Verizon Help Please! Stage Fright

[edwardsm90]

My company has made the decision to block my work email on my android device until you release patch 5.1.1_r5

When are you going to push the patch that Google has released to you?

Thank you

Matt

[Tidbits]

Talk to the manufacturer. Not even Google has patched all the Nexus devices only the Nexus 6.

[edwardsm90]

Galaxy S6 Edge

[Tidbits]

Then you need to talk to Samsung about when they will implement the patches for their devices.

[prumsey]

I keep seeing people referencing the manufacturer as the one to blame, yet the other day Sprint released the stagefright fix for the Samsung S6 and S5 devices. Why would Spring (a much smaller carrier) be given preference over Verizon by Samsung? Are you telling me that Samsung has only developed a patch for Sprint? You can't believe that Verizon doesn't have some skin in this game....Please explain.

[mama23dogs]

IT isn't a preference, Sprint, as a small carrier, is not given the same customizations that large carriers have on their phones.  I can guess that ATT customers with Samsung phones will have a longer wait as the two are thick as thieves.

AS with any other update, it goes back and forth, being tested by Verizon, then back to the manufacturer for bug fixes.  No dates can be given for a release because they don't have one.

THe the only way to avoid these delays is to buy a non carrier branded phone, not easy with Verizon, but possible.

I almost said "iPhone ", but even iPhone has had bugs via text this year.

[prumsey]

Mama- I appreciate the response. To a point your response makes sense, but it does feel like Verizon isn't giving any indication of movement on their part.

As an FYI- I found that ATT has implemented a fix for their Galaxy S5 and S6's along with T-Mobile. Hopefully this means that we'll see something from Verizon for these phones....otherwise I'd say at this point it is clearly a carrier (Verizon) issue.

[Tidbits]

T-Mobile hasn't gotten the fix yet... Europe hasn't and Korea hasn't.

I am going to say this again. It's up to the OEM not Google and not Verizon.  Verizon is not an OEM and Verizon purposely withholding an update like this makes them liable for any damages that may occur due to this exploit. If the OEM doesn't push out a fix fast enough they won't be held liable because it may take the to deliver a fix. If they have one and pushed it out and any company purposely withholding it would be held liable because they know there's a fix and they are not pushing it out.

The devices may look the same have the same name but some code can be different a some fixes may have to be modified to fix bugs that may have occurred when introducing the fix.  There is more to it than just throwing random patches. That's asking for trouble.

[Tidbits]

A security fix and a OS update have different ways of being handled. Heartbleed, and Samsung keyboard exploits showed the difference. Major security issues all bypassed the carrier and the manufacturers pushed out the update.

[prumsey]

Okay- First off, T-mobile has gotten the fix. Not only are there references online, but this was verified through T-Mobile by my company (they are also currently blocking susceptible devices from the exchange server).

Here's the part you don't get. I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND that it is up to the OEM to create the fix for their device. What YOU don't seem to get is that this is a two way transaction. As was mentioned earlier, Verizon has a say in what customizations go into their OS. They then perform tests and there is a back and forth between Verizon AND the OEM. As much as the OEM is driving a piece of this, Verizon plays a key role. If Verizon is not prioritizing this fix, then the process will definitely move slower than other carriers.

I just listed off the same device (Galaxy S5 & S6), which is the SAME OEM, for 3 other major carriers. If all of these carriers have implemented this fix, then that tells me the OEM is doing their job. The only unique part of this equation is VERIZON.