I thought these phones had amazing reception? Mine stinks. I dropped several calls in Orlando (outside) and had no service indoors in many places. At my dorm, I get 3-5 bars, fluctuating a lot. Mind you, I get a -72 signal on my (supposedly) crappy Samsung T609. I get 5 bars everywhere with my Sony, so that doesn't help to compare (can't find db readings on the SE). The v3 tends to go emergency only in many places where the Sony or Samsung work fine. It's frustrating, because when I go out, I like to use the razr, fits in my pants better, and can take a beating when I'm drunk haha. However, it doesn't even get service in most bars here, where again...other gsm phones work. So, is it just my razr, or does it perform much better on 850?
My experience is that the standard V3 is probably the worst phone in Motorola's GSM lineup right now as far as RF goes. I find that it is better than many phones on the market, but I would not call it amazing reception. -Jay
i have heard other complaints about the RAZR being not as good in the RF department as the rest of the MOTOs
This surprises me, because I live on a Rural Route, and on my way home I only have ONE dead spot, that's not even maybe an 1/8 of a mile long, and it's on my dirt road when I'm buried in the trees. I have noticed since I switched to the V3xx it is better tho. I actually managed to maintain a call ALL the way home the other day. ~*Ash*~
and your right.......people have noticed a difference between the V3 RAZRs and the V3xx RAZRs........in reception i mean
Did you just get the RAZR? There must be something wrong with it because I've had many RAZR's for all the carriers including TMobile and not one of them performed poorly in the RF department. The RAZR V3t that I tried is one that I liked the best. I would say to check your SIM card out but it appears that you have already tried that in your other phones and they worked. Take your RAZR into the store if you live close to one and have them look at it for you. They may just have to do a warranty exchange for you to resolve this issue. As far as the 850 goes I can't see where that would make any difference other than some people have found that it works better in terms of indoor reception.
I might just do that. The phone sucks. I lost service 4 times on the way home today. The sony never does. Of course I just submitted an unlock request for the phone, figures!
Is the RAZR really worse than a Sony? I guess I always thought Sony phones were not all that sharp, reception wise. I used to have a RAZR on the Cingular network and while I agree, it may not get the BEST reception, it's not horrible either compared to other phones I compared .
You can send TMobile an email and cancel that unlock request for reasons being that you no longer have the phone due to a warranty defect. Once TMobile cancels out the original request that you submitted in their system, you will be able to request another unlock code on another phone. Send the email to: customercare@t-mobilesupport.com.
Z710 beats many models in terms of reception keep in mind, the antenna of V3 is located on the bottom, behind the keypad
The Antenna placement may make a big difference. My Samsung u740, for example, has the antenna located in that area too and depending on where I hold my hands on the phone the reception can be bad.
I have the same problem with my Nokia 6030's antenna location. You have to hold it a certain way and if you don't the reception drops off on it.
this is the ONLY reason I don't like SE K550 when I dial or input SMS, I see the signal drops, but when I put my hand off from the keypad, the reception is back!
Across all carriers from what I have heard the Motorola RAZR is at best known for just average reception.
it depends but under real world experience, RAZR is not the best, just better than average my E50, Z710, K790 can beat it easily
Unfortunately you are correct. Because my V360 also has this problem. Trying to hold a phone a certain way all the time does become a bit of an annoyance to say the least.
I have wiser way to hold when talking that I hold the screen unit (to align with my ear) generally my hand doesn't touch the antenna part
When you say external antenna do you mean extendable, or a true external that plugs into the antenna port on the back of the phone?
i dont like extendables much.........especially with NEXTEL...........you could have one bar but once you put the antenna up its full service...........i just meant one that styicks out of the phone instead of being nestled inside all of the other gadgets of the phone..........it can be crippling to the phones reception
In my experience I see no difference in signal strength with antennas extended/retracted. If you look on the FCC website there is a big difference in SAR ratings for extended and retracted positions though. If you get a true external antenna that plugs into the antenna port in the rear of the phone (Its behind the little rubber dot, just pop it out w/ a toothpick). I usually use my external antenna when driving through rural areas and almost never loose signal or drop a call. -Jay
My Motorola E815 that I had with Verizon got a little more reception with the antenna extended. But only one bar of signal strength more. That wasn't even enough to improve call the call quality.
well with my Moto i835........i would sit the phone down antenna retracted and it would get one bar.........simply picking it up gave it 2 more bars and extending the antenna gave it 2 more than that.......
