Which AT&T phone has the best reception?

In your opinion which AT&T phone has the best reception right now?

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Motorola V9x, Motorola Z9, Motorola Q Global, Nokia 6650, and Blackberry Bold. Even then, it's really a matter of the network in your area. I mean, AT&T's 3G is on one band in many areas, whereas they are dual band in many areas. Take NYC, for example. AT&T operates on both the 850MHz and 1900Mhz bands here, but for the most part 3G is on the 1900MHz band. With a 3G phone, your coverage will not be equal to a 2G/EDGE phone, so it really doesn't matter how good the reception is, because the phone will searching for a weak 3G signal before latching on to a 2G/EDGE signal.

So does this mean that it does not matter if the phone has an antenna or not?

Originally Posted by Pills

So does this mean that it does not matter if the phone has an antenna or not?

All cell phone have antennas; some are just internal, while others are external.

Despite what many people believe, the phone has little to do with the reception it receives.

Other than being CDMA vs. GSM, and U.S. phone vs. Global Phone, the phone has little to do with actual reception.

Some carriers "Claim" certain manufacturers will work better on their network. For example, Sprint PCS says Motorolas will work better on their network while Verizon Wireless claims LGs will work better with them. AT&T Claims LG will also work better with them. These are only "claims" based on the amount the manufacturers give the individual carriers.

The manufacturer or the phone model doesn't really matter all that much. If you get crappy service with AT&T, getting a phone like the iPhone won't save you.

Originally Posted by nicknrm

Despite what many people believe, the phone has little to do with the reception it receives.

Other than being CDMA vs. GSM, and U.S. phone vs. Global Phone, the phone has little to do with actual reception.

Some carriers "Claim" certain manufacturers will work better on their network. For example, Sprint PCS says Motorolas will work better on their network while Verizon Wireless claims LGs will work better with them. AT&T Claims LG will also work better with them. These are only "claims" based on the amount the manufacturers give the individual carriers.

The manufacturer or the phone model doesn't really matter all that much. If you get crappy service with AT&T, getting a phone like the iPhone won't save you.

That's not entirely true, antenna design and/or placement does make a difference. I have tested it myself.

Not really, it's a proven fact.

The standard antenna in a wireless device is the same from manufacturer to manufacturer until you get into Smartphones and Blackberrys. It doesn't change from manufacturer to manufacturer on one carrier, usually.

The thing that can effect it is antenna placement. For example, some phones have the antenna near the earpiece built in and some have it near the talk piece built in. Some have external antennas . External antennas do work better than some internal antennas simply because it's external.

Another factor that contributes is battery life. If a battery is less than half full, you are almost guaranteed to receive less reception and more dropped calls.

Originally Posted by Aurakles

That's not entirely true, antenna design and/or placement does make a difference. I have tested it myself.

LOL, good question tavenger. I say the phone with the biggest antenna, after all, the cell towers are huge antennas for the sat's, right? Some of these responses crack me up though.

Cell Phones legally don't use satellites ...

People try and say GSM does...but I doubt it, not certain; however.

I am positive CDMA doesn't use Satellites. Not even the navigation services (i.e. VZNavigator) use GPS, it uses LBS (location based services). This LBS service is where it communicates from tower to next tower your location...(i.e. it tells the other tower you're .5 miles away from it, then the other one says that you're 1.5 miles away from it)...this is sometimes called triangulation...

Originally Posted by mnmnk00

LOL, good question tavenger. I say the phone with the biggest antenna, after all, the cell towers are huge antennas for the sat's, right? Some of these responses crack me up though.

Thats funny too.

Originally Posted by nicknrm

The standard antenna in a wireless device is the same from manufacturer to manufacturer until you get into Smartphones and Blackberrys. It doesn't change from manufacturer to manufacturer on one carrier, usually.

Honestly, this runs contrary to my experience, so I guess we're going to have agree to disagree.

Originally Posted by nicknrm

The thing that can effect it is antenna placement.

No disagreement there.

Originally Posted by nicknrm

People try and say GSM does...but I doubt it, not certain; however.]

GSM does not use satellite for voice or data.

New to ATT wireless, and we purchased 2 LG Shines and 1 Samsung a777, and my Samsung gets much better reception at my home than the LG's. Took the phones back to the store, and the girl suggested we exchange the shines for the a777 on the other 2 lines, but we kind of like the Shines. So we figure as long as the shines work most of the time, its ok.

I love the Samsung a777 tho, possibly best phone I've owned to date.

how about moto tundra... i tested it for few days... it had good reception

Nicknrm, I do not mean to disrespect, but you are incorrect in that the phone has nothing to do with reception. I currently live in between two At&T towers right at the edge of signal fallout. I cannot talk on a cell phone inside my home. For the past 2 weeks, I have bought and returned a different phone EVERY DAY from the AT&T store, attempting to find one that gets good reception. Turns out, the phones with external antennas (such as the Motorola Tundra) often had 3 bars where the phones with internal antennas had 1 or 0. Although I despise the Motorola Tundra (awful call quality, speaker problems, and text message alert issues) due to its external antennae I was able to talk inside my home comfortably with decent reception, whereas other phones could not even place a call.

I saw this trend with every phone I tried. Any phone I used with an external antenna worked inside my home, and any phone I used without an external antenna didn't.

...so basically cellphones with external antenna's have better reception? Do the new phones even use external ones anymore?