Verizon Tech here - ask away!

[viperboy]

Honestly, I don't really trust (nor see the point in) your credentials of "Verizon tech". As was pointed out earlier, the vast majority (if not all) of the responses you gave to questions can be answered with a bit of time on Google.

And I do find it interesting that you coincidentally don't know the answers to a lot of the things I'd expect someone in the Verizon know to... well, know. Not gonna bother citing any examples here, because I think they're self-evident, and again, I don't think it's really that important.

Either way, yeah... welcome to the forums.

I want to interject on this, cause there is something people also need to understand on something with regards to how employees are allowed to answer certain things in a public forum.

An exerpt from my own company's policy with regards to posting in a public forum, when addressing something company related, regardless of any privacy with regards to their identity, they are still subject not to reveal any information that is private or cannot be disclosed to the general public.

For legal reasons, a company can get a writ to supeona another company to divulge information on one user if there is some proof of possible malfeasance that needs to be investigated, which includes Viperboy here not only stating he is a Verizon Rep, but misrepresenting their company that he is a part of.

So for Viperboy to do what he is doing, on his own time, he has to keep within company policy of what he is allowed and not allowed to divulge. Furthermore, like him, many techs, not just Verizon Techs, refer to answers they also look up on the web for issues because of a simple fact, there are many issues that come up that no one will have the 'magic bullet' solution. Many of the issues most of us have posted, have been encountered by other people and have been resolved in similar fashion, others are harder to explain because of the simple fact that there are many variables that can come into play.

Look at the Battery Life threads... People are ranging from having 2+ day battery life with the OTA update, while others are saying it is worse. The problem here is, that without knowing more information other than just a general statement, there could be many reasons why people are getting mixed results, and not all of them will be related to the Update.

Thank you for explaining this 635,674,968 times better than I could have. You're exactly right. Do I know how to do all the hacking and things you guys do and even more? Maybe But I can't really go on about it or say something that would conflict with Verizon and their policies.

 

[viperboy]

why does my droid drop 4 out of 5 calls?

Did you have Verizon before you had your Droid? If so, what phone did you have? Did you have a problem with dropping calls then? Does it seem to happen in a certain location? Does it show bars and than no bars when it drops the call? Is it possible you are bumping the button to hang up with your cheek or do you know the call is dropping?

 

[thebigeast]

viper - thanks to your reply re: my phone getting stuck at the eye. It is a random problem - not sure if it will happen again. I tried going into safe mode and it booted normally. However, I now have a problem after booting back into regular mode. I'm getting a message on my screen stating "problem loading widget". This has never happened before and 99.9% sure it must be because of the boot into safe mode. How do I solve this?

I deleted the application/widgets that may not be loading properly - Beautiful Widgets and Battery Life. I then reinstalled them to no effect. I also pulled the battery and memory card and did not reboot for 5+minutes. I'm at a loss now.

I'd appreciate any comments you may have. I would caution others about going into safe mode - it was not safe for me and has borked my 3 home screens.

UPDATE: After playing around with holding down the message banner saying problem loading widget - this message was present on all 3 home screens - had the power widget on one, the battery life widget on another and the beautiful widgets on the 3rd (that one had the message twice on the screen). - I was able to deposit them by holding them down and placing them in the trash. All 3 screens are now clear. I then was able to download all the widgets again and everything seems normal again. I won't be going into safe mode again any time soon.

 

[Sex Cells]

i had the env2 previously. ive been with verizon since the airtouch days. with my last phone i never had a dropped call that i can remember.

many times i have called while having the phone away from my face, starting at it. not to mention, it says call lost. i've tried with google voice, i've tried without. i have switched the settings as far as evrc (sp), etc. etc.

the only thing i can say, is that my old phone (when its on, which it hasnt been for a week or so now) still gets random texts. they get intercepted by the old phone so that my new phone never gets them. but when i tried to make a call with the old phone, it gave me some roaming network sales **** (im assuming verizon sells those lines to a 3rd party)

 

[phatkat66]

Well, when you swap, they won't hear your conversation - they'll just hear silence. They will eventually hang up

And the call waiting beep couldn't be turned off. The only solution might be to have call waiting removed from your account but they wouldn't hear the beep. It would probably go right to VM and you would never know if you got another call while you're on the phone or not. Doesn't seem like a good trade off IMO.

I usually do swap back to my first conversation but at times when someone from a landline calls and we hang up their phone does not disconnect it just keeps me on hold (i guess because their phone thinks it just switched lines idk) I just want to know if there is anyway to manually disconnect without disconnecting on both parties.

And that sux about the call waiting beep lol i ignore alot of ppl but i dont want them to know im ignoring them >_> jus dont wanna go through that whole "why didnt you pick up?" moment

Thanks for the help and sorry for double posting I was hoping maybe anyone could of just answered it lol I cant be the only one that wants to know how to hang up on one line and not the other lol can i? :blink:

 

[thebigeast]

One other question viper - on my Droid I have a little bit of play near the magnifying glass on the bottom of the screen above the Verizon label (not on the screen itself - it's one of the 4 lighted buttons below the screen). If I press down on that side of the phone, I get a slight up and down motion that results in a clicking sound. On my friends Droid, his fit is tighter and he does not get the clicking sound. His slide out keyboard is tighter as well and does not slide out as smoothly as mine. I assume many of the Droids have slight differences like this. I'm wondering if this play will get worse and if it makes sense to exchange it. It doesn't have a big impact on my use of the phone now but it could become a nuisance if the play gets worse. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[viperboy]

Well, when you swap, they won't hear your conversation - they'll just hear silence. They will eventually hang up

And the call waiting beep couldn't be turned off. The only solution might be to have call waiting removed from your account but they wouldn't hear the beep. It would probably go right to VM and you would never know if you got another call while you're on the phone or not. Doesn't seem like a good trade off IMO.

I usually do swap back to my first conversation but at times when someone from a landline calls and we hang up their phone does not disconnect it just keeps me on hold (i guess because their phone thinks it just switched lines idk) I just want to know if there is anyway to manually disconnect without disconnecting on both parties.

And that sux about the call waiting beep lol i ignore alot of ppl but i dont want them to know im ignoring them >_> jus dont wanna go through that whole "why didnt you pick up?" moment

Thanks for the help and sorry for double posting I was hoping maybe anyone could of just answered it lol I cant be the only one that wants to know how to hang up on one line and not the other lol can i? :blink:

There is no way that I know of to hang up on one call and than swap to the other, sorry. But I do completely understand what you're saying!

 

[Sex Cells]

viper - thanks to your reply re: my phone getting stuck at the eye. It is a random problem - not sure if it will happen again. I tried going into safe mode and it booted normally. However, I now have a problem after booting back into regular mode. I'm getting a message on my screen stating "problem loading widget". This has never happened before and 99.9% sure it must be because of the boot into safe mode. How do I solve this?

I deleted the application/widgets that may not be loading properly - Beautiful Widgets and Battery Life. I then reinstalled them to no effect. I also pulled the battery and memory card and did not reboot for 5+minutes. I'm at a loss now.

I'd appreciate any comments you may have. I would caution others about going into safe mode - it was not safe for me and has borked my 3 home screens.

UPDATE: After playing around with holding down the message banner saying problem loading widget - this message was present on all 3 home screens - had the power widget on one, the battery life widget on another and the beautiful widgets on the 3rd (that one had the message twice on the screen). - I was able deposit them by holding them down and placing them in the trash. All 3 screens are now clear. I then was able to download all the widgets again and everything seems normal again. I won't be going into safe mode again any time soon.

Sorry about that! I will update the OP with that info. For future reference, when you go into safe mode and come out, it may not fix the widgets. You don't need to uninstall the apps, just remove the widget and add it back in.

i had the env2 previously. ive been with verizon since the airtouch days. with my last phone i never had a dropped call that i can remember.

many times i have called while having the phone away from my face, starting at it. not to mention, it says call lost. i've tried with google voice, i've tried without. i have switched the settings as far as evrc (sp), etc. etc.

the only thing i can say, is that my old phone (when its on, which it hasnt been for a week or so now) still gets random texts. they get intercepted by the old phone so that my new phone never gets them. but when i tried to make a call with the old phone, it gave me some roaming network sales **** (im assuming verizon sells those lines to a 3rd party)

Definitely sounds like a phone problem. I would get it replaced, since your other phone was fine and you're probably using this on in the same locations so something is wrong with the phone.

any idea why the old one is still getting texts and calls?

 

[viperboy]

One other question viper - on my Droid I have a little bit of play near the magnifying glass on the bottom of the screen above the Verizon label (not on the screen itself - it's one of the 4 lighted buttons below the screen). If I press down on that side of the phone, I get a slight up and down motion that results in a clicking sound. On my friends Droid, his fit is tighter and he does not get the clicking sound. His slide out keyboard is tighter as well and does not slide out as smoothly as mine. I assume many of the Droids have slight differences like this. I'm wondering if this play will get worse and if it makes sense to exchange it. It doesn't have a big impact on my use of the phone now but it could become a nuisance if the play gets worse. Any thoughts? Thanks!

To be honest, I don't think it would get worse. We have a few demo Droid's at our store and they get tossed around pretty good and get slid open and closed and open and closed all the time and they still seem to retain their "springyness" (I just made up a word! ). The play between the keyboard and the screen is normal, nothing to fret about.

 

[viperboy]

viper - thanks to your reply re: my phone getting stuck at the eye. It is a random problem - not sure if it will happen again. I tried going into safe mode and it booted normally. However, I now have a problem after booting back into regular mode. I'm getting a message on my screen stating "problem loading widget". This has never happened before and 99.9% sure it must be because of the boot into safe mode. How do I solve this?

I deleted the application/widgets that may not be loading properly - Beautiful Widgets and Battery Life. I then reinstalled them to no effect. I also pulled the battery and memory card and did not reboot for 5+minutes. I'm at a loss now.

I'd appreciate any comments you may have. I would caution others about going into safe mode - it was not safe for me and has borked my 3 home screens.

UPDATE: After playing around with holding down the message banner saying problem loading widget - this message was present on all 3 home screens - had the power widget on one, the battery life widget on another and the beautiful widgets on the 3rd (that one had the message twice on the screen). - I was able deposit them by holding them down and placing them in the trash. All 3 screens are now clear. I then was able to download all the widgets again and everything seems normal again. I won't be going into safe mode again any time soon.

Sorry about that! I will update the OP with that info. For future reference, when you go into safe mode and come out, it may not fix the widgets. You don't need to uninstall the apps, just remove the widget and add it back in.

i had the env2 previously. ive been with verizon since the airtouch days. with my last phone i never had a dropped call that i can remember.

many times i have called while having the phone away from my face, starting at it. not to mention, it says call lost. i've tried with google voice, i've tried without. i have switched the settings as far as evrc (sp), etc. etc.

the only thing i can say, is that my old phone (when its on, which it hasnt been for a week or so now) still gets random texts. they get intercepted by the old phone so that my new phone never gets them. but when i tried to make a call with the old phone, it gave me some roaming network sales **** (im assuming verizon sells those lines to a 3rd party)

Definitely sounds like a phone problem. I would get it replaced, since your other phone was fine and you're probably using this on in the same locations so something is wrong with the phone.

any idea why the old one is still getting texts and calls?

Because it still has the programming info of your current phone, even though it isn't active. You could either keep it in Airplane Mode or program it with the wrong info (1 number off from your phone number) so that doesn't happen.

What causes that is pretty much just a network glitch depending on how a text is routed. Sometimes, it will just look for a phone number to send a message to, not a phone number AND an ESN/MEID. Like if someone calls your Droid and leaves you a VM and your old LG is on, you might be notified on both phones because the network just sends that notification of a VM to any phone with your number.

 

[phatkat66]

Hey viper are you knowledgeable of billing and discounts? If not its ok i just figured id ask while im on here.

A friend of mine has a discount with verizon for being a state employee. I use to work in the same place and might be re-employed there again soon (crossing fingers) if I do become on a state salary again will I be eligible for a discount immediately or would I have to be employed for a set amount of years, make a certain salary, have a certain position etc?

Thanks!

 

[thebigeast]

Thanks viper for your answers to my questions - now go to bed and get some sleep

 

[viperboy]

Hey viper are you knowledgeable of billing and discounts? If not its ok i just figured id ask while im on here.

A friend of mine has a discount with verizon for being a state employee. I use to work in the same place and might be re-employed there again soon (crossing fingers) if I do become on a state salary again will I be eligible for a discount immediately or would I have to be employed for a set amount of years, make a certain salary, have a certain position etc?

Thanks!

Nope, once you work there you can get the discount! www.verizonwireless.com/getdiscounts is the easiest way to do it.

Thanks viper for your answers to my questions - now go to bed and get some sleep

Anytime lol I will be hitting the sack soon... maybe lol

 

[dpw2atox]

Hey Viper, I am quite curious about Verizon's stance on PdaNet. Currently I work nights/weekends and seem to stick around 1 Gig of bandwidth usage each month on my Droid. I know Verizon doesnt offer Tethering yet due to the Access Manager not being updated and the lack of a driver. If the usage is low, figure a max of another 1 Gig a month, do you see any issue or have any insight?

Edit: Just in case you arent aware what PdaNet does, its an app that basically lets you use your phone for tethering. It includes a driver for windows and for linux/mac you can use bluetooth DUN.

 

[viperboy]

Hey Viper, I am quite curious about Verizon's stance on PdaNet. Currently I work nights/weekends and seem to stick around 1 Gig of bandwidth usage each month on my Droid. I know Verizon doesnt offer Tethering yet due to the Access Manager not being updated and the lack of a driver. If the usage is low, figure a max of another 1 Gig a month, do you see any issue or have any insight?

Touchy subject and I don't wanna get much into it. PDANet is a violation of the Terms and Conditions of your contract. That's about all I want to say. Action can be taken if Verizon wanted to if they were to find out.

And yes, trust me, I know what it is