Help needed selecting phone in fringe area

I live on the Chesapeake Bay. My house is in a dead spot- most phones don't work here. I tried two years ago a verizon with nokia phone to no avail. This December I purchased a verizon with Motorola Star Tac phone for my wife for Xmas. Although the reception is weak, the Star Tac with one exception always managed to gain a carrier (often analog) from a distant tower across the Bay. However, we had to sit/stand in front of a window to hold carrier.

The salesman told me that the Star Tac had good fringe reception and that an external antenna was available. My research has shown that no external antenna is available for the Star Tac. I was prepared to get a Yagi (Yadi) antenna and mount it on our antenna tower and run the lead into the house for home use. (The Star Tac was great in all other respects). I carry the phone while on the boat on the Bay and the Star Tac/Verizon combination was the best performance of any carrier/phone combinations.

My current problem started when my wife's phone was stolen while at a Dr.'s office. I now need to replace the phone. I have 1.5 years on my plan. As long as I have to spend the money, I may as well get the best phone for my particular requirements.

Can anyone suggest a phone that has good stand alone fringe area reception, accepts an external antenna, and works with verizon. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

Just to be sure, is Cingular a service or a phone. I need a replacement phone for verizon service. I'll try a search on cingular 800. Thanks.

 

The price for the Star Tac from Motorola is about $250. I would get another since it did work, but would like to get one that can utilize an external mast mounted antenna. If I can mount the external antenna 40 feet up on my antenna tower (used for air tv, sat tv, and sat internet) I may be able to utilize a much closer tower and have great digital service.

link to picture of yagi antenna.....


Here info on yagi and other external antennas...

http://www.alternativewireless.com/cellular-antennas/yagiantennas.html


What I want to do is be able to plug in my cell phone to one of these antennas when I'm at home and the ditch the long distance service from my wire phone.

My zip is 20653

 

Thanks to all for the help. My old starTAC was a 7868 tri mode phone. The 270C is a tri mode phone. The StarTAC 7760 is a dual mode phone. If the price for all phones were about equal, which would be the best phone for my intended usage.

BTW, I checked with standard communications and they do indeed sell the Clear-Connect Antenna Hook-up for bothe the StarTAC and the 270C. Anonymous, you were right on with the availability of the antenna for the StarTAC.

Thanks again for any input!

 

I'd like to thank those that helped me with this problem. Your infornation enabled me to make a fairly reasoned decision. I ended up buying a new StarTAC from eBay. When I get it, I'm going to go on the roof and then up the tower and monitor the signal strength on the phone. Depending on what I discover, I may well get the external antenna coupler and a yagi antenna from this site.

Again, many thanks for you time and help!