Poor & Muffled Outgoing Audio

[nhfire152]

I cannot be the ONLY person having this terrible issue. I bought my Motorola Droid on February 9. Since then, I have had TWO replacements. That's right...I am now on my THIRD Droid. This is getting ridiculous.

The features on the phone are the nuts...even the audio on my end is great. But people that I talk to are either asking me "What?" all of the time, or constantly asking me to put my phone near my mouth.

My wife is totally flipping out. She has hung up on me numerous times because the call quality has been that bad.

When I first had the issue (the night I bought the phone), I brought it back into the store, and they changed the Vocoder to EVRC-B. It made NO DIFFERENCE. I was back the next morning, and they replaced the phone with a new one. I also got rid of the Verizon Shell and Holster case I was using, and settled for the simple holster. Still, it was muffled to people I talked to. So now, I had no case on the phone to block the 2 microphones, and a new phone, to rule out hardware/software issues.

So after a week or so of experiencing the same issue, I went back to my VZW store last night. Even the Techs agreed that it was muffled. They again replaced the phone for me, and changed the Vocoder to EVRC-B again.

So here I am, my third Droid, my Seidio Innocase doesn't fit this new one for some un-God forsaken reason, and my wife STILL complains of my muffled voice.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I am getting ready to envoke my 30 day return and get a totally different type of phone. This phone is so incredible though, that I really do not want to lose it!

Frustrated Frank the Tank in Central NY

 

[jimnutt]

A couple of things: 1) make sure the noise cancellation microphone port on center top back of the phone isn't covered by the case (it's barely visible and easy to miss, a lot of cases cover it). 2) Try moving the phone around a bit to see where you get the best audio, the microphone is fairly directional.

In general, though, it seems that covering the noise cancellation port on the back causes a lot of the audio problems.

 

[hookbill]

I have to agree, you probably are covering the microphone some how. I have absolutely no problems with people hearing me on my outgoing calls.

I'd try one more phone. If that doesn't work then either you have bad luck, you're covering the mike, or the Droid just isn't meant for you.

 

[Mr Silly Ears]

I too have had this problem. I stopped using that "great" case i got from verizon. It seems to help a bit, but I still get that WHAT? every so often. I have literally tried everything to fix this issue. The only thing I found is a 100% fix, is being "that guy" with the hands free earpiece in at all times. Not a fan! This is my only real complaint about my phone, but its big enough that Im getting really irritated with my droid and thinking about moving on. I really dont want to, but verizon has yet to help me fix this issue. Good luck, you're not alone.

 

[nhfire152]

Solution Found!

Thanks everyone for the insight! I did a bit more research online, and found the microphone on the back that you were speaking of.

I also checked with the QA manager from my local VZW area...he confirmed that there have numerous complaints regarding the poor outbound audio.

The Seidio Innocase I use has a hole in the rear case to accommodate the secondary microphone. I think my issue was the fact that I am used to putting my finger towards the top of the phone when I am on a call, and I was in fact covering the microphone. Since I have changed my hand position, it appears to be SIGNIFICANTLY better.

I think that was a pretty poor design on Motorola's part though. With the beefy size of the phone, I can't be the only person that uses his index finger for support while talking on the phone.

Thanks again for the feedback!

Frank

 

[smokiedabong]

How hard can it be to acomodate a good 5mm microfone inside the case . The engineers really screw this up and forgot this is also a phone . When my friends with Droids are calling me , it's like we are talking with two cans and a string .

 

[107driver]

I'm having the same muffled outgoing sound complaints. Actually the complaints are anything but muffled. Where is this mic on the back exactly? Is it covered by the Verizon rubber 2-piece cover? Also, I have seen some posts regarding build time/series, i.e. 40, 41, 42. Where do I find this info? Have a replacement unit coming tomorrow.

Thanks,
_mh

 

[jammasterkx2]

Add me, same muffled outgoing audio here.

Called Verizon, they wanted to send me a 'certified' refurbished phone, no way.

Only 18 months until my next upgrade!!

 

[kxs783kms]

Add me to the list also. I was going to go in for a replacement phone, but from what I've been reading, ot won't do any good. Thanks for the hidden mic info.

 

[WhatAboutBob]

Anyone have any update on this issue?

 

[waffleman]

went into verizon with the same problem..muffled, static, and white noise, very frustrating repeating myself numerous times during calls. tech said he recieved an email stating that they are working on a software update to resolve the issue.

 

[WhatAboutBob]

went into verizon with the same problem..muffled, static, and white noise, very frustrating repeating myself numerous times during calls. tech said he recieved an email stating that they are working on a software update to resolve the issue.

I heard that today when I was checking out the X. Why was this the first time I heard of this? I called tech support numerous times had my wife's phone into the tech support center of the store we bought it at. They replaced it twice with brand new phones because of the 30 day no worry program.

 

[csaarsenal]

The Solution

GOOD NEWS I HAVE FOUND THE SOLUTION.
thanks to another online forum.
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/163406#163406

My wife has taken back her phone 4 times now to the store and got another brand new phone and nothing fixed it. This is because all the phones at that store came from the same batch or date manufactured.
Some dates are effected while others are not.

The problem is with the Noise Cancelation Device.
On the back at the top of the phone, above the camera is a little rubber strip cover. This is glued in place but with a thin knife you can easily and carefully remove this.
Behind it is a little metal strip that looks like the strip inside of a bus fuse. This strip spans across a little hole. This is the Noise Cancelation Device. This metal strip vibrates with background noise and tells the phone to cancel it out. The problem is some of them are too sensitive and cancel out your own voice.

The solution is to take a small piece of paper and push it under that metal strip in the hole so that it pushes slightly on the metal strip. This will stop it from being able to vibrate, thus deactivating the Noise Cancelation Device.

You may now here some background noise as if you were on a phone without this feature but you should hear the voice perfectly clear. I just did this this morning and it works perfectly.

Warning. This is probably technically a breach of your warranty. That is the reason for the paper instead of just taking out the metal strip. You can remove the paper before sending the phone in for service or replacement and no one will ever know that you messed with it.

Customer Service and Tech Support from Verizon or Motorolla will not give you any help. They will only replace your phone, and if it is past 30 days they will only give you a refurbished phone. This MAY solve your problem if the phone they give you is from a batch that works, or it may not. But they will not tell you how to fix it, cause they dont want you playing with it, and they wont fix it in the store because then they cant get their money back from motorolla either if they mess it up.

The real problem is that they have not communicated to the CSRs that this is the issue, and only have told them to replace the phone. When you have got 4 phones all with the same problem, the CSRs like anyone else with common sense come to the conclusion that it cant be the hardware and then they have no solution for you.

Verizon and Motorolla need to recall all phones from these batches and anyone who is having this problem should be send a pretested phone from a good batch. OR they should simply release a patch that disables the Noise Reduction Software. Until then a tiny little piece of paper will work.

They were 1.5 hours away from me mailing this back in and going to US Cellular. Good luck everyone.

 

[spudbrown79]

Add me, same muffled outgoing audio here.

Called Verizon, they wanted to send me a 'certified' refurbished phone, no way.

Only 18 months until my next upgrade!!

Add me too!! I've been consistently told since getting my first droid 6 months ago that I sound muffled. I've taken the case off, and have checked to make sure the mics are not blocked. LOVE the droid for text and internet usage, but hate it for talking. And ditto -- countind down 18 months to upgrade to something else! Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll do a random "come in and upgrade even if you're not eligible yet" event