Affordable GSM phone for low-reception areas?

I have T-Mobile and the basement apartment situation... the apartment
is cool, but you know what happens with reception...I get about 1 bar
throughout the place.
Suprisingly, I can actually complete calls with my Motorola C650, but I
was wondering if a better unit might give me another 1 or 2 much-needed
bars.

Any recommendations for affordable units? Nokias? I don't need any
fancy features, just being affordable and the best handling of low
signal.
Is there any effective mini antenna that you can attach to certain
models? (not the big car-style ones)


Optional reading:
Any way you look at it, it's a headache. A landline is a different
number, costs quite much, and I would've never needed it otherwise; I'd
rather not switch (I like my plan, I don't have credit history so the
approval procedure is a costly mess, and I love this lightweight
feeling of being out of contract); and even I did, I don't have every
single carrier's phone to test the exact signal bouncing patterns with,
and the 3-4 I did test weren't any better. T-mob actually gives me 4
bars the moment I step out the door.

---

› See More: Affordable GSM phone for low-reception areas?

In article <[email protected]>,
Binba <[email protected]> wrote:
>I have T-Mobile and the basement apartment situation... the apartment
>is cool, but you know what happens with reception...I get about 1 bar
>throughout the place.
>Suprisingly, I can actually complete calls with my Motorola C650, but I
>was wondering if a better unit might give me another 1 or 2 much-needed
>bars.
>
>Any recommendations for affordable units? Nokias? I don't need any
>fancy features, just being affordable and the best handling of low
>signal.

The discontinued Nokia 3595, and its newer clone, the 6010, have excellent
weak-signal handling and are dirt cheap. You can still find TmoToGo packages
with the 6010 at many Target, Wal-Mart, and other stores.

I have also found the current-model Nokia 6030, which is, in effect, a
miniaturized and modernized version of the same phone, to have even hotter
RF.

They are dual-band (well, at least the unbranded varieties are ... TMO has
been known to disable the 850 band in the past, so there are no
guarantees), so if you're in an area where T-Mobile has GSM850 roaming,
these phones will take advantage of that.

You can find gazillions of these on eBay ... just be sure they are either
T-Mobile branded or unlocked (actually, if you're willing to take a small
chance on a cheaper locked phone ... these Nokia models are relatively
simple to unlock using free subsidy-code calculators available from
numerous sites on the net).

Binba wrote:
> I have T-Mobile and the basement apartment situation... the apartment
> is cool, but you know what happens with reception...I get about 1 bar
> throughout the place.
> Suprisingly, I can actually complete calls with my Motorola C650, but I
> was wondering if a better unit might give me another 1 or 2 much-needed
> bars.
>
> Any recommendations for affordable units? Nokias? I don't need any
> fancy features, just being affordable and the best handling of low
> signal.
> Is there any effective mini antenna that you can attach to certain
> models? (not the big car-style ones)
>
>
> Optional reading:
> Any way you look at it, it's a headache. A landline is a different
> number, costs quite much, and I would've never needed it otherwise; I'd
> rather not switch (I like my plan, I don't have credit history so the
> approval procedure is a costly mess, and I love this lightweight
> feeling of being out of contract); and even I did, I don't have every
> single carrier's phone to test the exact signal bouncing patterns with,
> and the 3-4 I did test weren't any better. T-mob actually gives me 4
> bars the moment I step out the door.
>

My wife has a Nokia 6103 that gets good reception in our marginal
reception area on T-Mobile. Voice quality is good on this phone also.

V

Have you ever tried one of those little stick on antennae boosters? you
can order them dirt cheap from www.cell-phone-accessory.com I cant
guarantee it will work but for 5-10 dollars it cannot hurt to try..



Binba wrote:
> I have T-Mobile and the basement apartment situation... the apartment
> is cool, but you know what happens with reception...I get about 1 bar
> throughout the place.
> Suprisingly, I can actually complete calls with my Motorola C650, but I
> was wondering if a better unit might give me another 1 or 2 much-needed
> bars.
>
> Any recommendations for affordable units? Nokias? I don't need any
> fancy features, just being affordable and the best handling of low
> signal.
> Is there any effective mini antenna that you can attach to certain
> models? (not the big car-style ones)
>
>
> Optional reading:
> Any way you look at it, it's a headache. A landline is a different
> number, costs quite much, and I would've never needed it otherwise; I'd
> rather not switch (I like my plan, I don't have credit history so the
> approval procedure is a costly mess, and I love this lightweight
> feeling of being out of contract); and even I did, I don't have every
> single carrier's phone to test the exact signal bouncing patterns with,
> and the 3-4 I did test weren't any better. T-mob actually gives me 4
> bars the moment I step out the door.

For my money, the Ericsson T28 and T39 had the best radios of any cell
phone, before or since.



Binba wrote:

>Any recommendations for affordable units? Nokias? I don't need any
>fancy features, just being affordable and the best handling of low
>signal.
>Is there any effective mini antenna that you can attach to certain
>models? (not the big car-style ones)
>
>
>

At 19 Sep 2006 10:12:24 -0700 [email protected] wrote:
> Have you ever tried one of those little stick on antennae boosters? you
> can order them dirt cheap from www.cell-phone-accessory.com I cant
> guarantee it will work but for 5-10 dollars it cannot hurt to try..

Actually it can! I bought a used Nokia 7160 phone off of eBay that had
terrible RF performance compared to my other Nokias. When I removed the
battery I saw one of those stupid stick-on boosters. I removed it and
the phone was now able to make calls in my house, a low signal area for
Cingular's Blue network.


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Those stickers are absolutely worthless. They are simply a printed
design on a sticky sheet of plastic and will do nothing to improve
reception.

[email protected] wrote:
> Have you ever tried one of those little stick on antennae boosters?
> you can order them dirt cheap from www.cell-phone-accessory.com I cant
> guarantee it will work but for 5-10 dollars it cannot hurt to try..
>
>
>
> Binba wrote:
>> I have T-Mobile and the basement apartment situation... the apartment
>> is cool, but you know what happens with reception...I get about 1 bar
>> throughout the place.
>> Suprisingly, I can actually complete calls with my Motorola C650,
>> but I was wondering if a better unit might give me another 1 or 2
>> much-needed bars.
>>
>> Any recommendations for affordable units? Nokias? I don't need any
>> fancy features, just being affordable and the best handling of low
>> signal.
>> Is there any effective mini antenna that you can attach to certain
>> models? (not the big car-style ones)
>>
>>
>> Optional reading:
>> Any way you look at it, it's a headache. A landline is a different
>> number, costs quite much, and I would've never needed it otherwise;
>> I'd rather not switch (I like my plan, I don't have credit history
>> so the approval procedure is a costly mess, and I love this
>> lightweight feeling of being out of contract); and even I did, I
>> don't have every single carrier's phone to test the exact signal
>> bouncing patterns with, and the 3-4 I did test weren't any better.
>> T-mob actually gives me 4 bars the moment I step out the door.

[email protected] wrote:
> Have you ever tried one of those little stick on antennae boosters? you
> can order them dirt cheap from www.cell-phone-accessory.com I cant
> guarantee it will work but for 5-10 dollars it cannot hurt to try..

It can hurt to try since they DON"T WORK and you lose you money.

Gimme a break. They don't do anything and people give them away on
eBay with other stuff. Exactly what they are worth.


[email protected] wrote:
> Have you ever tried one of those little stick on antennae boosters? you
> can order them dirt cheap from www.cell-phone-accessory.com I cant
> guarantee it will work but for 5-10 dollars it cannot hurt to try..
>
>
>
> Binba wrote:
> > I have T-Mobile and the basement apartment situation... the apartment
> > is cool, but you know what happens with reception...I get about 1 bar
> > throughout the place.
> > Suprisingly, I can actually complete calls with my Motorola C650, but I
> > was wondering if a better unit might give me another 1 or 2 much-needed
> > bars.
> >
> > Any recommendations for affordable units? Nokias? I don't need any
> > fancy features, just being affordable and the best handling of low
> > signal.
> > Is there any effective mini antenna that you can attach to certain
> > models? (not the big car-style ones)
> >
> >
> > Optional reading:
> > Any way you look at it, it's a headache. A landline is a different
> > number, costs quite much, and I would've never needed it otherwise; I'd
> > rather not switch (I like my plan, I don't have credit history so the
> > approval procedure is a costly mess, and I love this lightweight
> > feeling of being out of contract); and even I did, I don't have every
> > single carrier's phone to test the exact signal bouncing patterns with,
> > and the 3-4 I did test weren't any better. T-mob actually gives me 4
> > bars the moment I step out the door.

Get an external antenna. I don't know what your phone supports, cruise
on over to www.wpsantennas.com (I have no affiliation with them). They
have everything you can imagine.

I had an AT&T TDMA phone and I live between two suburban towers that I
can practically see. I had to buy a $20 magnetic antenna, threw it on
the roof, no more problems.

Yes, we shouldn't have to go through this kind of stuff....

pzo


Binba wrote:
> I have T-Mobile and the basement apartment situation... the apartment
> is cool, but you know what happens with reception...I get about 1 bar
> throughout the place.
> Suprisingly, I can actually complete calls with my Motorola C650, but I
> was wondering if a better unit might give me another 1 or 2 much-needed
> bars.
>
> Any recommendations for affordable units? Nokias? I don't need any
> fancy features, just being affordable and the best handling of low
> signal.
> Is there any effective mini antenna that you can attach to certain
> models? (not the big car-style ones)
>
>
> Optional reading:
> Any way you look at it, it's a headache. A landline is a different
> number, costs quite much, and I would've never needed it otherwise; I'd
> rather not switch (I like my plan, I don't have credit history so the
> approval procedure is a costly mess, and I love this lightweight
> feeling of being out of contract); and even I did, I don't have every
> single carrier's phone to test the exact signal bouncing patterns with,
> and the 3-4 I did test weren't any better. T-mob actually gives me 4
> bars the moment I step out the door.