11/1 10/30 Why is my t-mobile reception so bad? Could it be the phone or
is t-mobile just worthless around here?
\_ T-mobile has the smallest network of the majors.
\_ Kind of depends where `here' is. T-mobile doesn't have any
towers in Northern California; they rent tower time from
Cingular. In case it's not clear, there is, effectively, only
one GSM carrier in northern California.
\_ My AT&T reception has been going to hell as of lately too.
\_ As of a few months ago Cingular users can use ATT towers and vice
versa. It's possible your area had lots on Cingular users and
not that many Cingular towers.
\- man why cant they make cell phones that have good signal ...
i dont care whether it can play tetris or surf the
WEEB or manage my stock portfolio. has anybody made a
phone that has signal strength as its only distinguishing
feature? now that i'd pay for.
\_ verizon. great signal, but aside from that, phones suck.
\- i meant a phone unit, not a service. surely something
can be done with antenna/amplification.
\_ Phones already have amplifiers, but amplifiers are
'dumb' and amplify both signal and noise. The SNR
is what really matters for a phone. To improve the
SNR you can add a phased antenna array, which will
massivly increase weight, power consumption and
cost, or you can use a high-gain antenna, which is
by necessity directional. A high-gain antenna would
be big, which is bad for a phone, and would depend
strongly on orientation, which is very bad for a
phone being moved around. The best compromise would
be a long straight antenna, which is not as big as a
dish, and has the only directional requirement that
it is upright. Most phones use antennas which are
about (8/7)*(1/2) wavelength long so they get optimum
performance when slightly off perfect vertical. |