Best reception and call quality?

L

lalala2512

New member
Very sorry for the longwindedness here but I would really appreciate some help/feedback.

OK, so for about 2 weeks the wife and I have been looking at phones. Cingular is our only option here in this rural part of PA so that narrws the field a bit. Here's what we're looking for in a phone:

1- reception and call quality. We live in an area where it's often hard to get and hold a signal so it's gotta be a phone that can cope with that.

2- flip phone. what can I say, we just prefer flips.

3- quad band. We hope to improve our odds of reception here w/ quad.

4- external display and camera (no specifics on these as long as they are present, it's fine if the external is monochrome and the camera sucks)

Those are the only things we must have. Voice dialing and an alarm clock preferred but not necessary.

So we've looked at every phone Cingular has to offer. Here's the rundown on what we've turned up between reviews and seeing some of them in person:

- Motorola: The Razr - honestly those things are built like crap (no offense to those that have them, to each his own). Motorolas don't get great reviews on call quality either (though they do great in the reception area). My wife doesn't have the greatest hearing either and they all are accused of low volume issues.

- Samsung: Reviews of most of the Samsungs say their reception is shoddy except for the ZX20. I'm still skeptical of that model too though b/c I've seen some user reviews saying they get a lot of dropped calls on them. I've also seen a lot of complaints about battery probs.

- LG: We've looked at the CU500, CU400, CG225 and the 2000. The 2000 looks a little too bare. The 500 shows reports of mysterious shut-offs and dropped calls in rural areas. They all seem to have that agitating ascending ring also. That leaves the CU400 for which we can't really find any info on and the 225 which looks pretty good, albeit a bit bare. In general though I see most people slamming LGs so that concerns me a bit.

- Sony Ericsson: The W300i made it into our final selections as it got great reviews for both reception and call quality - BUT 2 issues concern me here. 1 is - how the hell do you make and answer calls? lol Is it really a 2-button process as it seems and if so, is there a way around it like a shortcut or something? Secondly, I've seen complaints of WSODs on this model and other SEs as well. I don't knw how common the problem is though.

- Nokia: Only the 6102i seems viable here since the Nokia flip selection at Cingular is very slim pickings. My mom has one and lives in this area as well and she gets tons of dropped calls and the the call clarity isn't great either. She also has a lot of issues with the phone mysteriously not working (with no indication of a problem either other than that you can't hear the person you're calling), requiring her to pull the battery and restart the phone.

OK so that's where we're at - stuck with sore eyes from reading reviews and forums and headaches to match. TIA for anyone that can provide some useful info or personal experiences that would help our decision.
 
Have you taken a look at the Motorola V365? If it's anything like the V360, then it's worth it.


Shouldn't matter unless you plan on leaving the country. All you need is 850.
 
I am sorry about your mom's bad experience with Nokia phones. I think my Nokias pick up weak signal the best, sound the best, and take abuse the best of any of the phones I have ever used or heard about. I have the Nokia 3585 (CDMA, not available for Cingy) and 1100 (GSM, find an unlocked one and you are good to go), altough neither of these are flip, and do not have cameras. My sister had a camera phone from Sony Ericsson, a year and the phone was already worn out!

Supposedly the Speakout phones from 7-11 are unlocked and ready for you to slip your Cingy SIM into if you are looking for a cheap no contract phone. I do not know if they have flips or not. Just ignore and discard the activation materials and discard the Speakout SIM, keeping the accessories and manuals for the phone. This may help avoid the dreaded contract.

Quad band is useless in the US and does not improve reception. You need a dual band phone, 850 and 1900 mhz. Quad band phones are for people who travel to foreign countries, probably unnecessary here. Most phones have an option for ascending ringing, just make sure your phone isn't set to do it and you will be fine there. Most phones come with an alarm function, not with voice dialing (some Motorolas have it).
 
I too am sorry to hear about your issues with that low-end Nokia... which isn't really a Nokia at all, from what I have read elsewhere on this board. Some of the Nokia 610x models are in fact made by BenQ, and aren't up to Nokia's usual standards. I feel that Nokia did themselves a disservice by contracting out these models.

It's not like they cannot make entry-level bar-style models with excellent reception and call quality -- maybe they just had trouble entering flip-phone production?

Check out the 6125/6126/6131/6133 models. They are mid-range Nokia flip/clamshells.
 
My V365 picks up signal the best. The target next to my house is prone to really bad signal for cingular. All my phones i own, they all go in and out of service while im inside that place. Since ive had this V365 and went in there.. the phone never went below 2 bars of signal. I even made a 15 minute call while walking around and didnt drop the call nor had voice degration...
 
Not so fast. Quad band phones are especially useful int he rural areas of the US where the towers have are fewer and farther between and have not been updated as fast as the more urban towers.
 
Yes I do, but do you?

Two frequency bands are used by GSM services in the US. Two different frequency bands are used by GSM services elsewhere in the world.

Ideally, you'd want a phone that can work on all four bands - commonly called a quad-band phone. But these are still rare and expensive.

If choosing a tri-band phone as a second best choice, be careful which three bands your phone has. Some bands are more useful than others, depending on where you travel.

GSM cell phones use frequencies within four different frequency bands :

850 MHz (824.2 - 848.8 MHz Tx; 869.2 - 893.8 MHz Rx)
900 MHz (880-2 - 914.8 MHz Tx; 925.2 - 959.8 MHz Rx)
1800 MHz (1710.2 - 1784.8 MHz Tx; 1805.2 - 1879.8 MHz Rx)
1900 MHz (1850.2 - 1909.8 MHz Tx; 1930.2 - 1989.8 MHz Rx)

Although 850 and 900, and 1800 and 1900 are very close together, a phone that works in one frequency band unfortunately can not also work in the frequency band next to it unless added as a specific extra frequency band. For comparison, when you have your FM radio tuned to a radio station at 98.1 MHz, there's no way you'll hear what is happening on another radio station at 98.3 MHz unless you retune your radio.

Which frequencies are used in the US?

Originally, the US used only 1900 MHz for its GSM cell phone service. In the last year or so, there has been a growing amount of GSM service on the 850 MHz band. This type of service will usually be seen in rural areas, because the 850 MHz band has better range than the 1900 MHz band. It can sometimes also found in city areas, particularly if the cell phone company has spare frequencies unused in the 850 MHz band, but no remaining frequencies to use in the 1900 MHz band.

Most of the 850 MHz service belongs to AT&T, and some to Cingular (these two companies are in the process of merging). Although T-Mobile does not (as of July 04) have any of its own 850 MHz service, because it has roaming agreements with both AT&T and Cingular, even a T-mobile user might sometimes find themselves in an area where the only signal available is on 850 MHz.
 
If ur one that leaves the US.. yes a quad band would be BEST but not needed. A Tri-band works thu out the globe, but u will have limited coverage.


The 900 & 1800 are of NO use to us here is the states...


OH i know the answer to this one....


Ah, AT&T started out with 1900, NOT 850. Cingular started on 850.
That is why the few at&t subscribers that were still on the triband 900/1800/1900 had to change over to a quad band or 850/1800/1900 phone when cingular took over. AT&T's 1900 coverage was not too shabby, neither was there TDMA 850 service.
 
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