I have an LG VX8300 on Verizon (America’s Most Reliable Network TM). The last three places I have lived, in two states, have all had piss poor reception in my home, as well as various public areas. In none of these places have I been out in the boonies. Comparing my reception with others on different carriers, I have low signal strength and drop calls all the time, while others on AT&T or TMobile have strong signals. It’s getting so that I have to tell people to call back my landline if called at home.
At what point should I consider dumping Verizon versus just picking up a new phone? The latter option would probably require an additional 2-year contract. Anyone else have problems with them?
Some of it can be the carrier, of course, as they have different coverage areas. But some of it can be your phone. My husband, son and I all have T-Mobile, but three different phone models, and we don’t always get the same reception in the same places.
We’ve had Verizon service for several years now, and basically never had a problem with reception or service. My daughter, during the time she was at school in Iowa, was often the only one on the team bus, out in the boonies, who had any service at all.
This may sound like a stupid question, but have you looked at the way you hold the phone? With the first phone I had, it took about five tries to get it activated because it kept cutting out. My son tried it and it was fine. I even took it outside and that didn’t help. Finally someone pointed out to me that I was holding the phone in such a way that I was interfering with the antenna thingy. No trouble since, even in odd or rural areas. The only place I have trouble now is in the middle of big box stores, which I assume is caused by the metal framing and shelving or something like that.
In my case, it’s definitely the phone, since I know lots of people one the same network (and besides, all the companies around here share cells anyways) who have great reception while mine sucks. I can’t get anything when I’m in the metro, but the number of people blabbing and texting away suggests that they have reception (either that, or they are so addicted to constant contact with their friends that they pretend to talk and text…but I doubt it… for most of them… ;))