Battery Drain Problem

Hello to all, I am new to this forum and this is my first post. This is my problem: When I am at home my battery dies after only 3 hours on standby. I have made many inquiries to alltel tech but no one can help me except to state that my phone standby time can and should be up to 300 hours. Here is background and what I 've tried thus far. I am a "pay as you go" prepaid customer. I purchased my phone and service from alltel.com. about one month ago. The phone is a Motorola v262.
(1) I have returned the phone for a new one and tried new batteries. (2) I have charged and recharged the batteries by letting battery completely die and recharging all night. I have tried this at least 10 times - with the phones and the batteries--- is not the problem. (3)I live in central South Carolina in a ruarl area near water on a lake and am told by alltel tech support there is an alltel tower 3.5 miles from my home. However, I am told by them that service from my home is being directed to a tower in "North" Carolina - not to the tower close to my home. (4)After being in the hospital for a week in a nearby town (approx 17 miles from my home) I discovered my battery did not die after 3 hours and worked normally without a single charge. (5)One last big clue to this problem: When at home, the roaming icon blinks continuously and the signal switches from digital to analog about every two seconds continuously. When I was in the hospital (where the battery worked properly) there was no roaming icon and the phone showed a constant digital signal. I just spoke with alltel tech support again today about my "hospital" experience they still have no explanation or solution. (6) Over the past 30 days Alltel tech support has had me "reprogram/reactivate" my phone a dozen times with no success. They have also had me take my phone to the local alltel store who also had no suggestion. Finally alltel suggested if I "upgraded" my service to something above "pay as you go" more towers would be available to me and maybe my phone would work. If that is true, it means that "pay as you go" customers are receiving substandard service or limited service - Could that really be the case?? Can someone please help me. Thanks.

 

Thanks, RobertF for your reply. Unfortunately, I this is my first cell phone and have not made more than some 1 - 2 minute test calls at home. And of course in the hospital I was to sick to use the phone. Your suggestion about the signal "bouncing" between towers sounds like you could be on to something, but I still would not know how to correct it. Hope someone might help us. Thanks.

 

Strunke, thanks for your suggestion but it didn't work. I changed my settings to "home only" . As a result the roaming icon no longer displays, I have a constant Analog signal with approx 2 bars ....but I cannot receive calls. My phone will not physically ring so I can't answer. Instead the caller hears about five rings then is sent to my voice mail.... Any other ideas. Thanks.

 

Thanks Pepster2, the tec support folks walked me though setting phone to digital only. Although I don't remember the exact steps, it would not keep that setting. It automatically reverted back to digital/analog. However, if you have steps to set it to digital only and share them with me I will love to try again. Actually, at this point I'll try anything....Thanks much..

 

AG8000, I'm not sure what my SID is but I do know alltel had me program my phone for the following: NAM: 3226 and CURRENT: 114. Is one of these my SID? Thanks.

 

AG8000, Again not sure, like I said in my original message there is an alltel tower 3.5 miles north of my house but my phone number with an (803) 427 prefix is not directed to that tower for some reason. We are in a rual area, (near water) on a lake. I do know that 17 miles away (in town) there is good alltel coverage and also Cingular too...I think. Thanks.

 

AG8000, thats right. Acutally I am about 17 miles north of the city limits of Camden. Also I am about 30 miles south of Lancaster and about 80 miles south of Charlotte. Thanks. I think the tower I keep talking about is near Liberty Hill on Rt 97 North about 20 - 25 miles north of Camde.

 

AG8000, The only thing I can get to is "User Activation." Under Nam1 the current setting is:
AMPS Sys ID: is 3226 and
CDMA Sys ID: is 3226
but I do not see a setting for just "SID"
Am I in the right place? If not, yes please advise me the steps to get where I can change my SID. Thanks.

 

AG8000, The Verison SID of 139 did not work. I have checked it twice to be sure I did all the steps right. (and I did set it to "home only"). However, I get "No Service." message on main menu. When I power my phone off and on again it says "searching for network" then I get the "No Service" message. Is there any other SID I can try?? Thanks.

 

Thanks AG8000, I'll work on these and let you know. Again Thanks so much.

 

AG8000, I tried all the SID codes you gave me with the same result - no service. I appreciate all the time and effort you have taken. It is just so hard for me to accept that no one else has had this same problem. Maybe someone will read this thread and help us. Something is draining my battery, and my phone is acting like it is in constant use when it is set to standby....you would think the alltel tech folks would have the answer but they don't. Thanks again. I'll keep checking this thread.

 

Strunke thanks for your suggestions. I changed both my AMPS Sys ID and my CDMA Sys ID to 114 and also 182. Neither worked. The problem has to be in the tower assignment. I noticed today when I was in Camden I had a strong all digital signal with no roaming until I was about 2 miles from my house and approx 5 miles from the alltel tower near me. My digital signal went down to almost nothing and as I approached my house the signal started switching back and forth from digital to analog with a blinking roaming icon. This phone is absolutely not good to me with only 3 hours of standby at home. I am really disappointed but want to thank you, AG8000, Pepster, RobertF, and everyone who has tried to help me solve this problem. I'll post if I ever resolve this issue. Thanks again.

 

Strunke, yes I have phone set to "home only." With SID 182 I get "no service" - so that one didn't work. With SID 114 I no longer display a blinking roaming icon but I still have the alternating Digital then Analog about every five seconds. I have tested my phone on this setting (thinking it might be the solution since the roaming icon no longer displays) but the battery still dies on standby after about 3 hours. Tomorrow I think I'll give alltel tech support one more shot at this. Will let you know outcome. Thanks.