I feel everyone's pain....and have been seeing the same "behavior", in Nextel's network, since "the merger", as well (Columbus area). I think that a lot of the "dropped-calls" problem also has to do with the new generation of phones, having "weaker transceivers" in them, to increase talk time, battery life, etc. I've also noticed increasing amounts of "multiplexing/digital artifacting" issues, with phone calls. It seems that at most "peak times", you can hear digital artifacts, in the phone calls, which indicates that Nextel compression algorithms are really "cranking", to squeeze more calls, within the same bandwidth.
My wife's 730 (worked GREAT, by the way) recently got stolen, and when we replaced it with a 930, we've had nothing but trouble out of it, with regards to reception/transmission issues. I can't even call from inside my house, reliably, with the thing
(. My 'ole 305 kicks butt, with regards to "call reliability", compared to the 930. This is what's making me think that the newer generation of phones, may have weaker transceivers in them, and is contributing to the "dropped-calls problem". Think about it...if there's more towers out there (in theory), then the phones don't have to be "as strong", therefore, you can make them smaller, and "last longer", all at the same time. But, as others have pointed out, Nextel/Sprint's drain on the network has been increasing, at a faster pace, then towers are going up (if at all). I agree there, as well.
I'm in the midst of replacing the 930, under the "30-day risk free" promotion, but we don't know "which phone to try next". Nextel hasn't been very helpful, with regards to "knowing which phone has the
best power output". If most of the new phones are derived from the same transceiver technology, then nothing's going to work out, other than the 355...maybe. Unfortunately, the 355 isn't appealing to my wife, but...if it works better...that's what matters.
It would also be interesting to know, if the phone's power management software is "aware" of the battery that's plugged into it; 930 would have "the need" for very-advanced power management, over most of the other phones. Does anyone know if the
power-management features, of the phones, "scale down" transmission power, to increase talk time, if you've got the "standard battery", and possibly transmit "stronger", if the increased-capacity battery is used instead? This seems like a logical possiblity to me. Again, I couldn't find "any help" with that question, either, from anyone, at Nextel.
I'd love to see some transceiver-power stats, on the "available phones", so that I can make a more-informed choice. I haven't been able to find a Nextel store, or a Nextel Tech, for that matter, who can tell me this "simple bit" of information, about the products that they sell...imagine that
). Most of the people that I've talked with, didn't even understand my question
).
We've got two weeks left, on our "exchange", so if anyone out there knows where I can find the transceiver-power stats (wattage), on the available Nextel phones, I would GREATLY appreciate it
). Where have all of the old 1watt phones gone....
Sorry about the lengthy post...this "phone experience" has REALLY been getting to me.
Best regards,
Wulleymammoth
