same phone and Verizon service.

Ordinarily I'd say avoid Verizon service at all costs unless you are into self mutilation and that sort of thing, but I'd say do the software update to eliminate it as a cause, then get a new phone if that doesn't work.

Also, there is a cool service with Verizon that will automatically back up all your contacts and stuff so if you lose or damage your phone it can be recovered. I can't tell you how to do it because my wife set my phone up to do it:gomer:, but it is free with your service

Yes, I should use the contact manager - good idea. I'll stick with Verizon because I refuse to do business with AT&T. Yes, I make my choice based on who sucks less :)

[cameraman]

Ordinarily I'd say avoid Verizon service at all costs unless you are into self mutilation and that sort of thing

If you are in Utah and you want a signal you had better have Verizon...

[Indy]

Supposedly Sprint sucks, but at least in Indiana, I never experience dropped calls in Indy metro or on the Interstates or in other cities. Plus, they are hurting badly, and they are very aggressive with their plans, etc. I have not experienced a cell service this satisfying since the old Cellular One days. I am a HARD CORE Mac guy, and the only reason I am sticking with Palm vs. the iPhone is because Sprint treats me so very well. I mean, they are astoundingly good to me.

[Andrew Longman]

If you are in Utah and you want a signal you had better have Verizon...

I've actually never has a complaint about their signal. I've had issues with the nazis behind the service counter though. :shakehead

[cameraman]

Close to 40% of Utah has no signal of any kind. You have to pay close attention because the differences between the companies can be huge once you get out of the 10% of the land area that has 98% of the people.