As mentioned in other posts, the public bus is only 130 baht (or whatever), its usually pretty quick, drops you at the North Pattaya bus station.
A couple of days to see all Pattaya has to offer. Its actually a small place.
Most anything on beach road will be loud. I have never stayed at the fancy hotels (Hilton or similar) so I couldn't say if they are better.
Tourists go to Soi 6 (Pattay Beach Road), walking street, beach road. Locals go to Soi Bakhao. I would google those places and find where you want to stay in relation to those locations... The closer you are the louder it will be.
Yeah I am not necessarily replace your phone - but if you try on another device (tablet) or other phone, you can rule-out your phone as being the problem. I am not familiar with your situation but I use the app on my phone without problem, I suspect 1000's if not millions of people use it so the app work, mostly.
You can go back an try your phone a dozen times but if nothing changes you really should expect different results.
You could apply for a visa now. Come into Thailand on a visa exempt, stay 30 days, fly to Malaysia for the week. When you return your visa should be ready, that's almost 6 weeks from now.