[Emily Cherry]

Hi, I am new here and not very technology savvy. I have previously had phone service with AT&T with an iphone and Sprint with a blackberry, both which worked very well.

Recently due to finances I switched to a prepay plan with T-Mobile with limited minutes and data. I purchased an after-market Android phone new off of ebay. The phone sucks, and my question is this. Could the phone affect my coverage or is that just T-Mobile's service? Though the personal coverage map says I have excellent coverage in the areas I was in yesterday, I had 12 missed calls and voicemails but I was not notified of that till this morning.

Is that the fault of the phone or T-Mobile? I don't want to buy another phone if I am going to have the same problems, but if it's due to using a cheap phone, I will get a new one. It is important that I receive all my incoming calls immediately.

Thanks for any advice you have.

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› See More: can a cheap cell phone cause you to have dropped or missed calls?

[tavenger5]

What phone is it? It's possible that the antenna on the phone isn't as good. The only way to test this is to get another phone with the same service and see if it gets a signal.

[avenue]

I would probably say it is the phone at fault if T-Mobile says you were in an "excellent" coverage area. Like tavenger5 said, the antenna probably isn't good. I would purchase a cheap, brand name, T-Mobile phone.

If you strongly feel it is T-Mobile's network, you can try switching to a prepaid service on another network. Verizon's network might work better in your area.

[EmmaKille]

Go for highest price cell phones and make your life easy.