I am not the most sophisticated guy when it comes to tech stuff, and would appreciate some education about why I am having such trouble using my cell phone as, you know, a PHONE. [SIZE=13.63636302948px]I really like the savings that came from ditching the landline, but the frustrations have been mounting of late. s[/SIZE]
Background: My wife and I both rely on our cell phones to stay in contact (her at work, me at home), but our new home and her workplace are an absolute dead zone for cell signal. Next door in either direction we get 4 bars, and the whole block is all brick 2 flat buildings, it's not like we are in a steel/concrete highrise or urban canyon, so who knows what is wrong with our locale. Were on Sprint when we moved in, but even with a Sprint-provided Rave signal booster we had very poor signal. I read that TMobile was the only major carrier that allowed using wifi networks to connect to their cellular network, and with their no-contract promos we switched last year. I sprung for the new HTC One, and she got a basic Nokia Windows smartphone. This did not actually improve our service, causing much heartache. TM has had us swap out sim cards multiple times, also gave us free use of a cell-amplifier, and I exchanged my phone in the hopes that it was a simple antenna issue. No improvement. My wife has just as many problems at work, and their network connection is pretty rock solid, so the problem is not just limited to our house.
What is mystifying is that our phones have no problem with internet/streaming video/music but can't complete a 5 minute call without dropping. One of the TM techs said that even when phones are using LTE for data, phone traffic is still on 2G and that there are still tremendous challenges for devices and networks to navigate the handoff of phone signal via internet. Even the sound quality is noticeably worse on calls than other media on the phones.
TLDR version: Requesting any guidance on choice of carrier, phone and modem/router with regards to call quality and signal reliability. Is trying to use wifi for cell signal a fool's errand? Does the choice of phone matter? Is TMobile just bad?
Misc hardware details, I curently have a fairly old modem (Moto 5100 series) but have ordered the recommended modem (Moto 6141) for delivery, and currently have a Linksys WRT150N router.
Background: My wife and I both rely on our cell phones to stay in contact (her at work, me at home), but our new home and her workplace are an absolute dead zone for cell signal. Next door in either direction we get 4 bars, and the whole block is all brick 2 flat buildings, it's not like we are in a steel/concrete highrise or urban canyon, so who knows what is wrong with our locale. Were on Sprint when we moved in, but even with a Sprint-provided Rave signal booster we had very poor signal. I read that TMobile was the only major carrier that allowed using wifi networks to connect to their cellular network, and with their no-contract promos we switched last year. I sprung for the new HTC One, and she got a basic Nokia Windows smartphone. This did not actually improve our service, causing much heartache. TM has had us swap out sim cards multiple times, also gave us free use of a cell-amplifier, and I exchanged my phone in the hopes that it was a simple antenna issue. No improvement. My wife has just as many problems at work, and their network connection is pretty rock solid, so the problem is not just limited to our house.
What is mystifying is that our phones have no problem with internet/streaming video/music but can't complete a 5 minute call without dropping. One of the TM techs said that even when phones are using LTE for data, phone traffic is still on 2G and that there are still tremendous challenges for devices and networks to navigate the handoff of phone signal via internet. Even the sound quality is noticeably worse on calls than other media on the phones.
TLDR version: Requesting any guidance on choice of carrier, phone and modem/router with regards to call quality and signal reliability. Is trying to use wifi for cell signal a fool's errand? Does the choice of phone matter? Is TMobile just bad?
Misc hardware details, I curently have a fairly old modem (Moto 5100 series) but have ordered the recommended modem (Moto 6141) for delivery, and currently have a Linksys WRT150N router.
