I'm a specialist in cell phone problems! I live in a rural area without a land line. My cell-phone service changes everytime my provider changes. I'm just here trying to deal with all of the "MIGRATIONS." As a customer, I've been bought and sold twice this year--making three providers. At this point, I need a primer in cell phones, boosters, amplifers, and antenas. How did my life get so complicated? Cowgirl - Texas
Cowgirl - You didn't tell us who your service provider is or what phone handset you have (you can do this in your profile, if you like). Knowing this will make it easier for folks here to give advice. Before going to the booster/amplifier/antenna route, you may want to check all the possible service providers in your area (and the areas you often travel to). Both T-Mobile and Cingular offer street-level signal strength maps. http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/ http://onlinecare.cingular.com/support/maps.do The best place to discuss specific issues with your service would be here on WA, in the appropriate service provider or regional forums. If you subscribe to the forums that interest you, a click on User CP ("Conrol Panel") will bring up just your subscribed forums, so you don't have to scroll through the whole list. To find device specs and a range of personal ratings for a given handset, you should look at phonescoop.com
Cowgirl, are you a south Texas former US Cellular Corp user who was bought by ATT Wireless who was bought by Cingular? Keep reading around here, you'll get some ideas. I use a two and a half foot tall magnet mounted omni-directional vertical antenna on my vehicle's roof, with coax cable in through the window to the handset's antenna jack, when I'm out between cities. Works SO much better than just the handset alone, INSIDE the vehicle. There are higher gain uni-directional antennas that could be suitable for a building mount. Swing it around the horizon slowly, find the cell site tower with best signal, and fasten it down tight. I hope you have a tower for TV reception already handy. COtech
Thank you teachers for the replies. I need your help just to learn the lingo. I know I'm suppose to have reliable phone service and that it is my responsibility to get it--however, providers in my area are setup to sell contracts and phones and my service is a mystery. I live in 79224, southeastern corner of the Texas Panhandle. Alltel now holds my contract. I was sold from Western Wireless to Cellular One to Alltel. All of this since Jan. 1. My internet provider also changed from direcway to hughes -- I have way to much technology to deal with. (LOL) My new phone, which I purchased from Alltel on Saturday, is a Motorola V262 rebuilt. I had a Kyocera, which worked great away from the ranch. I've installed a $2 cellular signal enhancer under the phone battery. And it has helped some--but I still have to move around to hold a conversation. I once had an offer from an engineer with Cellular One to put up some kind of a tower on my place to improve my service in exchange for hunting privileges. But then . . . I was sold. Western Wireless used my 1995 Motorola bag phone as a transmitter, plugged in at the ranch and ringing over to my cell phone. That worked because of their tower agreements with Caprock, the local provider. I have had an offer for somekind of relay station from Caprock--but they are in the process of converting to new towers and their service does not have a stellar reputation in this area--and the cost is HIGH! When I wrote to my state commission, they said that Caprock could solve my problem. Caprock thinks they can, too. They brought some kind of a powered booster out here, and it worked. $600. Alltel says it was the poor phone that Western Wireless sold me. They contend that they have good service out here.
I wasn't making a comment about the other providers, just that T-Mobile and Cingular are the only ones who provide high resolution, frequently updated maps of their coverage. With these, at least you have some data, rather than the claims of some sales rep. Cowgirl - as you said, it can be hard to distinguish between the quality of the service and the RF performance of a given phone. I would look through the list of current Alltell phones and pick out those that are highly rated on Phonescoop. Then come back here, and ask on the Alltell or manufacturer forums, which of these phones folks can recommend from personal experience in low signal conditions.
In low singnal conditions with Alltel I would recommend the e815 or the V3c. I have had good luck with both.
Thank you, teachers. I am now asking to see a high resolution updated map of the service--which I couldn't find online. Where is it? I also need to know what RF performance means and how I find out for the phone I have -- of course, I think I can compare this to the recommended e815 and V3c-- but I don't even know what brands of phones those are. I'm looking for Phonescoop now. What is the technology for a sattelite phone? Can anyone have one? Is this an option for me?
Thank you for reference to the phones. Now I'm looking for instructions for my Motorola V262. I may have the right phone and the "best possible" service in my area. Today, armed with RSA information, I'm going to visit yet another Alltel store. An antenna for my ranch may be in the picture--and a booster for my car. If a rattlesnake bites me, I must be able to call out.
About the $2 cell signal enhancer, if it's the one I'm thinking of you might want to take that thing off. They really don't do anything except screw up your phone if it's magnetized. Just do an internet search about it, there are stories all over the place. Good luck in getting a tower placed nearby. If you continue to have some problems and don't use analog, most say the Motorola E815 does a little better as far as low signal goes from what I hear but won't pick up on analog. Also good luck, there are sometimes when the "best possible" service still has a few holes.
I provided links to these for T-Mobile and Cingular in my post above. Most other providers have printed or online maps that show large areas (several states) and no real zoom. RF = radio frequency. This is generally used to refer to a given phone's ability to hold a given signal. Most reports of RF performance are anecdotal experiences, not measurements, and this is not an actual feature reported on Phonescoop. You just have to judge reports like this based on your trust in the source. If a senior member here tells you a phone's RF perfomance is good, you can pretty much bet on it. www.phonescoop,com. In general, if we reference a website by name,- "sitename" - you can find it at http://www.sitename.com
The best Alltel phones for reception (RF) would be the Motorola E815, Nokia 6235i, Motorola V262, Motorola V3c. However if you find your phone going in and out of analog signal (when the phone shows an "A" instead of a "D") then you will want to keep the one you have or go with the Nokia 6235i. I'm not sure about the LG AX355, it might have good reception. The very best tri-mode phone they've had is the Motorola V710, but they no longer sell that new and you would have to get one off eBay and have them activate it.
