Verizon Customer Service has confirmed I have a lemon!
I just bought my Thunderbolt today, I only live in a 3G area, and the internet worked for a few minutes after I purchased the phone, and now the internet does not work at all. I took it back to the Verizon store where I bought it, and they tried for an hour to get the phone to work, and could not. They offered to call tech support in the store, but I had to leave because someone was waiting on me in the car.
Oddly enough, I found out if I remove the battery cover from the phone while the phone is turned on, all of a sudden my internet springs to life! It will work for about 5 or 10 minutes, then the internet loses connection again.
So I just got off the phone with Verizon tech support, and told him exactly what was happening, and he almost instantly identified my device as faulty, and he authorized it to be immediately replaced. The store I bought it from also told me I could get it replaced tomorrow morning if tech support confirmed my device faulty.
Calls and texts work fine, it's just the internet that's affected.
*Note: If you remove the cover, turn it over, and you will notice 2 gold colored contacts that, when placed back on the phone, will short out (connect) the contacts on the back of the phone that it touches. My theory is that when the battery cover is removed, the short between these contacts are broken, and somehow this makes the internet connection work all of a sudden! Kind of strange huh? The Verizon tech on the phone said this is DEFINATELY not normal at all. Hope this helps anyone who's having the exact same problems on this phone!
EDIT: I also need to note that under Settings > Wireless & networks > when I try to select Mobile Network, it says Connection failed. If I uncheck it, and re-check it, it says Turning on... for a few seconds, then it says "Use phone for data connection when Wi-Fi is unavailable", a few minutes later, it turns to "Connection failed." And this process just repeats no matter how many times I try to enable it.
