Cell Phone Reception Info

So I am not really up on my cell phone technology and have tried to read up on things but it's a little confusing... so here's the issue:

Six weeks ago I was in an area with intermittent cell phone service. This included both voice and data. At times, if I drove to a higher area on the road I was able to make calls and get email, surf the web, etc. When I had service, I had both voice and data. I was using a Palm Pre and the Bell network.

A few days ago in the same area, I had zero service. No voice or data. I was not getting any service in the places I did with the Pre. Not until I had almost driven all the way back to civilization, was I able to regain any service. Voice began to work first, but data didn't start until I was pretty well inside the city limits. I was using an HTC Legend on the Bell network.

I checked all the settings on the Legend and ensured everything was activated.

What am I missing here? Why wouldn't the service be, at least, nearly identical. I realize there can be discrepancies between phone reception to an extent, but this was the difference between being on a network and being completely off of it for an extended period of time.

Thanks in advance.

[sclitheroe]

Kinda hard to make any assessments without more than two trips - not enough data points to even begin formulating a theory.

Maybe one or more cell towers were down for maintenance. Maybe there was a localized source of RF noise near the tower you were talking to. Maybe humidity or intense localized rain shower you couldn’t see between you and the tower. Lightning.

The thing with digital phones is that there is a fine line between operating fully, and not operating at all. Once the error correction is unable to keep up, you’re done. So its not unreasonable to see good performance one day from a marginal location, and then small variations in signal strength result in zero connectivity the next. In fact, the signal strength bars on a digital phone don’t really tell you anything - if you have any bars, you’re good to go. No bars, no service. They could replace the signal bars with a red/green dot signalling go/no go, and it would be just as useful in most cases, since having any connectivity means you will be able to do digital data transmission (with one caveat - better signal strength means less reliance on the built in error correction, which means better bandwidth in general)

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Kinda hard to make any assessments without more than two trips - not enough data points to even begin formulating a theory.

Maybe one or more cell towers were down for maintenance. Maybe there was a localized source of RF noise near the tower you were talking to. Maybe humidity or intense localized rain shower you couldn’t see between you and the tower. Lightning.

The thing with digital phones is that there is a fine line between operating fully, and not operating at all. Once the error correction is unable to keep up, you’re done. So its not unreasonable to see good performance one day from a marginal location, and then small variations in signal strength result in zero connectivity the next. In fact, the signal strength bars on a digital phone don’t really tell you anything - if you have any bars, you’re good to go. No bars, no service. They could replace the signal bars with a red/green dot signalling go/no go, and it would be just as useful in most cases, since having any connectivity means you will be able to do digital data transmission (with one caveat - better signal strength means less reliance on the built in error correction, which means better bandwidth in general)

Thanks for the reply.

I guess I should have clarified. From mid-June to mid-July, I was getting the service I had mentioned with the Palm Pre.

For 4 days, I was getting the service I was mentioning with the HTC Legend.

I guess I will have to see the next time I am out. Just seemed really odd to me.

[ken0042]

So two different phones had different reception levels?

Originally Posted by ken0042

So two different phones had different reception levels?

Yep.

But I am not just talking a few bars or more dropped calls. I am talking no service at all in a huge area compared to the same area getting service that was sporadic but consistent in the sense that I could go to the same area and get the same reception each time.

[Vulcan]

I'd like to find a cell phone with the best reception. Where I live my reception fades in and out and I've tried three different phones. I've searched google but have had little luck. If I can find a good phone, I'd get rid of my land line.

[HOOT]

Two phones having different coverage is nothing new. You could have the same model and get different results. Mass production does that to products.

[wooohooo]

In my apartment I had to cycle through phones as some phones would get perfect reception and others none. Reception seems to differ with phones greatly... wish I could help you with why but one of the technicians told me some send/receive stronger signals. Not sure if that's true or not... but sclitheroe seems to know what he's talking about.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Two phones having different coverage is nothing new. You could have the same model and get different results. Mass production does that to products.

It's like asking why with two sisters; how can one be gorgeous, and the other one makes you wonder when the fire was.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

In my apartment I had to cycle through phones as some phones would get perfect reception and others none. Reception seems to differ with phones greatly... wish I could help you with why but one of the technicians told me some send/receive stronger signals. Not sure if that's true or not... but sclitheroe seems to know what he's talking about.

No I barely know what I’m talking about on this one, I’m not an RF expert at all.

I didn’t realize from the OP that two different phones were involved. There’s too many variables involved to have any idea of why one phone performs better than another in low signal areas.

[Nage Waza]

I still can't figure out what the OP is trying to say. Which phone had the better reception, or is it that one phone had reception and the other did not? What does number of days have to do with it? Why didn't he use the same phone the whole time?

[FanIn80]

He was probably holding them wrong.

Originally Posted by Nage Waza

I still can't figure out what the OP is trying to say. Which phone had the better reception, or is it that one phone had reception and the other did not? What does number of days have to do with it? Why didn't he use the same phone the whole time?

I'll slow down for you there....

I have had 2 phones over the past 2 months...

Palm Pre and HTC Legend.

I was in a remote area with both phones.

The Palm Pre had some service in that area. The HTC Legend did not. In fact, the HTC Legend didnt even have intermittent service. It had no service at all. I am talking no service really until I entered a city.

The number of days came up because someone questioned the sample size.

Really wasn't that difficult.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

I'll slow down for you there....

[/snip]

Really wasn't that difficult.

Well, there's no need to be like that. People are trying to help, and at least 3 of us asked for clarification about what you were asking. I know I had to ask because it seemed odd to me that somebody had never in their life experienced different reception levels on different devices that use radio frequencies.

So before you start with a condescending tone, you should really look at if you are really in a position to be the one acting all superior.