Verizon vs. At&t

[hookbill]

The real answer to the OP's problem has been given twice. He probably needs to update his PRL's. *228 option 2. Try that and get back to us.

 

[A.Brooks]

I have noticed a staticy sound on the Droid as well, I'm not sure if it's the phone or the patch that my phone gets routed through, but on my bluetooth it doesn't exist, so it may be something in the hardware of the phone itself. I'm curious to see if it continues this way. As far as having no service in your house that's just astonishing, I live in small town USA, outside of Chattanooga, TN. That's right, a suburb of a place most of you guys haven't even heard of, and my service is incredible, it's quite laughable actually, in comparison with AT&T who has 'full' reception here, my boss put his iPhone and loaded mac.com next to my Droid (on the stock browser mind you) and loaded the same, mac.com site and he got mad when the Droid loaded about 35% faster than his iPhone. Take that AT&T. I'm going to try the voice privacy thing myself, there's also a code you can dial in to improve the call quality in the hidden menu of the Droid, I'll find that number for you.

*#*#4636#*#* is one.
##7764726 is the other, and that's the one you want. 000000 is the passcode
Go to "04 Vocode"
Select EVRC-B then Apply
The phone should automatically reset a few seconds afterward. If not, power cycle the phone

 

[Squeaky369]

Wow! Massive response. Thank you very much for the responses.

Here are my responses back.

I have noticed a staticy sound on the Droid as well, I'm not sure if it's the phone or the patch that my phone gets routed through, but on my bluetooth it doesn't exist, so it may be something in the hardware of the phone itself. I'm curious to see if it continues this way. As far as having no service in your house that's just astonishing, I live in small town USA, outside of Chattanooga, TN. That's right, a suburb of a place most of you guys haven't even heard of, and my service is incredible, it's quite laughable actually, in comparison with AT&T who has 'full' reception here, my boss put his iPhone and loaded mac.com next to my Droid (on the stock browser mind you) and loaded the same, mac.com site and he got mad when the Droid loaded about 35% faster than his iPhone. Take that AT&T. I'm going to try the voice privacy thing myself, there's also a code you can dial in to improve the call quality in the hidden menu of the Droid, I'll find that number for you.

*#*#4636#*#* is one.
##7764726 is the other, and that's the one you want. 000000 is the passcode
Go to "04 Vocode"
Select EVRC-B then Apply
The phone should automatically reset a few seconds afterward. If not, power cycle the phone

I switched over to the EVRC-B and then the phone reset, I did the *228 option 2 update and reset the phone again. Same thing. No signal to one bar.

I somehow do not tend to believe your story here.. I checked VZW's coverage map for Indianapolis. And their map shows great coverage in their broadband all areas of Indianapolis. And its surrounding areas.

So either 1) you live underground or 2) you live in a steal box. I am sorry.. I just don't see it. But hey I don't live there.. so what do I know. But Verizon maps are usually quite accurate.

Yeah; I checked the maps when I noticed that I wasn't getting very good service, and I was very upset that it showed that good of service, but yet I'm not getting any.

So attached below is a screen shot of Google maps showing my Approx. location and my signal status. I am sitting on the couch in front of a window when I took this screen shot, and this is AFTER I've done all the updates that you guys have suggested. Regarding the signal quality.

 

[diverbelow]

When I was with AT&T, the network sucked and their voice service was equal as bad for me when I was home in SW Washington area. I had full bars, had drop calls, call my wife's work, git network error (had to dial the number 4 to 8 times) to get through. Complain to AT&T and they say all green across the board.

In early Jan. 2010, we switched to Verizon, and we get 1 or 2 bars and we have not had a drop call or network error. Where I work in Hillsboro, I knew Verizon service did not do so swell even though their map showed it was 3G everywhere. So the building at work must not like the freq. Verizon uses, since the coverage is less the stellar until you get close to a window or outside of the building.

Will I go back to AT&T, heck NO. Was with them for 10 years and the last couple of years (since the iPhone came out, at least for me) went downhill big time.

 

[superglen99]

I live in a town called Auburn outside of Tacoma,WA. I have tons of dropped calls in my house but just a few miles down the street, full 3g, go figure.

 

[solorca]

The simple answer is to go back to AT&T or try another company. Sometimes phones just don't work that well in a specific area. For me, I've always been extremely happy with Verizon nearly everywhere that I've been, but the service in my current area is less than desirable. Unfortuantely, I have tried AT&T and Sprint (T-Mobile and others have little to no service anywhere in my general area) and they are worse...so for now, I'll stick with Verizon.

If their service continues to be poor though, I'll be looking for other providers when my current contract is up.

I am a very loyal customer for the most part, but Verizon's customer service has always been terrible in my experiences, so the service was really the only thing that was keeping me around. I love my Droid, but I'll reevaluate things when it becomes an obsolete phone.

 

[jsh1120]

A couple of points.

The unending bickering over 3g coverage reminds me of the old story about the guy that drowned in a river that was "on average" a foot deep. The fact is that some carriers are very reliable in some areas and not in others. And in this case an "area" can be a few hundred meters in diameter.

I have friends here in the Seattle area (where T-Mobile is headquartered) who swear by their excellent service. I also know people in other areas that have long since given up on T-Mobile. Same with Sprint, same with AT&T, same with Verizon.

I don't know a single person with AT&T service here on the eastside of Seattle who experiences frequent dropped calls (though I'm sure I'll hear from some after saying this.) By the same token, I have a friend in Eastern Washington who can hardly manage to make a call on his iPhone due to that problem.

The fact is that if phone service is good for you, it's good for you...where you are...when you test it. It may well be different if you change locations or try at a different time. I'm looking at my phone right now. Two bars. It seldom gets three here in my home. Yet I get consistently good performance for voice calls and if I travel a mile away I consistently get five bars. I've never had a dropped call on Verizon. Ever. Anywhere. And "on average" I get much better performance than I ever got on Sprint. But I also left Sprint four years ago. I have no idea if their coverage/performance has improved where I take a phone. I strongly suspect it has.

I have no doubt that the OP may be relating a completely valid experience; sitting in an area where he is supposed to get good 3g coverage and not getting it. If he tries a block away or at midnight his experience may be different. That, friends, is the nature of the technology.

 

[cpinto]

I've been with V for quite a while, and have the static and muffeled calls as you describe.

I have no explanation for the static. I get it sometimes, other times I don't. Maybe about 3-4 calls a week have static.

The muffeled calls are a direct result of how you speak into the mic. You must hold it near your face, and don't try to avoid smudging the screen with your cheek.
If you hold it close and low on your ear, that will help. A LOT !!!!

The droid has some weak links and this is one of them.

I travel all over the country for a living, and central Fla seems to be the worst. In Orlando my wife can hardly understand me unless I'm speaking loudly, which I hate to do in public. This is Droid specific. Didn't have this problem with my Samsung Omnia or the Moto Razor (Best phone ever built).

I love my droid, but hate talking on it. I'm considering getting another phone for talking and using the Droid as a data tool.

It's a shame we're at that point, but that's the way it is.

I'm been waiting for the update, so see if that's addressed, but I doubt it will be.

Other minor gripes are the Keyboard is useless and the volume and camera buttons feel like they about to fall out.

Craig

 

[victoriac]

May I add that IMHO the coverage maps do not mean a thing. I was with AT&T for the last 3 years and constantly dropped/lost calls. Forget about service in my house. The coverage map for AT&T showed outstanding coverage where I live, well I beg to differ. I had many heated phone calls to AT&T about this and all they could tell me is they(or any carrier) cannot guarantee coverage in a building?? Several times I was offered $25 off my bill for my troubles and their coverage map inaccuracies. We have a vacation place near Palm Springs, CA. Everyone on Verizon could make calls, check their emails, update their twitter/fb, whatever. Here I was with my iphone and AT&T with NO service and borrowing someone in my family's Verizon phone to make phone calls. Forget that. While traveling I get service way more places now with Verizon than I ever did with AT&T. I happily paid the ETF to AT&T got the Droid and haven't looked back.

 

[victoriac]

I've been with V for quite a while, and have the static and muffeled calls as you describe.

I have no explanation for the static. I get it sometimes, other times I don't. Maybe about 3-4 calls a week have static.

The muffeled calls are a direct result of how you speak into the mic. You must hold it near your face, and don't try to avoid smudging the screen with your cheek.
If you hold it close and low on your ear, that will help. A LOT !!!!

The droid has some weak links and this is one of them.

I travel all over the country for a living, and central Fla seems to be the worst. In Orlando my wife can hardly understand me unless I'm speaking loudly, which I hate to do in public. This is Droid specific. Didn't have this problem with my Samsung Omnia or the Moto Razor (Best phone ever built).

I love my droid, but hate talking on it. I'm considering getting another phone for talking and using the Droid as a data tool.

It's a shame we're at that point, but that's the way it is.

I'm been waiting for the update, so see if that's addressed, but I doubt it will be.

Other minor gripes are the Keyboard is useless and the volume and camera buttons feel like they about to fall out.

Craig

Wow, maybe it's your phone itself. I just went to Orlando and called back to California several times a day with nothing like you are experiencing. My calls are crystal clear. The only time I ever have a problem is when I talk to my mom and she moves around in her house I always lose her but she says thats how her calls are with everyone so I'm assuming it's her phone. But maybe you should try switching your phone out, maybe somethings wrong with your mic or speakers??

 

[victoriac]

Another thing I do is call the *228 if I am traveling or visiting another city. That always helps. I also do it again when I come back home. This always refreshes my cell signals.

 

[anewday]

II'm going to try the voice privacy thing myself, there's also a code you can dial in to improve the call quality in the hidden menu of the Droid, I'll find that number for you.

*#*#4636#*#* is one.
##7764726 is the other, and that's the one you want. 000000 is the passcode
Go to "04 Vocode"
Select EVRC-B then Apply
The phone should automatically reset a few seconds afterward. If not, power cycle the phone

Does it really improve call quality?

 

[aaf709]

I'm afraid Consumer Reports will disagree with the OP. That being said, I need a network extender for my phone to work at home, but every phone I've had has been the same.

 

[bd1212]

Wow! Massive response. Thank you very much for the responses.

Here are my responses back.

I have noticed a staticy sound on the Droid as well, I'm not sure if it's the phone or the patch that my phone gets routed through, but on my bluetooth it doesn't exist, so it may be something in the hardware of the phone itself. I'm curious to see if it continues this way. As far as having no service in your house that's just astonishing, I live in small town USA, outside of Chattanooga, TN. That's right, a suburb of a place most of you guys haven't even heard of, and my service is incredible, it's quite laughable actually, in comparison with AT&T who has 'full' reception here, my boss put his iPhone and loaded mac.com next to my Droid (on the stock browser mind you) and loaded the same, mac.com site and he got mad when the Droid loaded about 35% faster than his iPhone. Take that AT&T. I'm going to try the voice privacy thing myself, there's also a code you can dial in to improve the call quality in the hidden menu of the Droid, I'll find that number for you.

*#*#4636#*#* is one.
##7764726 is the other, and that's the one you want. 000000 is the passcode
Go to "04 Vocode"
Select EVRC-B then Apply
The phone should automatically reset a few seconds afterward. If not, power cycle the phone

I switched over to the EVRC-B and then the phone reset, I did the *228 option 2 update and reset the phone again. Same thing. No signal to one bar.

I somehow do not tend to believe your story here.. I checked VZW's coverage map for Indianapolis. And their map shows great coverage in their broadband all areas of Indianapolis. And its surrounding areas.

So either 1) you live underground or 2) you live in a steal box. I am sorry.. I just don't see it. But hey I don't live there.. so what do I know. But Verizon maps are usually quite accurate.

Yeah; I checked the maps when I noticed that I wasn't getting very good service, and I was very upset that it showed that good of service, but yet I'm not getting any.

So attached below is a screen shot of Google maps showing my Approx. location and my signal status. I am sitting on the couch in front of a window when I took this screen shot, and this is AFTER I've done all the updates that you guys have suggested. Regarding the signal quality.

Have you tried this? Menu>Settings>Call Settings>Voice Privacy>Uncheck

 

[Squeaky369]

Wow! Massive response. Thank you very much for the responses.

Here are my responses back.

I have noticed a staticy sound on the Droid as well, I'm not sure if it's the phone or the patch that my phone gets routed through, but on my bluetooth it doesn't exist, so it may be something in the hardware of the phone itself. I'm curious to see if it continues this way. As far as having no service in your house that's just astonishing, I live in small town USA, outside of Chattanooga, TN. That's right, a suburb of a place most of you guys haven't even heard of, and my service is incredible, it's quite laughable actually, in comparison with AT&T who has 'full' reception here, my boss put his iPhone and loaded mac.com next to my Droid (on the stock browser mind you) and loaded the same, mac.com site and he got mad when the Droid loaded about 35% faster than his iPhone. Take that AT&T. I'm going to try the voice privacy thing myself, there's also a code you can dial in to improve the call quality in the hidden menu of the Droid, I'll find that number for you.

*#*#4636#*#* is one.
##7764726 is the other, and that's the one you want. 000000 is the passcode
Go to "04 Vocode"
Select EVRC-B then Apply
The phone should automatically reset a few seconds afterward. If not, power cycle the phone

I switched over to the EVRC-B and then the phone reset, I did the *228 option 2 update and reset the phone again. Same thing. No signal to one bar.

I somehow do not tend to believe your story here.. I checked VZW's coverage map for Indianapolis. And their map shows great coverage in their broadband all areas of Indianapolis. And its surrounding areas.

So either 1) you live underground or 2) you live in a steal box. I am sorry.. I just don't see it. But hey I don't live there.. so what do I know. But Verizon maps are usually quite accurate.

Yeah; I checked the maps when I noticed that I wasn't getting very good service, and I was very upset that it showed that good of service, but yet I'm not getting any.

So attached below is a screen shot of Google maps showing my Approx. location and my signal status. I am sitting on the couch in front of a window when I took this screen shot, and this is AFTER I've done all the updates that you guys have suggested. Regarding the signal quality.

Have you tried this? Menu>Settings>Call Settings>Voice Privacy>Uncheck

Yeah; that sorta helped out with the voice quality. But did nothing as far as signal quality...

Thanks for all the responses so far.

So far though, a little better. But nothing significant.