Samsung vs. xxxx - Better reception?

[Silver Zero]

I had a phone rep tell me today that in poor-coverage areas, Samsung phones will provide better reception than any other manufacturer. Can anybody refute or support this claim? It seems fishy to me. Not only that, but I think a tri-band T6x0 would do better overall than a dual-band x105. And just in general, might not the firmware be a strong factor in the final reception quality as well? (i.e. a phone with new firmware might pick up better signals than a Samsung with weak software.)

Any comments?

Thanks!

[Silver Zero]

Anybody?

[Sid]

Nokia and Motorola are generally known for having the best reception. Samsung is alright too, but to claim that all Samsung phones provide better coverage is a lie. Was he, by any chance, trying to sell you a Samsung phone?

The bands on a phone do not indicate how good their reception is, but what frequencies the phone is capable of. The T6X0 series phones have worse reception than most other phones on the market.

[gangstar]

Yeah, the reception on my Nokia is amazing. I get full bars in places where mates with other phones get less than half. So far, I've never had a problem with no reception or crackling.

[Sid]

Originally posted by gangstar
I get full bars in places where mates with other phones get less than half. So far, I've never had a problem with no reception or crackling.

You may have never had any problems with the Nokia reception but the number of reception bars displayed on a phone screen mean NOTHING. 2 bars on one phone may mean 4 bars on another phone. This is why I never understand people who say their phone has better reception than another because it has more bars.

[theninthcloud]

Originally posted by Sid
You may have never had any problems with the Nokia reception but the number of reception bars displayed on a phone screen mean NOTHING. 2 bars on one phone may mean 4 bars on another phone. This is why I never understand people who say their phone has better reception than another because it has more bars.

So, how does one tell then. :) Call quality? I noticed that too, but I think if a phone has full signal while the other has barely any...then it might mean something.

Despite what you said, do you think a phone with 850 band capabilities would make it any better than a phone without?
As in, I'm in the market for a new phone (who isn't?)and the allure of quad band phones is difficult to avoid but logic tells me it couldn't hurt to have that extra band, but I don't know how much ...and whether I would be remiss to automatically place any quad band phone above any tri-band phone.

[Sid]

Originally posted by theninthcloud
So, how does one tell then. :) Call quality? I noticed that too, but I think if a phone has full signal while the other has barely any...then it might mean something.

No, signal strength, as displayed on the phone, doesn't mean anything. Think of it as ricing up a car. It may *look* faster, but that doesn't mean it goes faster.

The only way to accurately tell is by comparing voice and signal quality while keeping other factors unchanged. You can also usually tell how good a phone's reception is by checking its ability to hold on to a signal while talking in a weak signal area.

Originally posted by theninthcloud
Despite what you said, do you think a phone with 850 band capabilities would make it any better than a phone without?
As in, I'm in the market for a new phone (who isn't?)and the allure of quad band phones is difficult to avoid but logic tells me it couldn't hurt to have that extra band, but I don't know how much ...and whether I would be remiss to automatically place any quad band phone above any tri-band phone.

A phone with 850 band capabilities is exactly that. It is capable of 850 band, but that doesn't tell us anything about the quality of the reception. All this extra bands does is allow you to roam to networks with a 850MHz signal.
As an example, you could have a dual-band phone with really good reception, but a tri-band with awful reception. It doesn't hurt to have that extra band, but the presence of an extra band doesn't mean the phone has better reception.