Samsung A460 Signal Issues

[JoeyDeV]

Hi I just bought 3 Samsung A460 phones from Sprint under a new plan to replace my old plan/Samsung SCH-3500. Both plans are still active, but all of the A460's have a problem with signal strength. In the house I get a maximum of one bar if I get a signal at all, while outside I get a maximum of 2 or 3 bars -- If I'm lucky. While my SCH-3500 in the house/outside gets 4 bars consistantly, and has crystal clear audio, even sitting right next to the A460's. I love all of the A460's features, but I can't live with fighting for a signal just to make a call when my SCH-3500 has allways been dependable. Is this just an issue with the phone, or is it something sprint could help me out with?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[SuperWireless]

Forget about the number of bars showing on the screen. These vary from phone to phone, depending on brand, model, etc. What really counts is how the call sounds, not the number of bars. You didn't say in your post if you were actually able to make calls with the A460. So, is the *actual* phone performance poorer than your old 3500, or not?

[larry]

I agree with SuperWireless. Signal meters will vary greatly among the brands and models. My brother's Sanyo 4000 will get 4 bars in areas where my Kyocera 2255 will only get one or two but they both have the exact same call quality and performance.

I find it hard to believe though that a Samsung 3500 is showing that much more. It was always known for it's poor signal strength and most people say the A460 has improved over both the 3500 and A400.

[JoeyDeV]

I understand that signal strength varys but I'm not talking about just the indicator, it wont let me make a call at all because it says there is NO service, where my other phone says full service and I can make clear calls.

[Jack]

Then there is a problem with the phone

Jack

[larry]

Absolutely a problem with the phone.

[JoeyDeV]

I called Sprint up today, (their systems would be down for the next 4 hours) so they were not very much help, one guy mentioned a PRL upgrade and I could get it by dialing *2 and asking my best friend claire for it, she was no help, kept transfering me to people that said call back in 4 hours. Long story short I figured out that I allready had the latest PRL (10015). When I bought the phones it was around the close of the SprintPCS store and the guy seemed to be in a hurry. I discovered later that night Text messaging only worked on one of my three phones, wireless web messaging didnt work, etc... So I called spintpcs tech support up the next day, after about an hour on the phone with him he had me type in some code that brought up the IP Gateway configuration screen, had me update them. Did some work on my account [he said that I was registered as a sub account under someone elses account] my birth date was wrong, said I was born in the year 1029, and the phone activation date on the master phone was set for 2 days in the future. So he fixed all that and said I might have to wait 72 hours because thats how long it takes all of the information to propogate through their system. Now the question, Is there anything anyone can think of that I should ask sprint to help prompt the fix? (ie. do you know what might be causing it that I could bring up?)

Thank you for your help!

Please let us know what happens - i just got the a460 and i'm not exactly thrilled with its signal quality. I am hoping that this will improve once the 3G voice networks are running, but in some areas where i got decent service with the 3500, the a460 is signal jumping and dropping calls - not exactly what i was expecting out of my newest phone. Maybe i should have pocketed some money and gotten the kyocera?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

[garbagelady]

I've had my a460 for one week, and have had no problems with it regarding signal strength or dropped calls.
I love this phone! THe only thing is I want to turn off the start up/shut down ring tone, but cannot figure out how.
Any suggestions?

[mattwhit]

Joey, the PRL will make no difference in your signal quality, as long as you are on the SPCS network... The PRL (preferred roaming list) simply prioritizes carrier selection when your phone is roaming (analog or digital)... My advice, depending on where you live and what your coverage is like, set your phone to 'Sprint PCS Only' in the roaming setup. You'll avoid the accidental roam on someone else and get the slap in the face when the bill comes...

[larry]

This is almost always true. Except on rare occasions when Sprint adds a frequency subband into their network to help in capacity troubled areas. They did this a couple of times that I know about and that was only in the Chicago and Houston markets. In this case you will need a PRL update to benefit in those areas. That update was version 10013. Sometimes affiliate problems can also be fixed with a PRL update. But for most SPCS users the update is of very little importance except when roaming off network.