What Sprint phones have the best signal strength (Since I just left AT&T and wanted a newer Sprint phone...

[boo99]

What Sprint phones have the best signal strength (Since I just left AT&T and wanted a newer Sprint phone...
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[jmccrane]

Sanyo Sanyo Sanyo. Especially the 4900. That thing gets me reception anywhere it seems. LG's are not too great and Samsungs ae either really bad or pretty good depending on who you ask.

[mrmister]

Hi there, Boo. To help you with your question a little, I'm re-posting a comment that I had made in another section of this site. It basically tells of my experience with several different Sprint PCS phones (especially the new Vision phones and describes what I had found while comparing them. Hope this is of help to you. Here is my message reposted for you:

Well, just having just renewed my contract with Sprint, switching from a standard customer to a a Vision customer... I decided to buy both a Samsung N400 and a Sanyo 4900 at the same time for comparison reasons while at Circuit City. I figure I can just try them both out and have 30 days to return the one that I don't like.

Although I haven't had either phone very long, I can most definately say that the Sanyo 4900 "seems" to get a much better signal than the Samsung n400, while in the same location and at the same time. For signal testing purposes, I chose my bathroom as this is a room which traditionally has provided me with poor signals (most likely because my bathroom does not have any windows, of which being near usually helps to improve reception a little. So anyway, I had figured that this would be a good place to compare the signal strengths of each phone and here is what I found: While in this particular room, I found that my Samsung N400 would was "Searching for Service" whereas, at the same time, the Sanyo 4900 had 2, sometimes 3 bars of signal strength (50-75% signal strength with the Sanyo, as opposed to no signal at all with the Samsung).

Based on this, I could only say that the Sanyo's signal reception performance is quite superior to that of the Samsung.

Taking this even further, it is important to note that the reason that I had decided to upgrade to the new Vision plan and phone in the first place, was because my 6 month old Samsung n200 (the previous model to the n400) had started consistently dropping calls and searching for a signal while in my apartment. So it seems that neither of these two Samsung models has particulary good signal strength. While in my bedroom (another area where it is hard to get a good signal) my old n200 would still be searching for service, while the n400 would have a signal strength of about of about 1 bar (maybe 25%) and the Sanyo in the same location has a signal strength of about 3 bars (maybe 75%). Add to that the fact that I've often heard of Samsung's signal meters are "overly-optimistic" and one would say that the Samsung phones are in serious need of better internal reception components. This really is such a shame, because the Samsung phones are just so cool-looking and functional. It's just too bad that they aren't adept for the very purpose for which they were made--making and receiving phone calls. *lol*

Current Phones: Sanyo 4900 (keeping) and Samsung n400 (recently returned to store for refund)
Previous Phones: Samsung n200 and Samsung sch-3500

[SprintTechRep]

http://www.jdpa.com/presspass/pr/pre...asp?ID=2002116

Sanyo ranked #1.

If you get anything else to use on sprint, then you will be back on this forum complaining about about your non-sanyo phone.

yep, i agree with the last post....i have a samsung.

say...you want to buy a used and defective samsung?

[boo99]

Thnx so much for all the info on the Sanyos and thats a great idea to buy several phones (if you have the $$$) to try em out and see......Cant understand why someone doesnt invent "loaner" phones to try out instead of returning them when you dont like em to Circuit City and they look at you and say (actually did to me and out a comment in my record) "customer is returning phones just to extend his 30 day return policy")....Anyone thats another topic!!!!!!! LOL.....

I have a comment in defense of a Samsung however..........in 2000 up near Sussex Co. NJ a bunch of went up there BEFORE there were towers there at all (like now) and I was the ONYY able to get a signal and use my phone on the Sprint PCS Network out of anyone there.......all others said Searching......This was the Samsung 3500 which many of you (and I) know died when it came to sound in about 3-6 mos.......That along with your guys postings is a reason I would never get a Samsung again......But I did have to mention that fact........Sprint had no reason had to why that phone worked on their towers many many miles away back then.......(and I did set it to "Sprint PCS Only mode")....

It was wierd cause 10 other models in that area didnt work with their towers except mine........Now of course all the Sprint phones work in Sussex (spotty) and im sure the Samsungs will have earpiece problems again as mine did........

thnx for your help!

Jef

when you think about it, sprint would be better off if they got rid of those crappy samsungs and
expended their phone selection. what's the holdup?

[mrmister]

i think the "holdup" as you had put it, is because many view samsung phones as being the the most attractive/nice-looking phones available. even though they certainly don't serve the very purpose for which they were created all that well (talking, that is.... good luck getting a signal with most of the samsung phones), they certainly do look cool and this must help greatly with marketing and with attracting new customers to sprint. i'd imagine that is the primary reason why Sprint still carries the Samsung line of phones, even though they are notorious as having lower-quality parts. the customers see the samsungs in the commercials and in the store displays and immediately think "wow, that is way cool looking phone." then, they run out and buy it not knowing that there are other, better phones out there (like sanyo's) that, while not quite as cool looking, can run laps around the samsungs in terms of signal quality, component and build quality, and call performance. personally, i think that if only they could somehow mix the superior appearance that most of the samsungs with the higher-quality components and superior performance of the Sanyo line of phones, you'd be left with one incredible phone. although i haven't had much of a look at the upcoming Sanyo 5300, perhaps this phone will end up being a dream come true... as it has the Sanyo level of quality, but with the nicer looks of some of the other manufacturer's phones. just my opinion, of course. only time will tell if the introduction of the 5300 can get more people to wake up and smell the coffee in terms of quality phones.

[petenice]

i checked out sanyowireless.com to get a glimpse of the 5300. it is a nice looking phone, compact, but
it will come at a hefty price. 399 suggested retail from what i read.

[jmccrane]

Originally posted by: petenice
i checked out sanyowireless.com to get a glimpse of the 5300. it is a nice looking phone, compact, but
it will come at a hefty price. 399 suggested retail from what i read.

It's so expensive because it has a built-in camera. I think that feature will make some people buy it and others to turn away from it. It's all up to you whether you want to use the camera or you don't want to pay for a phone that has one. I personally would not pay so much for that alone, but I know some people would.

I wish Sanyo came out with a similar 3G flip phone without a camera, or only with an optional attachment.

[larry]

I agree. I would not pay $400 for a cell phone, even with the camera. If it drops to $300 I would at least consider it but even then it's a little out of my range. I've been very satisfied with phones under $200 so why should I pay more?

[boo99]

Hey guys and thnx for your all posts for me to choose the Best Sprint phone.......
I bought the Sanyo 4900 tonite for 134.00 at Best Buy........So far i like it alot but it seems to get less acsess to the net than the regular wireless webs sites my old TP2100 did???
Im prob. doing something wrong.......also it was gonna charge me to ascess the Weather Channel for 3.99 and it was free (NO graphics of course on the "old" wireless web plans).....
I gotta learn alot here it seems!!!!!!

but thnx for deciding my choice and one with what appears exc. signal[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Boo[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

bought the Sanyo 4900 tonite for 134.00 at Best Buy........
^^^^^^

Did BB require you to activate service?? Everytime I try to purchase a phone at retail they remark that a mark-up in price would be required since I wouldn't be activating service.....

[boo99]

No Best But just sold me the phone as an existing Sprint customer and didnt check of I was or not.......

The sale supposedly ended today here in the NY (L.Island) area.......

Boo

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

try on your phone pda.accuweather.com

[TimK]

stay away from the Samsung phones for Sprint. They get worse reception with each new phone. I had the 3500 which was spotty at best. My coworkers has the 8500 which was worse. I checked out both the A460 and A500 and they were downright unusable. I have heard good things about the Sanyo phones.

[mattheweichler]

Originally Posted by TimK

stay away from the Samsung phones for Sprint. They get worse reception with each new phone. I had the 3500 which was spotty at best. My coworkers has the 8500 which was worse. I checked out both the A460 and A500 and they were downright unusable. I have heard good things about the Sanyo phones.

I can attest to that. I renewed my sprint contract last year. Unfortunatly I purchased a Samsung A900. What a peice of crap! My room mate has a Sanyo Katana, and whenever we would go somewhere my phone always performed sub par to her Sanyo. Finally the keypad on my A900 just stopped worked (and that was the 3rd one sprint gave me in a year) They finally replaced it with a Katan DLX... Great reception... Great phone.

[MOTOhooligan]

Zombie thread, back from the dead.

Closed.