What T-Mobile phone has the best reception?

**AlphaShark** · 09-11-2010, 11:28 AM

So my wife just upgraded to the Gravity 3. She hates it and so do I. It drops calls left and right. Her last phone was the Nokia 6301 which rarely dropped calls. She got the Gravity 3 for the slider keyboard.
Any recommendations for a messaging phone on T-Mobile that has great reception?
TIA!

**Julian** · 09-11-2010, 11:48 AM

Although not a "messaging phone", the SonyEricsson Equinox has very good reception, it is like night & day compared to some of the Samsung phones I've used.

**AlphaShark** · 09-11-2010, 12:14 PM

My wife just got back from the T-Mobile store and they gave her a new SIM card. They said sometimes old SIM cards can cause bad reception. Is this true?

**DangerousDD** · 09-11-2010, 11:35 PM

Yes and dropping calls mid-call is a symptom. I found it a lot using the UMA also. I seem to need a new sim every 12-18 months

**matt.mingkee** · 09-11-2010, 11:38 PM

Stay away from samsung except BH II or vibrant.
Try nokia 5230 or if you can afford, N900.

**ChristopherMcG** · 09-12-2010, 05:02 AM

I have the Vibrant and I'm loving the reception. It's on par or better than my CLIQ verified by looking at RSCP for 3G and RSSI for 2G

The only thing is that the bar display is not accurate, The next update will include a fix for this. Reception will reflect reality with the bars, right now I'm showing the same as my CLIQ with the stock 4 bar setup.

I've had the Equinox and the TM506, I think the TM506 is better because the antenna is at the top of the bottom flip. But you can't get a new TM506 from T-Mobile so I don't think you can go wrong with it.

Unfortunately basic QWERTY options are pretty much limited to Samsung and the basic phones they sell still have seen no huge improvement in reception. Really bad. The Charm might fit the bill but if you get it on contract a data plan is required. You can buy it off contract and avoid the extra fee. I'm positive that the Charm will be much MUCH better.

The LG dLite/Sentio also shows off stellar reception.

**AlphaShark** · 09-12-2010, 08:36 AM

Thanks for all of your ideas so far!
I should probably mention that my wife is not fond of touch screen pones.
A qwerty blackberry will require the data plan, right? I hear the BB's have great reception.

**ChristopherMcG** · 09-12-2010, 09:29 AM

BB's are better than the basic Samsungs but they have serious connectivity issues. The 9700 doesn't like T-Mobile's 3G much, switching to GPRS or EDGE when it would previously show a good 3G signal, the 8520/8900 would show SOS for no apparent reason next to phones with 1 or 2 bars. The 9700 doesn't seem to have this issue as much so it's probably related to the radio in those Curve's. BB's last phones with good reception would be the 8820/8100 series.. it's been downhill since.
She should consider the LG dLite, SE Equinox, Nokia 3711 (not a great phone but the reception is fine, cheap too). She should try the Charm if she likes BB's. It has a 4 way toggle and trackpad in the back.

**bachviet** · 09-12-2010, 10:07 AM

Return the Gravity 3 and get the Gravity T. Sell the Gravity T in new condition and buy an used/new Nokia E73 on craigslist/eBay/etc. I'll bet the E73 has better reception than those Samsung's and it also has UMA. You don't need data plan if you don't buy it with subsidy.

**scooby214** · 09-12-2010, 10:55 AM

I second the plan to get the E73. Nokia smartphones seem to work quite well when used without a data plan. Your wife can use the E73 as a messaging phone, and probably never notice that it isn't connected to the internet. It also has reception via UMA and cellular that is on par with your 6301.

Did the 6301 quit working? I still have mine, and it is one of my favorite feature phones.

**AlphaShark** · 09-12-2010, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by bachviet

Return the Gravity 3 and get the Gravity T. Sell the Gravity T in new condition and buy an used/new Nokia E73 on craigslist/eBay/etc. I'll bet the E73 has better reception than those Samsung's and it also has UMA. You don't need data plan if you don't buy it with subsidy.

No, she is like me. She just wanted a new phone. The 6301 still works like new.

**scooby214** · 09-12-2010, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by AlphaShark

No, she is like me. She just wanted a new phone. The 6301 still works like new.

I'm the same way. I do have a drawer full of phones, and enjoy both getting new ones as well as pulling out some of my nostalgic phones. My wife, however, doesn't get it. She still has her white Gravity I, and is content with it.

**Antenna** · 09-12-2010, 03:59 PM

Nokia does far better than Samsung.

It is nearly impossible to top the Nokia 6010 as far as RF reception. Nokia 6120c was good for me as well

SE Tm506 is good.

**AlphaShark** · 09-12-2010, 04:30 PM

Any thoughts on the Nokia 5730?

**edit**

Nevermind, it seems really expensive.

**matt.mingkee** · 09-12-2010, 04:38 PM

Wirelessly posted (HTC Nexus One: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; Nexus One Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Originally Posted by Antenna

Nokia does far better than Samsung.

It is nearly impossible to top the Nokia 6010 as far as RF reception. Nokia 6120c was good for me as well

SE Tm506 is good.

SE W300 and TM506 have the best 2G reception while N900 has the best 3G reception.