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General discussion

Raisung the bars?

Nov 22, 2004 7:50PM PST

Since Cingular went to GMS I have weak signal strengh.
I have a Motorola V400. I am tired of chasing the sweet spot in my house and not looking forward to freezing outside in the winter. With countless calls to Cingular, whom say I have a lot of towers in my area and cannot give me a reason why I am having problems. One stated it could be my Simms card, have not checked that yet since I do get reception other places.My question is now that I have this service and am stuck with it, how to I raise the bars in my house??? I have searched the forum and googled. I know why now (GMS). Is there anything works other than the ones placed in the phone?. I call to Mass a lot and have a plan with Nation to Nation and am tired of using my Lan line to call my family

Discussion is locked

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Re: Raisung the bars?
Nov 24, 2004 1:36AM PST

well...you have always had GSM (not GMS) service and the V400 is just a crappy phone!

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Re: Raisung the bars?
Nov 24, 2004 4:38AM PST

THEY DIDN'T RAISE THE BAR THAT MUCH.. IM TELLING YOU VERIZON IS THE WAY TO GO. I'VE HAD BOTH SERVICE AT THE SAME TIME AND VERIZON GETS BETTER I MEAN........ WAYYYYYY BETTER RECEPTION THAN CINGULAR

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Re: Raisung the bars?
Nov 25, 2004 1:39PM PST

Ever since AT&T (which I have) and Cingular merged, several things have happened. My girlfriend and I lost our great reception at home and now have to seek out the sweet spot for reception if at all. It's totally random. We are both on the old non-GSM phones. My friend on AT&T GSM gets great reception all of the suddon. My friend on Verizon lost his reception too.

I know ATT/Cingular are fazing out the old system and forcing everyone to GSM, but what up with Verizon. They wouldn't share towers would theY?

I'm in Malibu by the way, it seems every city / state is different. I was about to switch over to Verizon until I found out it doesn't work at my house.

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Re: Raisung the bars?
Nov 26, 2004 7:06AM PST

FYI: Cingular and Verizon use different towers, not same frequency.

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Re: Raisung the bars?
Nov 29, 2004 8:09AM PST

Cingular uses GSM (AT&T and TMobile too)
Verizon uses TDMA (Sprint too)

Ask your friends who works best. If the AT&T works great most likely the Cingular will be comparable assuming your friend has a GSM phone.
Plus that new mobile to mobile stuff is nice if you have a bunch of friends with Cingular/AT&T.

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Re: Raisung the bars?
Nov 29, 2004 10:24AM PST

>Verizon uses TDMA (Sprint too)
Correction! Verizon Wireless and Sprint use CDMA, not TDMA. Cingular and AT&T were using TDMA, but decided to phase it out by going GSM. US Cellular is a service that went the opposite route. Most of the markets they serve are part of the old Primeco service that Verizon didn't get to acquire and they went from TDMA to CDMA. It'll be interesting to see how many AT&T customers will stay with Cingular once the merger takes place. I already have a friend that'll pay the early termination fee just so he won't have to deal with Cingular. He knows knows enough people that have told him not to go with Cingular. Since he's one of those that will be merged with Cingular, he's going to terminate his service early. I tried to tell him to go with Verizon Wireless, but he thinks their service sucks and plans to go with Sprint PCS. I've had Verizon Wireless for 2 1/2 years and glad I have their service.

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Re: Raisung the bars?
Nov 30, 2004 1:12AM PST

most of what has been posted here has been good information that has been mixed with people's personal opinions on carriers. I also have my opinions, but I will try not to let them get in the way. Here is what I would do if I were in your situation. Fisrt, find out if there is a way to update your phone's roaming capability (for Verizon its *22Cool you might have to either call Cingular or go to one fo their stors. If that dosn't work, think about getting a new phone (watch out for them trying to get you to sign a new contract), I don't know anything about your phone, but I know that the make and models have a lot to do with reception. Make sure you find out how long you have to bring it back if it dosn't work. Most carriers will give you a few days, or weeks to see how you like reception, If you take the phone back, you will be responsible for the minutes you have used. This will hold true if you decide to switch carriers also. Good luck

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Problem solved
Nov 30, 2004 6:27PM PST

Want to say thanks for the replies. My problem was getting poor signal strengh in my house. This was solved somehow by the meger of AT&T with Cingular