[P1] Cell Phone Connectivity

[Meg St. Clair]

On 3/6/04 4:59 AM, "Andrew Rodger" <arodger at mac.com> wrote:

> 
> On 6 Mar 2004, at 04:21, Meg St. Clair wrote:
> 
>>> I am looking to change cell phones this Spring and get a GPRS phone to
>>> use with my Powerbook G4 12 in. Are there any recommendations for
>>> models
>>> and capabilities?
>> 
>> Before picking out a phone, you may want to find out which cell phone
>> provider in your area offers the best quality of service, best signal
>> strength, etc. It won't really matter how nifty the phone is if you
>> can't
>> get a signal.
>> 
>> Meg
>> 
> 
> Indeed good advice but I think there is reason to wonder if you get a
> straight answer from some providers. We changed from Nokia phones to
> the SE T68is for everyone because, at the time, this seemed to be
> endorsed as a very compatible phone for Apple and Bluetooth and Nokia
> seemed to be firmly in the Windows camp. The usability of the T68i was
> a bit of a disappointment but not nearly as disappointing as the drop
> in sensitivity for reception in marginal areas, which is most areas in
> rural Scotland! We are now approaching the end of our contract and we
> want to change phones again and are looking at the T610 and T616 but
> want to make sure that the most important criteria is satisfied first
> i.e. the ability to receive a signal.  I can swap the sim card from my
> T68 back into a Nokia and go from zero reception to good reception in
> some areas, that is the degree of a difference yet when I spoke to BT
> mobile about this they said all phones these days have the same
> sensitivity and there is no difference and I must have damaged the T68.
> We now have four T68is and it would seem they are all damaged,
> according to BT mobile.

First, the disclaimer: I work for Verizon Wireless.

In theory, all of the cell phones we sell have the same signal strength. In
practice, different phones seem to work for different people. I can't always
explain why. Although we sell phones by several different companies, the
CDMA chips are frequently made by the same company (Qualcomm). The addendum
to my above advice would be to find a provider that gives a reasonable trial
period. For example, we give 15 days. Also, check out what ever the Canadian
or Scottish equivalent of Consumer Reports (if such a thing exists).

Sometimes reviews on sites like CNET are useful, sometimes they're just
people venting ("company didn't honor my warranty after I got the phone wet"
sort of thing).

Meg