Well, I think might cancel my new Verizon plan and go with AT&T for a year. Maybe then, Verizon will have better reception in the Bay Area. I had a friend use a Verizon phone to make a call from Hayward to San Leandro and he couldn't get the call to go through. (He was on the playing field of a local school.) The second LG 510 phone that I ordered still had the background noise and on top of that, the front flap and battery pack jiggled. It was a very slight jiggle but it was worse than the 1st phone and it was kind of annoying when I held it. Therefore, my phone options are tapped out with Verizon. It's too bad because I really hate AT&T but I have no choice at the moment. Can you believe that they want me to deposit $200 for each phone line that I have?!! I had WorldCom for 3 years and now it switched over to AT&T. AT&T considers me a "new" customer and wants me to put a deposit on my lines. I have three lines so that means they expect me to drop $600 to them. Unbelievable! I can get new accounts with other providers plus I have excellent credit so I don't know what the deal is with AT&T's credit dept. I guess I'll have to put up with the 20 + minutes of hold time and try to get through to them. <sigh> Pray for me.
Umm....Verizon (GTE Mobilnet) coverage in the bay area is unparalleled. I think it's just your equipment. I personally wouldn't touch a Korean phone with a 10 foot pole until they get a hold of their reliability issue. But, if you're going to AT&T, go with a GAIT or TDMA phone. The GSM coverage in the area is very....shall we say...spotty.
Anonymous, AT&T has the Nokia 3360 which is smaller than the Nokia phone offered by Verizon. I've had good luck with Nokia so I think I'll try it. While I'm typing, what is GSM anyway? What's the difference between TDMA and CDMA? Thanks.
LG phone are notorious for poor quality on sprint and i have been reading many posts of complaints on verizons network stemming from LG phones as well which leads me to a pet theory that they are just crap phones that suffer from quality control issues.
Unless you're adamant about having a flip, try the Kyocera 2235, which has gotten pretty good reviews... I have one myself and I like it quite a bit. The reception is good (though not the best) and it seems to be a pretty sturdy phone. The blue backlight is a serious plus... Hell, it's bright enough to use as a flashlight! You may also wish to try the Samsung T300, which I've heard tons of good things about. It's a flip, but not a clamshell flip.
I was also surprised with Zippy's review. Though I am an ATT loyal customer, even I admit that Verizon's coverage is excellent in the Bay Area. It is (sadly, embarrassingly) even more extensive than ATT's.
LOL. I have used my 2255 as a flashlight. One time I was able to find a quarter I dropped when I got out of my car at night. Lately though many people are saying that the 2200 series has a major issue with the screen display fading in and out. I haven't had this problem but it seems to be pretty widespread. Hopefully they fix it with the new 2300 series.
actually, Larry, I have a similar story... this girl I was sitting around hanging out with dropped her ring at night... she goes "no way you'll find it" because it was dark and her ring was in gravel.... so I hit a button on my phone, moved it around and found the ring... I popped up with it in my hand and go "now what was that about me not finding your ring?"
(sadly, embarrassingly) even more extensive than ATT's. Except in Lake and Mendocino Counties, at least for now. US Cellular and Edge have them beat, though not for long it seems
I'm surprised no one mentions the V60c or V60i for Verizon. Is it not considered a good model for CDMA?
I thought Verizon puts all their phones through an "extensive" testing process. How could the LG phone be so unreliable then?
Yes, plenty of folks have said that Verizon is "supposed" to have the best coverage but if that's the case, then 1)how come my calls sound lousy and 2) why couldn't the Hayward to San Leandro call go through? I would like to have Verizon service and I'm hoping the sound issue was just my particular phone. The V60i is what is currently available through Verizon and a lot of folks on this site have complained about them. Based on those complaints, I ruled that phone out. I would like a phone that is smaller than the Nokia 5160. The Kyocera 2235 isn't that much smaller. The Samsung T300 is a little smaller (sure wish it looked better) but I'm not sure of their reputation. I thought they were supposed to be a good brand. Sound quality is especially important. I'm going to go into the Verizon store on 9/12 and check out the new Samsung A310. If it sounds decent, then maybe I'll fork out the extra cash. If not, then hello AT&T (at least for a year). My 15 days will run out next week -- geesh, making a phone commitment is harder than saying yes to a lifetime commitment like marriage.
Hahahha... nice one. I have a v60g and think it's a pretty good phone. It sounds good (although the volume could be louder), and I like the design and the UI. And this is coming from a person who both swore off external antennae forever, and have never liked Motorola phones before. I still don't think the phone is worth $250, so when it was free on Amazon a few weeks ago with T-Mobile service, that's when I ordered it. If sound quality is your #1 priority (as listed above), AT&T TDMA is not going to help you much in that department. I had it from '99 until last week, and the sacrifice you make with ATT TDMA is sound quality for extensive coverage. Might want to give T-Mobile a go if you're concerned about phone selection as well as voice quality.
Swap out your phone, it seems like a phone issue. I used to average about 500 minutes a month in the bay area I went up and down from SJ, to San Leandro, Hayward, over to Walnut Creek to Stockton, SF down to Palo Alto, to Salinas, Santa Cruz, Oakland to Martinez, over to San Rafeal. Anyway never had one problem with either sound quality or calls not going through, I have a couple of friends who live in Castro Valley and work in Hayward with Verizon and do not have any problems. Good luck I am looking at the A310 or the Moto 720 whenever it comes out. I have used ATT TDMA in the bay area, did not like the coverage or sound quality. A good friend of mine has Cingular and he drops calls a couple times a week, and has a few dead spots. I believe that Verizon is the best in the Bay Area. GTE Wireless did a good job building it out.
GTE Wireless did a good job building it out. Except up here in Lake, Mendocino, and Northern Sonoma Counties.
Update: I tried swaping phones but the second one also had the same problem. Also, I found out that the two people who knew about my new phone could not make a call through to me. I ended up canceling Verizon. I'll go back to them in a year or so. The Good Guys in my area had a special deal going on for AT&T that was too hard to pass up. I was able to get a Motorola V60t for FREE. Yep, I said FREE. I couldn't pass that up. The phone (no extending antenna) was available with any plan $29.99 and over and I didn't have to commit to a 2 year agreement. Thanks again to everyone for responding to my original cry for help.
