[Jonathan Downer]

Hey all,

Firstly, thank you to everyone who responded to my first thread a couple of days ago, you were all quite helpful. Now..

For some reason I'm feeling particularly sharey today (perhaps its because I've started using Twitter and Last.fm recently?), but I felt like sharing a POSITIVE experience with Verizon Customer Service reps. Here goes:

I've had numerous (and I mean numerous) issues with my Storm regarding its signal strength (rest of the hardware is great), and have tried multiple things in an effort to fix the problem, such as OS reinstalls (from a clean wipe), *228 updates, messing with the Global vs 1xEV option, beta OS's (.104, .109, .114), and the like, but have still had abysmal signal. I recently posted in the Rants and Raves section that I was pretty much at the point where I was ready to return to AT&T, but on the advice of several, decided to go into my local VZW store and see what could be done.

That was two days ago. Since then, I've been to the VZW store on three different occasions, and worked with two separate CR reps (I wish I could remember their names...) in an effort to figure out the problem. On the first trip in, the CS rep ran through a list of troubleshooting proceedures in an attempt to narrow down the problem, all of which I had tried. Noticing that I was running a leaked OS, he asked if I had tried any of the others (he was a fellow Storm user and Crackberry addict). I gave him the list of ones I had tried, and he said that he'd experienced the best signal running .90, and asked if I'd tried that one (I think it was .90 anyway). I said I had not, and rather than just send me on my way with instructions to try it, he sat down and we did a clean install using .90 right there in the store. Afterwards, he asked me if I could travel around to some of my usual haunts to see if that had fixed the problem.

Long story short, the different OS did not improve the situation, and I was continuing to experience poor reception, and returned to the VZW store. Working with the same CSR as before, I informed him that the situation had not improved, and asked what the options were at this point. He said we could try to swap out the Storm for a replacement, but that they were out of new stock until the next morning, when they were getting a new shipment. He offered to let me borrow a Curve (a used/returned device), so I could compare signal strength to see if it was the network or the phone. I said sure, we set it up, and I left until the next day.

This morning, I returned to the VZW store, and ended up with a different CSR. I explained to him what had happened yesterday, he pulled up my account, and we swapped out the Curve for a fresh Storm. I didn't have to jump through any hoops at this stage, and the gentleman I worked with this morning was as helpful and knowledgeable as the one from yesterday.

In the end, the Curve did have better signal than the old Storm, and the new Storm this morning has been a vast improvement in regards to signal strength. It still isn't quite up to the Curve's level, but its much, much better than my original device was. All in all, it was an outstanding experience where I lucked out with two different CSR's who knew what they were doing, and went beyond their job description to make sure I was happy. I'm extremely pleased, and now have no plans of returning to AT&T.

Anywho, that was a bit long winded, but if you read all that, thanks for hearing me out. =) I cross-posted this in the Verizon forum as well, in case anyone is looking for carrier experiences there. Again, thanks for the help!

[BrianW2007]

I'm glad to hear everything went well good to have you around still!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com