HTC One M8 User Thread

[centermedic]

Sprint rep in my area told me not to get the M8 HK due to issues with holding signal. Came here to sort out if this was just eCSFB or hardware not sure if I want this device yet. In my area I'm dealing with lacking/bad signal on 3g. 4g is just reaching out here. Was offered an airrave... No way won't help my calls in town. So is the Nexus 5 doing better with signal for now? I really want the camera and speakers my wife's m7 is killer.

 

Thoughts?

Most would agree that the N5 is the reception king. However, if the M8 is what you want I say go for it. My wife has an M7 and my M8 gets usable reception where hers gets no reception at all.

[Paynefanbro]

That's something I think Sprint should work on. They need to get all of their stores to be corporate stores. I find that most Sprint stores in  NYC are affiliate stores and they are either not helpful or they can't do everything a corporate store can. However, I have run into my fair share of poor corporate locations and excellent affiliate locations.

[jonathanm1978]

My issue was a corporate store - Birmingham Highway 280 Sprint store. I called a number today that's labeled "Sprint consumerist hotline"..which from what I could gather is a direct line to escalations -- because I specifically asked "I want to lodge a complaint against a store, is this the right place to call?"...

So I explained to this lady, nicely, what I had happen. I explained that eCSFB can't be the cause, since my wife has a SGS5, and I was coming from a LG G2 that worked GREAT on the ONE LTE tower in Sylacauga....

I told her what happened with the original phone, up to the store BLATANTLY REFUSING to give me another HTC 1 M8HK...

I also told her that I wasn't completely dissatisfied with the SGS5, but I really wanted the speaker deal...that's the MAIN reason I went back to the store in the first place without the speaker yesterday....I had every intention of getting another HTC1 M8HK...until they told me "NO!!!!"

 

I explained that if there was something in the Birmingham area causing that much trouble, it would be noted in the tower ticket system when I called in yesterday, but the reps said they couldn't see ANYTHING causing the problem in this area. The tower I'm on 47% of the time was at 85% yesterday,  and the other tower I'm on 32% of the time was at 80%...

 

I also told her that if this WAS, by chance, an issue affecting only the HTC1 M8, then I should AT LEAST be able to make phone calls...because if it's a spark issue with what they have taken as misinformation...and should actually be eCSFB, then that WOULD affect the data side of things, but I should be able to make phone calls. I told her the biggest thing, I should be able to make a phone call while roaming, but the phone was jumping from 1 to 5 to 3 to 0 to none to 5 bars..on roaming.

 

I watched the levels on Signalcheck Pro..and the numbers didn't jump like that...only the bars....

So I assume the HTC shows the voice signal strength on the bars, and not the level of your data connection strength like the G2 and Samsung phones do?? Either way...I would hit 1 to call voicemail and either it would sit on "Dialing" until the error popped up that it failed...or, I would sit waiting for 15 seconds or so and it would finally call VM...but this was rare...it didn't want to hold a connection long enough to complete a call.

Every attempt to visit a webpage was met with "Page not found"...but it would show 3G in the status bar...the entire time I was trying to open pages. Rarely did I try to visit a site without having 3G showing, only a couple times by accident..

The lady I talked with told me that I could still get the speaker, and that she would make sure my account got credited for the taxes I pay, plus a couple of months of payments if I wanted to do Easy Pay on it...but I'm not sure I want to pay $399 for it. Getting the speaker for $99 with the phone was a deal...getting the phone with $100 or so knocked off as courtesy just doesn't make it seem worth it...that's a lot of money for a speaker that I might use a couple times a week. I told the lady (escalations today) that I was more disappointed to find out that I couldn't switch my S5 I was forced to get for the G3 when it comes out and let my daughter have the S5...she said I was told yet more misinformation by this corporate store.

I told her that I asked the rep if I decided to let my daughter have the S5 in a couple months, could I just switch it over to her line and get the G3 on my line...he said "no...it'll wind up making your Easy Pay void and you'll have to pay full price then on your bill"...she said that was wrong, and she asked several of her coworkers, and they said you can move phones wherever you like inside your account, as long as you don't cancel the line. Thats when you have to pay full price up front ...if you cancel.

 

Ultimately, when I first got her on the phone and explained everything, she thought I was talking about an affiliate store. When she asked where it was, and looked it up, she came back on the line, and in a shocked-sounding attitude told me that "this is a corporate store"...

Since this is the case, she said there isn't much she can do to help me ..but asked what I would like to have done. I told her that I didn't want anything for free, and I wasn't calling to try and get something for nothing..I just wanted to let someone know what is going on inside this store. I told her that I'm the customer, and if I wanted to swap my HTC 1 for another HTC one, then that's my decision to make...and if I got stuck in a phone that WAS having problems, then that's my tough luck, NOT the store's...it's my decision to get the phone I want, NOT THEIRS...and they shouldn't be worried about which phone I choose, they don't have to pay for it ....I DO.

[Fraydog]

Did you try CDMA Only mode yet?

[jonathanm1978]

I don't have the device anymore..but yes...

 

Yesterday, on my FIRST visit to the store...the sales rep -- not the store manager -- took my phone and said "this will solve the problem..." and he put it in CDMA only ...

 

Then, just when I came back with the speaker and phone to get a refund and go to another Sprint store up the road (which I ultimately ran out of time and had to stay at this "sorry" location and get a phone I wasn't really wanting....I told them when they said "it doesn't matter if you get another HTC 1 m8...it's gonna do the same thing....and i said " but you put the phone in CDMA only mode and said that would fix it"....their response??? That won't fix it either. It's something with JUST the HTC 1 M8..and it's ONLY in the Birmingham, Alabama area...and its affecting EVERY HTC One M8, and HTC One M8 HK ....

Wow at the idiots working in this store....and why do they care if I'm stuck in the second device for 1 year or not??? It's MY money, MY line, and MY device to live with...NOT THEIRS.

[Fraydog]

Sounds like a case for dan@sprint.com. I don't know how anything else can help.

[kct1975]

Sounds like a case for dan@sprint.com. I don't know how anything else can help.

I completely agree!

[jonathanm1978]

[jonathanm1978]

Can anyone come up with ANYTHING at all that would be JUST in the Bham, AL area...and affect ONLY the HTC 1 M8HK (and, according the smarta$$ remark behind me the other day while in-store, the HTC 1 M8 also)???

 

I told the guy who was handling my "refund" that if the Harman/Kardon was having this problem then the regular HTC 1 M8 should have it too...and the employee behind me sounded off "yep it is too"..then went back to laughing and talking about the game that was on TV.  The entire ambiance of that store was that of an uncaring, non-customer oriented place of employment. 

[centermedic]

I don't have the device anymore..but yes...

 

Yesterday, on my FIRST visit to the store...the sales rep -- not the store manager -- took my phone and said "this will solve the problem..." and he put it in CDMA only ...

 

Then, just when I came back with the speaker and phone to get a refund and go to another Sprint store up the road (which I ultimately ran out of time and had to stay at this "sorry" location and get a phone I wasn't really wanting....I told them when they said "it doesn't matter if you get another HTC 1 m8...it's gonna do the same thing....and i said " but you put the phone in CDMA only mode and said that would fix it"....their response??? That won't fix it either. It's something with JUST the HTC 1 M8..and it's ONLY in the Birmingham, Alabama area...and its affecting EVERY HTC One M8, and HTC One M8 HK ....

Wow at the idiots working in this store....and why do they care if I'm stuck in the second device for 1 year or not??? It's MY money, MY line, and MY device to live with...NOT THEIRS.

I hate to say it but it sounds as if somebody has a vested interest in pushing certain phones....or maybe they just dislike HTC and they are letting their personal preferences get in the way. Either way, that attitude is not acceptable.

[jonathanm1978]

Someone called regarding my email to dan@sprint and also she had called the store before getting on the phone with me...

 

Apparently the store is convincing upper-level management of the same thing, because she didn't really give me anything to think otherwise...she said the store manager would be in contact with me to reach a resolution in the matter.

 

Personally the only resolution I see is to offer me the speaker, the original reason that i purchased that phone in the FIRST place, for $99. I wanted that speaker and phone combination, and if the entire line of phones is torn up, as they so claim, then 1) they need to STOP selling the damn things to people in the first place...and 2)offer another phone in place of the HTC 1 M8HK with the speaker deal. If there really is something only with that phone, then HTC shouldn't have launched it and they need to charge-back the missed money on the speaker to HTC for a faulty launch. At $300 per speaker, HTC would fix the problem rather quick if it really IS their fault and something is wrong with the radio in the phone...but, I somehow doubt that's the case.

 

If this were the case, that would probably mean that all Erricson markets since that's what Birmingham is, would have problems with the HTC 1 M8, and the HTC 1 M8HK....and nobody else in the southeast is complaining...

I find it VERY difficult to believe their story -- which they've seemingly convinced corporate of as well. So I await the phone call from this store manager..and I'm going to ask him to explain it to me, since I'm no dummy...exactly what it is in this phone that is the problem in this area (and ONLY this area.)

[SpenceSouth]

Update fixed it. Time to hunt more lte lol. Thanks.

 

Sent from my HTC One M8

 

Have you had any more issues since then?  I've been working on a really large upgrade to the application and it has required changing a lot of the back-end to accomplish it.

[ghostkilla1388]

Have you had any more issues since then? I've been working on a really large upgrade to the application and it has required changing a lot of the back-end to accomplish it.

The update fixed it and the app worked great, I now have a Galaxy s5 and still use it no problem. Looking forward to the update though.

 

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[SpenceSouth]

The update fixed it and the app worked great, I now have a Galaxy s5 and still use it no problem. Looking forward to the update though.

 

Sent from my Galaxy S5

 

Great, glad to hear it!

[kckid]

Received an update this morning to version 1.54.651.10 (56.33MB)

 

Urgent network connectivity maintenance and improvements (voice and data)

[Vince]

 

 

Received an update this morning to version 1.54.651.10 (56.33MB)

 

Urgent network connectivity maintenance and improvements (voice and data)

I just downloaded it, too. Hopefully, it fixes band 41/26 issues. I have had strange connection problems with this phone. While it has seemingly been better as of late, I still can get 41 in certain places, then drive by them a few hours later, and not connect.

[Paynefanbro]

In just updated too. I'll be out and about today so we'll see how it connects. Recently most of my Band 41 issues have been fixed because of Sprint pushing an eCSFB update to all of the city's Clear sites.

[Vince]

Sprint's software support page hasn't been updated yet. I'm curious to see the changelog.

[Paynefanbro]

Sprint's software support page hasn't been updated yet. I'm curious to see the changelog.

It's just as kckid stated. It just says Urgent network connectivity maintenance and improvements (voice and data).

[Vince]

It's just as kckid stated. It just says Urgent network connectivity maintenance and improvements (voice and data).

Yeah I saw that, too. But, their page has a breakdown of what the updates fix/change. Maybe it will be more detailed than just "maintenance and improvement."

[mjs2011]

Mine hasn't come yet.

 

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

[Paynefanbro]

Di you manually check for the update? That's what I did.

[kckid]

Here is the Sprint info: 

 

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/163231

[mjs2011]

Di you manually check for the update? That's what I did.

I did. Nothing yet. I have the Harman Kardon though. Not sure if that makes any difference.

 

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

[Dkoellerwx]

 

I wanted to share my experience of using the Sprint HTC M8 in Europe with SIM.  First of all, you'll need to call Sprint and ask them to either:

1) Enable international roaming

2) Unlock the SIM in the M8 for international SIM cards - Each SIM has a country code of the provider, so phone will only play nice with non-US SIMs. Don't expect to pop in a T-Mobile SIM before your trip until next January.

I picked option #2.

To help the phone out and keep it from scanning for CDMA and LTE bands not present, I set the phone in GSM/UMTS mode ONLY. Obviously, you need to enable "Allow GSM data" too.

I only purchased SIMs in Austria and Poland, as I couldn't find a cell store in Croatia's little towns we visited.  

 

 

(Apologies for being slightly off topic)

 

Thank you for this post! I've been wondering about international travel, but have never really looked into it. What carrier did you buy the SIM from in Austria? My cousin live there and I *hope* to visit her later this year or early next. Is it easy to get a SIM for data+voice?