Need Cell Phone Info

[MaxKaladin]

Ok, this isn't D&D related, though it does impact my ability to keep in touch with my group. Perhaps this really belongs in Off Topic, but its technical so I put it in the computer area.

Anyway, the problem is this. I get horrible reception on my Nokia phone with T-Mobile when I go into rural areas. When I visit my parents, I often find myself out in the country and can't get a signal. The same thing happens to my dad with the same model phone. The thing is that other people I know with T-Mobile and even a couple with the same model phone have better or even great reception so I think its the model of phone I have rather than the lack of a nearby tower. Can anyone direct me to a site where I can get some information about which phones have the best reception or other information that can help me resolve the problem? I've been googling, but mostly get flamewars between people arguing which provider is best or trying to sell me phones or antenna boosters. I was hoping someone might know of a site.

Thanks!

 

[KenM]

I use Verizion wireless for my cell. Like 4 months ago there was facts of a study published saying that they have the best quailty and fewest out areas and droped calls. I have never had a problem, but I don't go long distances with it either. I think the article was in USA today and about the same time it was there, they had a story on CNN saying the same thing.

 

[Goobermunch]

Verizon's great, as long as you don't live in New York. The City is suing Verizon because of it's horible reputation for dead zones.

Check out http://www.mobiledia.com. They have a reviews of a number of popular phones. Hopefully, you'll find one that works for you.

--G

 

[AutoSponge]

Basically two major factors matter when trying to connect on a weak signal. 1 - the type of signal (and tower availability) and 2 - wattage.

Most all handheld phones these days are .3 watts. So that leaves type of service (tower availability). Some phones are configured (by the vendor) to stay in digital mode, even when there is a weak digital signal and you could have a better connection on an analog signal. Other phones are just bad at setting their threshold at a comfortable level. You may want to check your manual for any settings that deal with switching between analog and digital modes. You may even want to force your phone into analog mode while you're in remote areas.

This isn't because analog travels farther or anything, but there are more analog towers out there (legacy equipment) and instead of getting dropped information you'll get some static with poor reception. The human ear for some reason deals with the static in a conversation better than missing information. We're able to replace the missing information if we hear that background noise instead of nothing.

The only other suggestion is checking into a car repeater, a handheld repeater, or a different phone. You can buy antennas that act as repeaters that mount on your car on on your phone (typically behind the battery). This can make the difference in a few db of radio signal and make a huge difference in call quality. Also make sure your mounted antenna is fully extended (if it's a 'whip' antenna)--fixed mast antennas (like the old ericsson phones where the antenna doesn't go down) usually have better performance but a lot of vendors don't make them anymore so you have to buy it separate.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Basically two major factors matter when trying to connect on a weak signal. 1 - the type of signal (and tower availability) and 2 - wattage.

Most all handheld phones these days are .3 watts. So that leaves type of service (tower availability). Some phones are configured (by the vendor) to stay in digital mode, even when there is a weak digital signal and you could have a better connection on an analog signal. Other phones are just bad at setting their threshold at a comfortable level. You may want to check your manual for any settings that deal with switching between analog and digital modes. You may even want to force your phone into analog mode while you're in remote areas.

This isn't because analog travels farther or anything, but there are more analog towers out there (legacy equipment) and instead of getting dropped information you'll get some static with poor reception. The human ear for some reason deals with the static in a conversation better than missing information. We're able to replace the missing information if we hear that background noise instead of nothing.

The only other suggestion is checking into a car repeater, a handheld repeater, or a different phone. You can buy antennas that act as repeaters that mount on your car on on your phone (typically behind the battery). This can make the difference in a few db of radio signal and make a huge difference in call quality. Also make sure your mounted antenna is fully extended (if it's a 'whip' antenna)--fixed mast antennas (like the old ericsson phones where the antenna doesn't go down) usually have better performance but a lot of vendors don't make them anymore so you have to buy it separate.

Thanks for the info.

We've had the plan long enough that T-Mobile will give us new phones and we're willing to pay extra to get phones that will give us better reception, but we don't know which ones those are. The T-Mobile reps are pretty unhelpful as they mostly insist there won't be any difference between any of their phones. We know this to be false as we've seen a difference between phones on their plan and even with the same model phones -- my stepmother's phone is the same as mine and my father's but gets better reception. When they offer any suggestions at all, its to offer to change out a chip, but they're pretty evasive when it comes to describing what, exactly, this will actually do to help. Their description of the phone losing its memory makes it sound like its an EEPROM or some other kind of memory rather than anything that will do any good so I'm chalking that suggestion up to the old trick of doing something that won't help just to make the customer shut up and go away then hope they come back on someone elses shift so they're not your problem anymore.

Our phones have no external antenna. My father bought an antenna that has an adapter that clips on the back of the phone with a wire that runs to a roof mounted antenna and this basically did no good. I don't know if the ones you're describing actually draw any power from the car to boost the signal strength or not.

I'll check the manual about switching modes manually. Otherwise, I'll need to find some sort of place where I can get information about the relative merits of the various phones so we can make an informed decision about replacing ours. Right now, we have Nokia 3390s, which were the basic phone at the time and, I think, have been discontinued. I don't know what the current "basic" phone is but I doubt it's much better. The two phones that have currently gotten the best reception are one with a short antenna that isn't on T-Mobile but rather on some smaller regional company and a flip-phone that is on T-Mobile.

Thanks for the info.

 

[robaustin]

Make sure you get a tri-mode phone. Too many phones are going all-digital - which is great if you live in a city, but in rural areas you may still need to get an analog signal.

I have an LG VX4400B which is tri-mode and is an excellent phone - and Verizon is top notch as well. Never have a problem even in the backwoods areas....

--*Rob