Can you hear me now?
January 18, 2010 8:11 PM   Subscribe

Problems being heard on the droid... is this a Verizon network problem or a Droid problem?

I've had the Droid for two weeks now, and it seems like such a cool toy... but it's failing at the phone part. Sometimes, the person I'm talking to cannot hear me at all-- as if I'm on mute. Here's the kicker: I returned my first Droid and got a brand-new phone that's doing the EXACT SAME THING!

Pertinent info (and maybe not so pertinent info):
- I'm in Somerville, MA.
- This has happened on both incoming and outgoing calls.
- This has happened on in-network calls (Verizon to Verizon within my family plan, which was MA calling NE, and vice-versa).
- This has happened on out-of-network (Verizon to Sprint, MA calling a NY number that was 1 mile away).
- I've played with my speaker button while this was happening (as Verizon suggested), but it didn't help.
- This has happened at the beginning of a call (when I pick up, they can't hear me) and in the middle of a call (they suddenly can't hear me and hang up).
- There's no static, just dead air.
- Visual voice mail delivered 2 hours late.
- Also having some problems with GPS (it gets stuck on "Searching for GPS" for a long time when in Navigation).

Do I just have terrible luck? Should I stick with the Droid or return it and wait a few weeks for the Palm Pre Plus to come out? (Feel free to recommend other phones, but please keep it to Verizon only-- we've got a sweet deal with a family plan.)

Thanks so much!
posted by veryhappyheidi to Technology (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
This is the first I've heard of this type of issue on the Droid and I'd probably hear about them in my job. In my very extensive experience troubleshooting phones there's a few things I'd try:

First, make sure you aren't actually muting the phone. I can't stress enough how many people I've seen people do this or something similar. Are you using a headset? Does it have a mute function on it?

Next, what is your coverage like? It's possible you're just in a poor coverage area.

Third, have you installed any third party apps on both phones? One of those might be interfering.

I'll probably think of some more stuff.
posted by Octoparrot at 8:26 PM on January 18, 2010


I haven't seen the same symptoms as you (I bought one on launch day), but here's my guess: the Droid has a feature where, when the phone is away from your head, it notices and turns the touch-screen on. Is it possible you're putting it up against your face while the screen is active and accidentally touching the Mute button?
posted by The Tensor at 8:26 PM on January 18, 2010


One of my good friends has had this exact problem with his Droid. He took it back and got a replacement Droid which seems to be working much better.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:32 PM on January 18, 2010


What Octoparrot said - make sure your face doesn't get too close to the phone and hit "mute."

I've done it a couple times =(

Other than that my Droid has been wonderful.
posted by jstarlee at 9:16 PM on January 18, 2010


This happens to me, too, and is definitely happening to others: check post 19, for example. Very frustrating indeed.
posted by infinityjinx at 9:35 PM on January 18, 2010


My friend got a Droid a few weeks ago and now whenever I call her I can't hear her except as a faint, ghostly voice for the first five to ten seconds of the call. Then it will suddenly normalize and sound fine for the duration. She says others have told her the same thing, that they can't hear her at first. This is her second Droid (she lost the first one) and it happened on both.
posted by Brody's chum at 10:58 AM on January 19, 2010


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