Droid RAZR (not MAXX) 4G, service drops on GB and ICS

Question

Okay, the forums are full of threads concerning this issue. The phone loses data connectivity as well as voice. Every person seems to have a different opinion as to when or where their service drops, and I have tried to find a fix (official or not) since I first got my RAZR.
I got my phone sometime in March 2012 from a Verizon store during a promotion. I was happy I can get a phone with better hardware than my DROID X (awesome phone-best I ever had). I didn't care much about the 4G, but I considered it a perk for upgrading.
1. A day later I started having problems with my service. The 4G connection would drop, the 4G icon would turn white and then disappear for good. The phone would have no data connection at all but a few seconds later the white 4G icon would reappear and turn blue later. I thought it is because the 4G coverage is spotty as I was constantly moving from one place to another. But I got home (where I never had problems and Verizon service was always excellent) and it would do the same thing.
2. I have data connectivity and voice service but I turn off the screen. When I turn the screen back on, data connection is lost and I have no service available. I had one error that said "SIM card invalid" or something like that a few times. On Gingerbread I just switched to 3G only and I had no problems. But every time I switched back to use the LTE, I had the same problem over and over.
3. Upgraded to ICS as I figured Motorola and Verizon worked together to find a "cure" for these sudden service losses. I was wrong. With ICS it is even worse. I lose data and voice service very often. In store, Verizon employees are telling me they have never seen problems like mine (liars?). On the phone with CS I am told they do not know of any issues similar to mine. But forums are full of threads of people having the same issue. Answers from VZ employees are not very clear and directs people to a simple Factory Reset, cleaning the SIM card, reinserting the SIM card... basic stuff a monkey could think of too.
4. Some times after a phone conversation, I hang up and immediately after, my service drops. I have to turn the screen off and then back on after about 5 seconds, the service is still nowhere to be seen, but if I leave the screen on for about 10 seconds, the phone will regain its connectivity to the network. THIS HAPPENS IN 3G COVERAGE AS WELL AS 4G NOW.
Steps taken: Downloaded the Motorola app to Restore Connectivity - did not work, I still have the problem.
                    Carefully cleaned the SIM card surface making sure there is no static electricity  discharge - did not work, I still have the problem.
                    Factory reset numerous times  - did not work, I still have the problem.
                    Removed and reinserted the SIM card - did not work, I still have the problem.
                    Updated to ICS hoping that would solve the problem - did not work, I still have the problem.
                    Anything I do I still have the problem.
So please tell me, Does VZ publicly acknowledges there is a problem with DROID RAZR? If yes why do some people inside VZ deny any issues with it while others don't. Aren't they trained or aren't they reading the same training material the others do? Besides that I am not aware of Motorola or VZ taking any responsibility in trying to fix this.Is there a fix in the works? Please if there is any help for people like me, with the same problem, I think VZ should email owners with solutions. REAL SOLUTIONS because it is possible. I receive newsletters for new phones and plans but none to suggest a fix to issues.
And factory reset after factory reset is not working out for me as I use my phone not to txt my friends or send funny pictures of my dog to my neighbor but for business. This is really affecting and annoying me. And yes, I could switch to an iPhone but Android provides me with a great deal of options in my line of work that iPhone does not have. And yes, I could switch to another Android based phone, but I paid for this one and I want to use what I paid money for.
Again... final question is: Is there a fix, a software fix (I think this has to do with software) for this?
Thank you!

Answer 1

I had EXACTLY ALL of the same issues (plus some Bluetooth issues):
Got my phone in January or February
First instance of this happened about the middle of June (or maybe the third week) for several days before I finally called, believing it was a "hiccup" in the network (still on GB)
Customer Service did some troubleshooting, placed it in "safe mode" to see if it might be an app causing it, factory reset, etc., etc., etc.......
VZ put in a network trouble ticket which seemed to solve the issue (although I don't really know what may have been done) for about a week (now I know that this was a mere coincidence)
About a week or two later (still on GB) it started again; this was maybe a Wednesday
CS troubleshooting, another trouble ticket, etc., etc., and then I finally did a factory reset myself
Friday night (maybe Saturday) ICS is out, and downloaded believing it would fix it.
The problem was resolved briefly (several hours, maybe a full day) and then began again with a vengance
Called, went through all the same humbug, did a couple (or a few) factory resets, and I too, had the "invalid SIM" error show up on the screen out of nowhere ........
Customer Service had me to go to my local Verizon store and get a new SIM (they thought that might possibly be the problem). Got the replacement, and it worked, again, only briefly; just a few short hours later, it was right back to the same old thing........more phone calls
trouble ticket is still out.......
Was even told by the advance tech support person that on several phones with this very same problem, that he actually saw this resolved by simply creating a different, brand new Google account (instead of the Verizon customer's original Google account) during setup, after a factory reset (don't ask me how......). Gladly, this is one step that I didn't take (that's all I need is one more email account!)
Finally, it was determined that it MUST be the device. I really didn't want another phone as I always keep my phones in pristine condition cosmetically, and there was no reason (as far as I was concerned) to swap it.
Reluctantly, I allowed them to send me a replacement. I say, "reluctantly" because my original was a new device but they would be sending me out a "certified reconditioned, like-new" replacement.
After some trepidation, I decided to go ahead; Motorola would probably take a year to get mine back to me after finding "nothing wrong", or the same year getting me a replacement, should I be lucky enough that my original device would act up for them to see that there actually is a real problem. Verizon, on the other hand could have a replacement to me in two days.
Needless to say, it has been a week (5 days) with the replacement and I have to admit that it absolutely WAS the device that I bought originally. This replacement hasn't repeated the problem, (with the exception of ONE VERY MINOR instance of about a 5 - 15 minute window on one day only), and I'm happy to say that it works like my original device did when I first got it.
I got a call after the 3rd or 4th day (I believe it was the 4th day) with the replacement device, from the trouble ticket people (technician who actually works out in the field maybe?) and was told that they have thoroughly checked the network/antenna/tower here and found that there was absolutely nothing wrong, and that everything is functioning as it should.
This problem was continuously happening at my house, so it was natural that I believed something was wrong with the tower here near my house. I live in a good 3G/LTE coverage area near New Orleans and had no problems whatsoever from January/February through the first part of June, so it was only natural that I thought it must be a problem with the tower.
I thanked him, and told him about the replacement, and he told me that's what he was going to suggest next, and it was the only suggestion that he had left.
Just know that in the course of all of these calls, I was told by at least a few reps (2 for sure) at Verizon that they were aware that this IS a problem on some of the Razr's and Razr Maxx's.
If this is as bad for you as it was for me (and I'm confident that it is), then I would call Customer Service - don't go to a store. Tell them EVERYTHING that has happened, everything that you've done to attempt to resolve it (including the painful process of factory resets), and what I've described here.
If you're okay with a "new" (read: replacement) device, then I'm sure that they can get you a replacement out in short order. As far as it looking new, you would NEVER be able to tell cosmetically that this isn't a brand new device.
I hope that this was able to help you, as well as all the others, with this issue.
Good luck everyone, and God bless you.
Message was edited by: Colin Pipkins
Okay, so regrettably, I must report to everyone that the replacement followed suit after only 6-7 days. It lost 4G connectivity and jumped to 3G and that's where it stayed. 
So I call Verizon and after a brief conversation, they asked if it was okay for them to transfer me over to Motorola for them to troubleshoot and I said that I'd be more than glad to speak with them.
Here's the breakdown:
After a lengthy call (an hour and twenty minutes), allowing them to remotely connect to my phone, and the Level 2 Tech seeing for himself that it's on 3G in a full 4G area, he tells me that there's nothing more that can be done.
WHAAAT?!!!
He said that if I want to send it in to Motorola they'll look at it, and if they did find anything wrong with the phone they'll send me a replacement, but if they DON'T find anything wrong with it (which I'm sure would be the case), they will simply send me my phone back, and that it will be Verizon's network that is the problem.
In this scenario I would need to find a replacement phone to use while my Razr goes to Motorola (for them to find nothing wrong with of course, and blame everything on Verizon's LTE network) only to get it back weeks later and be totally inconvenienced (this has been going on since June).
The last thing he said to me before getting off the phone was that they have similar devices with other carriers and they don't have any of these problems with those devices.
I've started searching the other devices forums here in the Verizon Wireless Community and I'm beginning to see a pattern.  The same issue is happening with quite a few of the other 4G devices so I'm not really sure that another device (different manufacturer) is even the answer.
They have sent me yet another Droid Razr and I can honestly say that this will be the last one. If I can't find a device that will actually keep/hold LTE connectivity then I may have to go back to Sprint.  Their native coverage is nowhere near Verizon's but they also don't have much 4G coverage right now.
If I'm going to have to be on 3G anyway, I may as well pay less than I'm paying now - or at least pay the same and not have to worry about going over on data.I guess we'll see how this replacement works out and go from there.
Anyhow, just know that it may not be a Razr/Razr Maxx problem after all.
Hopefully, they can get this sorted out and we can all get back to life......