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General discussion

cell phone use @ my residence

Nov 15, 2004 10:28PM PST

I am having problems with not being able to use my cell phone @ my residence - I am able to use it outside of my home - not inside - Whereas I used to be able to use it!! - I had one phone for 1 year prior to purchasing an additional phone - (flip phone) which initially worked fine - then in a few months we were unable to get a signal at home - Verizon is my carrier and they are informing me they dont promise useage at home - etc. I dont see anywhere where they mention you may not be able to access a signal @ home - Has anyone else experienced this problem - I have been realitvely quiet about this matter because we still need the phones daily on the road for emergencies but I feel as though I am getting ripped off - monthly payments without full use of the phone service.

Discussion is locked

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Re: cell phone use @ my residence
Nov 16, 2004 2:24AM PST

If there aren't enough cellphone towers near your home, no cellphone (regardless of carrier) will work in your home. You can't always blame the cellphone carriers, especially if you have neighbors who keep cellphone towers out of your neighborhood. People want the cellphones, but don't always want the towers near their home saying they're an eyesore and worry about radiation. The type of phone you have also makes a difference too. There's a trucker who picks up freight where I work and lives in a Chicago suburb that doesn't have a single cellphone tower because residents don't want the towers, and believe it or not, it's one of those higher income neighborhoods that has homes valued at $200k+. I wish I remember which city it was,but those residents have themselves to blame for poor reception. I get excellent reception in my home because I live near a 500' tower.

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Re: cell phone use @ my residence
Nov 16, 2004 10:37PM PST

here is the deal, my wife had the same problem and she has verizon LGv6000 i have sprintpcs samsung A680. i am the only one with frequency n the house, she has outside. verizon customer service is useless. i told her if she has frequency outside then she should be able to have inside since i do have signal. so i told her to get a new phone but she didnt want to so now her cell phone was stolen and now she got a totally new phone the samsung A670 which is a copy of mines just diff carrier and guess what, now she has frequency/signal too just like i do exact same thing amount of bars and we both totally diff carrier. so ur problem might be the phone if i were u i would try diff phone or have someone with diff phone than urs see if they have signal n ur house. most likely is the phone.

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Re: cell phone use @ my residence
Nov 17, 2004 10:34AM PST

I have the Samsung a650 through Verizon Wireless and it works in more areas than my old Motorola 120c I used to use. I never had problems with signal in my home with my old phone or my new one. That's because I live near a 500' tower that has every wireless carrier on it except for Nextel, only because Nextel wanted their transmission equipment at another location,not on the same 500' tower with everyone else.
Just because you get a strong signal outside doesn't always mean you'll get signal in your home. It depends on how close you are to the tower. Also the type of home you live in. If you have few windows, then the signal won't penetrate the inside of the home as well. Even worse if the home is brick or metal.
Phone plays a role, but how close the tower is to the home and the type of home make all the difference. At least I stuck with tri-mode, just in case I go into analog territory, which is rare with Verizon Wireless, but common on Alltel though.