Should I stay with T-Mobile or Move On?

[Apparition]

Howdy. I've been with T-Mobile since October of 2000. The rate plans are nice, and the customer support has been excellent. However, I have one major problem. I live at Philadelphia, PA, inside the city itself. The reception at home is crap. I've had the Nokia 8290 and 3390, and I usually get one bar out of four at home, if that, with frequent disconnects. It's to the point where I rarely if ever even turn my cell phone on at home, as it's practically of no use. I was hoping that maybe if I bought a newer phone, that might help the problem. So I just bought the Nokia 6310i. Love the phone, but same problem. Little to no reception. I'm really getting fed up with not being able to use my cell phone at home.

So my question is ... will T-Mobile's signal become stronger in Philadelphia anytime soon, or should I just give up and move on to Verizon or Cingular or something, even though I just paid $200 for this new 6310i? Any advice would be appreciated.



Your friendly neighborhood Apparition,



Jack

[Jumpman301]

I'm in the same boat as you. I just changed to At&t GSM in Miami, fl. I used to be with cingular and verizon. I liked the phones offered on GSM service, but what's the point if it can't do it's main purpose(make calls) consistenly. I need reliable service so I'm thinking of going back to verizon. correct me if i'm wrong but, I think I read on here that GSM has a harder time penetrating walls than CDMA.

[T-MOBILE GSM]

Originally posted by Apparition
Howdy. I've been with T-Mobile since October of 2000. The rate plans are nice, and the customer support has been excellent. However, I have one major problem. I live at Philadelphia, PA, inside the city itself. The reception at home is crap. I've had the Nokia 8290 and 3390, and I usually get one bar out of four at home, if that, with frequent disconnects. It's to the point where I rarely if ever even turn my cell phone on at home, as it's practically of no use. I was hoping that maybe if I bought a newer phone, that might help the problem. So I just bought the Nokia 6310i. Love the phone, but same problem. Little to no reception. I'm really getting fed up with not being able to use my cell phone at home.

So my question is ... will T-Mobile's signal become stronger in Philadelphia anytime soon, or should I just give up and move on to Verizon or Cingular or something, even though I just paid $200 for this new 6310i? Any advice would be appreciated.



Your friendly neighborhood Apparition,



Jack

Get a P280!

[Apparition]

Originally posted by T-MOBILE GSM
Get a P280!

I take it by your reply that the Motorola P280 has better GSM reception than the Nokia 3390 and 6310i?



Your friendly neighborhood Apparition,



Jack

[jdavid]

I have a P280 w/ T-Mobile and still have the same type of problems you are talking about and I live in the heart of Washington, DC. My roommate has Sprint and no problems in our apartment

What I think may help is that there were some T-mobile business reps here on my campus a couple of weeks ago and they were all getting no service on their phones in the place they were set up and i told them hold this is a problem in these blocks and they said they'd look into it. Who knows how long that could take? six months, a year

[jjj]

jumpman,

i don't know about at&t gsm, but i use t-mobile gsm in miami and the coverage is excellent. why don't you dump at&t and give t-mobile a try (this way you can stick with these phones you love so much)?

[CameraAssistant]

If you really want to stay with T-Mobile, who might not work too well in your home but has twice the GSM coverage of AT&T, then tyr this:

http://www.jdteck.com/product/phprepeater.htm

I have read good reviews about this unit.

There are also others available if you search yahoo for "Cellular Repeater".

[chefofthefuture]

Originally posted by CameraAssistant
If you really want to stay with T-Mobile, who might not work too well in your home but has twice the GSM coverage of AT&T, then tyr this:

http://www.jdteck.com/product/phprepeater.htm

I have read good reviews about this unit.

There are also others available if you search yahoo for "Cellular Repeater".

Why spend $700 on a repeater when switching to a provider that works for him will only cost him the cancellation fee? (assuming he is not in any kind of trial period to return his phone).

[Apparition]

Originally posted by chefofthefuture
Why spend $700 on a repeater when switching to a provider that works for him will only cost him the cancellation fee? (assuming he is not in any kind of trial period to return his phone).

Heh, exactly. I just bought a new $200 phone to try to improve the quality of my connection, and that didn't work. I'm not about to buy a $700 machine which might result in the same thing ... nothing. My contract with T-Mobile expires in January, so I figure in December, I'll just sign up with Verizon or Cingular and just let my contract with T-Mobile ride until it expires. It's a shame, I hate the idea of wasting a good almost brand new phone that I spent $200 on, but I don't see much choice.



Your friendly neighborhood Apparition,



Jack

[dougm]

Originally posted by Jumpman301
I'm in the same boat as you. I just changed to At&t GSM in Miami, fl. I used to be with cingular and verizon. I liked the phones offered on GSM service, but what's the point if it can't do it's main purpose(make calls) consistenly. I need reliable service so I'm thinking of going back to verizon. correct me if i'm wrong but, I think I read on here that GSM has a harder time penetrating walls than CDMA.

Actually, no. Sprint is CDMA runs most of their cells (at least in Indiana) on 1900Mhz and it has the same problems as T-Mobile. It's not a problem specific to GSM or CDMA but rather it's the radio frequency itself that is the problem.

In European and Asian countries where 850MHz GSM is standard, those people revel in the highest-quality wireless phone service in the world. But here in the USA GSM has a bad reputation since Cingular, Verizon, and AT&T have snapped up most of the 800-900Mhz spectrum licenses. 1900mhz GSM just doesn't stand a chance in large, old buildings.

If T-Mobile were 850MHz, oh what a happy camper I would be.

[DJ Teknosys]

Originally posted by Apparition
It's a shame, I hate the idea of wasting a good almost brand new phone that I spent $200 on, but I don't see much choice.



Jack

Let me know if you switch, I'll buy that 6310i off you...

[GAMIAS]

In European and Asian countries where 850MHz GSM is standard, those people revel in the highest-quality wireless phone service in the world. But here in the USA GSM has a bad reputation since Cingular, Verizon, and AT&T have snapped up most of the 800-900Mhz spectrum licenses. 1900mhz GSM just doesn't stand a chance in large, old buildings. In European and Asian countries where 850MHz GSM is standard, those people revel in the highest-quality wireless phone service in the world. But here in the USA GSM has a bad reputation since Cingular, Verizon, and AT&T have snapped up most of the 800-900Mhz spectrum licenses. 1900mhz GSM just doesn't stand a chance in large, old buildings.

Europe and Asia use 900Mhz and 1800Mhz and not 850Mhz.
I am not sure if the problem here in USA is the 1900Mhz frequency or the signal overal.

[mophile]

Originally posted by DJ Teknosys
Let me know if you switch, I'll buy that 6310i off you...

What a couple of vultures we are....I thought the SAME thing!

[MJGunn]

Cingular and AT&T will be introing 850mhz gsm to the US. If T-Mobile doesn't start doing the same, its going to be tough not to switch.

[bfischer]

Originally posted by Apparition

So my question is ... will T-Mobile's signal become stronger in Philadelphia anytime soon, or should I just give up and move on to Verizon or Cingular or something, even though I just paid $200 for this new 6310i? Any advice would be appreciated.


Your friendly neighborhood Apparition,

Jack

If you can't use your phone, then drop the service. T-Mo may or may not upgrade the service around your house anyway, but they'd have more incentive to do so if they thought they were losing customers over it. In the meantime, there's no sense being unhappy with cellular service when you probably can switch to someone you'll be happier with.

my 2 cents