Best phone for signal strength

Hi gang.

Live in an area that every provider shows has full digital coverage. Guess my house was built using depleted uranium and sunspot plasma, because I get levels of service that literally vary by the second.

Had a Motorola through Alltel, every call dropped and it took 15-20 times to get a text message to send. And I'd get return texts and voicemails sometimes days after they were left.

So I switched to Verizon. And have the same problem.

I have a Krzr. I was told by the sales dude at the kiosk that it got the best signal. I don't care what a sales droid says, I care what you all say, since I figure you all probably know a lot more about Verizon's phones than Verizon does.

So in the two minutes that it took me to type this, my phone has shown no signal, "EVTX" by itself, "EVTX" with one, two, three, and four bars, "1X" by itself, "1X" with one, two bars, and "EX" by itself and with one bar. And I've had an outgoing text message to send, and have been trying and now I'm up to try #24 and it still hasn't gone through. Sometimes powering off/on the phone gives me good signal for about two minutes, then I drop calls. Doesn't matter where I go... Outside, inside, any room in the house, standing on my roof... Don't get interruption-free service until I am about a mile away from my home. I bet I'm in a "fringe" area despite Verizon's pretty little colorful map telling me I should be getting 5 by 5 QoS.

Yes, I emailed Verizon, and they said "call us." Of course I said "I can't."

I worked for Nokia once upon a time and I'm reasonably certain this is a signal problem, not a phone problem. I've *228'd my phone a dozen times after someone told me this updates the phone. No joy.

So I'm asking you, Verizon community, if you were stuck in an area with incredibly weak signal and thought it absurd to need a home phone in this day and age, what Verizon cell phone would you go with for maximum signal?

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My LG ENVY gets much better service than most phones! also the lg 8350 also gets exceptional service so look into both of those and i promise you wont be disapointed

I have an LG VX-8300. I've gotten 2, 3, and even 4 bars with it in areas where other Verizon customers had no service.

You'll have to buy one on eBay, though, since Verizon doesn't sell it anymore.

I would recommend even the LG 8350 which is just upgrade from the 8300....They are very light and durable! Also the phone has exceptional battery life!

The 8350 might be light, but its hinge has been known to break often.

Well my one buddy has hasnt had any problems with it and he drops it all the time...Like i said i like the phone alot and I have the ENVY and i also like that phone as well!....

Well I got an LG 8300 based on reviews. Verizon activated it for free. I like the phone, but the signal strength didn't improve.

One thing I have noticed is that signal seems to be fine (6 bars!) during the day time, and right around 5pm (like clockwork, every day) signal strength essentially drops.

I'm not sure if call volume is lower at night, so the towers go into a lower power mode, or what. I can't for the life of me think of any environmental issues relating to RF that would explain why time of day has anything to do with signal strength.

Originally Posted by tucansam

Well I got an LG 8300 based on reviews. Verizon activated it for free. I like the phone, but the signal strength didn't improve.

One thing I have noticed is that signal seems to be fine (6 bars!) during the day time, and right around 5pm (like clockwork, every day) signal strength essentially drops.

I'm not sure if call volume is lower at night, so the towers go into a lower power mode, or what. I can't for the life of me think of any environmental issues relating to RF that would explain why time of day has anything to do with signal strength.

The opposite may be the case in your area: more people making calls at night than during the day. This doesn't sound like a handset issue, but you might want to visit another location when signal strength is typically poor to find out for sure.

Thanks. I work in the desert and generally get poor service there to begin with, but this new phone appears to get the same signal as my old phone. So maybe you're right and the network just gets busy at night. But how would that affect signal strength as reported by the phone? Often times if I power off/on the phone, when it comes back up it initially displays more bars, but calls and texts are still impossible to send. Over serveral minutes, the bars gradually reduce to their normal (non-existant) nightly level.

Originally Posted by tucansam

Thanks. I work in the desert and generally get poor service there to begin with, but this new phone appears to get the same signal as my old phone. So maybe you're right and the network just gets busy at night. But how would that affect signal strength as reported by the phone? Often times if I power off/on the phone, when it comes back up it initially displays more bars, but calls and texts are still impossible to send. Over serveral minutes, the bars gradually reduce to their normal (non-existant) nightly level.

As available capacity on a tower decreases, your signal bars might decrease as well. It depends on how your phone determines signal strength. And it's normal for a phone to display full bars for a few seconds after power-up no matter how low actual signal is.