Forum Discussion

ploiselle's avatar
ploiselle
Explorer
May 28, 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3 Verizon hotspot known problem

This is just a FYI in case someone else is experiencing the same problem.

I received my Galaxy S3 the day Verizon made them available last July. I have had problems with the hotspot from the day I received it from many locations on the east coast. Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the summer and Naples, FL in the winter. I have made many calls to Verizon about being disconnected or no service since July always getting the same answer that there are no problems on the towers near me. Sometimes they have had be check some settings on the phone.

I was in Narragansett, RI this past weekend trying to make several reservations through ReserveAmerica to be disconnected several times. I called ReserveAmerica to be told that my site selection needed to time out before they could make the reservation.

Being very frustrated and having 5 bars, I called Verizon twice over two days on this issue. The second time the tech asked me to read the build number. She said it was a known issue and was going to get me a new phone at no cost. We struggled with this for 4 months in Naples and now all of a sudden it is a "know problem". They didn't know about it in November, January, February, March or part of April while we were using it fulltime? I hate dealing with Verizon.

Was I surprised to find out that I was not getting a Galaxy S3, but a Razr HD. I was told that I would have the same problem if I got another Galaxy S3.

I am only paying $30/month for unlimited data. I need a hotspot, so I will live with the downgrade to the Razr HD.

Just an FYI.
Paul
  • hershey's avatar
    hershey
    Explorer
    May 28, 2013
    I don't think you will find a problem with the Razor Max HD. I now have had mine for about 2 months and its just awsome (in my opinion). Makes my old DroidX look like a couple tomato cans and a string.
  • RFCN2's avatar
    RFCN2
    Explorer
    May 28, 2013
    According to Consumer Reports you just got an upgrade not a downgrade. I have the original Motorola Razr and have been very happy with it. I use both the pda net tether and hot spot all the time works great. My only complaint about the Motorola is that it comes preloaded with bloatware from both Verizon and Motorola that you cannot get rid of. If you delete to aps they come back. I am thinking about going to an Iphone later this year to escape the bloat.
  • wcjeep's avatar
    wcjeep
    Explorer
    May 28, 2013
    RFCN2 wrote:
    According to Consumer Reports you just got an upgrade not a downgrade. I have the original Motorola Razr and have been very happy with it. I use both the pda net tether and hot spot all the time works great. My only complaint about the Motorola is that it comes preloaded with bloatware from both Verizon and Motorola that you cannot get rid of. If you delete to aps they come back. I am thinking about going to an Iphone later this year to escape the bloat.


    You can go into the App Manager. Uninstall updates. Then Disable the App. This will minimize the storage of the app. It won't seek permission for updates. Disabling the App also removes it from your App list.
  • ploiselle's avatar
    ploiselle
    Explorer
    May 28, 2013
    wcjeep wrote:
    Have you tried PDANet/Foxfi? Many people run this app on the S3 with zero problems.


    Google Play Store
    PDA.net is what we use when we need to make a reservation through ReserveAmerica that has to be made at 9:00 am to the second because the desirable sites are gone at one second past 9:00 am i.e. Scusset Beach. We are heavy users. We need the hotspot so we can both be on at the same time.

    Thanks. Good to know about the Razr being a upgrade. Being completely caught off guard, I made a little noise about getting a Galaxy S4. I was told that I didn't qualify and that even if they made an exception, I would lose my unlimited data plan. She also said that she had only activated one since Verizon released it a couple days ago, so she did not know if the hotspot issue had been resolved. We used between 8 and 9 gigs of data in February (snowbird), so I quickly backed off.

    Hopefully this post will help someone with a S3 or considering a S4. I suspect most don't follow the cellphone forums unless they are looking for a new phone or experiencing a problem with their current cellphone.

    Again, thanks for the responses.

    Paul
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    May 28, 2013
    It must be a local issue as I have used the hotspot feature on my S3 multiple times and have never had any issues. It could also be related to the unlimited plan but I don't see how moving to a different phone would fix that.
    We use the Verizon Share Everything plan.
  • Wrace's avatar
    Wrace
    Explorer
    May 28, 2013
    Hmm, hope this doesn't affect the S4. My son is not going to be happy if it does as he just shelled out the big bucks for a new off-contract S4.
  • schneid's avatar
    schneid
    Explorer
    May 28, 2013
    hershey wrote:
    I don't think you will find a problem with the Razor Max HD. I now have had mine for about 2 months and its just awsome (in my opinion). Makes my old DroidX look like a couple tomato cans and a string.


    I moved on from my X in January and was smitten with the Razr Maxx HD too. Ended up going with the S3 as I could get 2GB Ram plus 32GB internal. I've since added more with a 64GB extSDcard. I thought the 32GB internal was essential as it is now addressed as the "sdcard" and can fill up quickly. You can no longer move apps to the true SD Card unless you fool with some pretty complex solutions that have varying degrees of success. Things like CoPilot maps just won't move.

    The S4 right now only comes in a 16GB version and the System takes a big chunk of that. I think one HTC phone won't even accept an external card. One rumor is that the carriers want to kill off user storage so one has to stream everything allowing them to sell more data.

    Be sure to read the fine print if you are packing a lot of photos, videos, music and/or maps.

    That Razr Maxx HD is one sweet looking machine. It's a sleek sports car but I needed an station wagon. I have no complaints though about the S3. I have never had any tethering issues but I'm rooted and ROM'ed which takes out the trash that can make you trip.
  • ploiselle's avatar
    ploiselle
    Explorer
    May 28, 2013
    Bill.Winegard wrote:
    It must be a local issue as I have used the hotspot feature on my S3 multiple times and have never had any issues. It could also be related to the unlimited plan but I don't see how moving to a different phone would fix that.
    We use the Verizon Share Everything plan.
    I originally thought it was a local issue also. Not much chance of it being a local issue though, as I do a good portion of the summer on Cape Cod, MA and all winter in Naples, FL. I have had problems with it at both locations and many places in between as we tour and travel between locations.

    I have been told that they do push you down the priority list by tower on the unlimited plan when you reach two gigabytes, but I hadn't used it in a month, so I had close to no data usage at the time.

    My only goal with this post was to make people aware that, according to Verizon, there is a know issue with using the S3 as a hotspot on Verizon's network.

    Paul


    ON EDIT

    They are sending me a Razx HD, not a Razx Maxx HD.
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    May 28, 2013
    Interesting. Just never experienced anything like that or heard about it from any other source.
    I hope your new phone solves the problems. By the way, did you ever try using FoxFi or PDA Net with your S3 as a hot spot? That should have worked without issue.

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