Poor Reception and Signal

[jmccaulla]

My incredible 2 has had horrible reception since i've had it as well.  No update has fixed it.  The people in the stores always say dial 228 but that doesn't do a thing to help my reception.  The internet barely works half the time too, but I assocaite it with the bad reception.  Why doesn't verizon just let the users of this phone get another phone that actually works as it should, since you obviously can't fix this phone?  Of course it always shows full reception in verizon stores so it's easy for the tech's to call BS on my claim that it has no reception, but it really has no reception. 

[janice45]

Id like to say also the updates did nothing for the reception..

I think my phone did not get the up date right .I was connected and wifi to download but its done more weird thing

since then. It would be nice to have it reflashed but  where? SinceIt  the tecs that use to be in the store no longer exsist

A Verizon person said that might help but he no way to get it done .I know now why people hack these phones

.There is no real help. How sad.

[mlambert]

I have had this phone, in red since the day after Thanksgiving. The only thing the phone has going for it is it is red and was free. It is my only phone, I do not have a land line. It gets HORRIBLE reception. Verizon told me to do 228, I call it every other day. They recently sent me out a replacement phone and it has the exact same HORRIBLE reception as the first. I have complained repeatedly with no help from anyone. I am ready to switch back to my Motorola Android. I never had any problems with it. This PHone sucks and I hate it but of course I am locked into it for 2 years. Verizon I have been with you for 8 years and I am ready to switch to AT&T because of this phone. Please fix it ASAP.

[bigfish]

I am totally frustrated with coverage issues with my I Phone 4 in Hawaii.  Me and my phone have become the laughing stalk of the town.  While fishing offshore the other day one friend asked if I could just throw it overboard.  It makes me feel pretty stupid when I still get and am forced to pay 200 monthly bills. Once, while working on the problem with the Verizon tech I was told he would call me back in two minutes after I completed an upgrade. He never called back but after awhile I realized that during the 2 minute period Verizon turned off my service.  After I paid the bill, I found numerous messages from their tech support asking me why I don't answer my phone.

3 case numbers assigned, numerous calls to customer service, they never answer of return your calls, every upgrade, my I phone still drops 100 calls a week. You can have it as it will soon be at the bottom of the ocean. Call me Verizon or I'll get new service and not pay my outstanding balance.  You and your award winning crappy customer service don't deserve it. I'm off to the FCC website

[1lukiguy]

Reception sucks.  Got update but no improvement.  We must all keep going back to Verizon until they get it fixed or replace the phones.

[Ruark]

Looks like I have the same issue with my HTC Incredible.  I got it as a free phone upgrade after many years with a big multi-phone account with Verizon.  It has the very latest updates, etc., but this phone is basically useless unless I'm standing right under a tower.  My wife has a cheap, ancient old Samsung MyShot flip phone, and she can stand next to me and get rock-solid reception, while mine won't connect, or it will connect and then drop the call within a few seconds. I swear, she can connect ANYWHERE. My Incredible's signal strength is 100-110. If I carefully hold it with 3 fingers on the bottom, it might drop down to 90-97.  Even in a signal-rich big city, the signal usually breaks on and off.

I don't pay much attention to bars any more, but for what it's worth, whenever I get a call, it instantly drops 2 or 3 bars upon connecting, which usually means a lost or broken-up signal.  Now I'm STUCK with this piece of junk. For all practical purposes, we're paying $100+ a month for nothing.  I feel like I'm just making a monthly donation to Verizon. I'd love to have a good, modern phone like a Razr, but they're $200-$400. And heck, I'm not supposed to NEED one in the first place!  THANK GOODNESS my wife didn't upgrade her old flip phone along with me, or we would both be in the same boat.

[Jicko]

I FIXED MINE!!!!!

I recently started to have this "poor reception" issue, and i searched and found this thread.

This issue has been bothering me for the past 2 weeks, and being a hardware engineering in the cellular field, I am pretty sensitive to where I was, and what was different from before. I even try to get another Verizon phone to compare the signal strength.

This was the post that gave me some insight:
----------------

ChristinaB_VZW        Jul 12, 2011 11:20 PM                                    (in response to shelleyb2)               

Currently Being Moderated               

Please confirm that the back cover (battery cover) of Incredible 2 is on the device.  Part of the antennas are on the cover. You can also PM me with your name and contact information. I would be happy to reach out to you for troubleshooting. You can also contact 1-800-922-0204 from an alternate phone, when you have the Incredible 2 with you, for immediate assistance.

Thank you!

----------------

I rushed to open up my "back cover" for the FIRST time, and to my surprise, 1 of the 4 "spring finger" contacts are *semi-bent*!! Duh!! That's probably why my reception suddenly becomes BAD! This deformation can be due to a drop of the phone, or can be just a manufacture issue. Another observation that confirms Christina's post is that when the back  cover is off, I get NO signal strength, and I get NO SERVICE.

So I dug out my tweezers, flipped the bent contacts back into its position (and while it being opened, I used compress air to clean the inside, wiped all the contacts on the phone side as well as the back cover side with alcohol etc....), and put the phone back together...... WA-LA, my signal is back, and my signal strength improves from -105dbm to -85dbm!!!! (1bar to 4bars)

I hoped that Verizon customer service rep / technical support get to read this post, and hopefully they can get this into their database to help HTC INC2 customers with this issue.

To illustrate, the 4 contacts are the ones pointed by the yellow arrows in the photo. (my bent one is the lower right one)

[JonDoh]

Lucky you!  I checked mine and there are not bent contacts.  There are just too many complaints about the poor reception on this phone going back to the original Incredible, not to mention other HTC phones that all share the antenna in the back cover design.  Unfortunately, Verizon only gives lip service to the problem:  "we're sorry you are experiencing difficulties", "this is the first we've heard of these problems", etc.  I have not only problems with this phone, but a bad tower where I live.  There has been an open ticket for a month and they haven't done a single thing.  Always supposed to get back to me within 24-48 hours and they never do.  I contact them and get the same ole same ole they're sorry I'm having problems and they'll look into it."  Hades will likely freeze over before Verizon Worthless does anything to fix the problem. 

[AlySipe]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Jicko wrote:

I FIXED MINE!!!!!

I recently started to have this "poor reception" issue, and i searched and found this thread.

This issue has been bothering me for the past 2 weeks, and being a hardware engineering in the cellular field, I am pretty sensitive to where I was, and what was different from before. I even try to get another Verizon phone to compare the signal strength.

This was the post that gave me some insight:
----------------

ChristinaB_VZW        Jul 12, 2011 11:20 PM                                    (in response to shelleyb2)               

Currently Being Moderated               

Please confirm that the back cover (battery cover) of Incredible 2 is on the device.  Part of the antennas are on the cover. You can also PM me with your name and contact information. I would be happy to reach out to you for troubleshooting. You can also contact 1-800-922-0204 from an alternate phone, when you have the Incredible 2 with you, for immediate assistance.

Thank you!

----------------

I rushed to open up my "back cover" for the FIRST time, and to my surprise, 1 of the 4 "spring finger" contacts are *semi-bent*!! Duh!! That's probably why my reception suddenly becomes BAD! This deformation can be due to a drop of the phone, or can be just a manufacture issue. Another observation that confirms Christina's post is that when the back  cover is off, I get NO signal strength, and I get NO SERVICE.

So I dug out my tweezers, flipped the bent contacts back into its position (and while it being opened, I used compress air to clean the inside, wiped all the contacts on the phone side as well as the back cover side with alcohol etc....), and put the phone back together...... WA-LA, my signal is back, and my signal strength improves from -105dbm to -85dbm!!!! (1bar to 4bars)

I hoped that Verizon customer service rep / technical support get to read this post, and hopefully they can get this into their database to help HTC INC2 customers with this issue.

To illustrate, the 4 contacts are the ones pointed by the yellow arrows in the photo. (my bent one is the lower right one)

I have been searching endlessly for 2 days for anything I could try to fix my Incredible 2!!! I dropped it and then all of a sudden i couldnt make any calls, send any texts or even load the app store or internet... After several hours on the phone with tech support the problem was still not solved. My husband and I threw our hands up and decided to see what we could do about a replacement phone. Then off course the Incredible 2 is not available right now due to being out of stock so I started looking at other options, well for the love of my phone, and well lack of funds at the moment I decided I would search for an answer a little more before making the choice to get a new phone at the price of an arm and a leg! I then came across your REPLY and it was of massive help... I opened my battery door to find that not only had i bent one of my contacts, i broke one of the contacts on the door itself!

So long story short I am so very greatful for your post! It saved me a bunch of cash i dont have, NOW all I have to do is replace the battery door and not the phone!!!

[johnnyg69]

You can also add aluminum foil to the contacts. I went from 0 service in my home to 1 to 3 bars. There is a YouTube video that shows how it's done on a similar HTC phone. Just search for signal strength HTC incredible 2.