[crackbrry fan]

I remember reading on CB that an Australian mobile phone service provider actually tests devices reception in the outback. BB's always score highly. I think most people's conclusions on this subject is from personal experience. I know when one of my close friends calls from her iphone there tends to be problems. At work the two iphone users sometimes moan about poor reception when they're not fighting over the one charger. Just to add to the above post ; if I remember correctly the Z30 actually has two antennae and uses unique technology to maximise reception. This actually delayed the phones US certification I think as the certifying authority had never seen this technology before. Does BB own the Paratek manufacturer?

Yes you are correct BlackBerry has the Paratek Technology deployed on the Z30 hence the better reception on the device. They acquired the Technology by buying the Company in 2012. I. believe. The better battery life is helped by the use of this technology used in the Z30.

Posted via CB10

[valleyag]

Guaranteed better. When my wife, 3 daughters, 2 sons and I go to the lake my BlackBerry z 10 was the only phone with service. There iPhone were horrible. So bad my son got a z10, and my wife took mine. The positive to this is I got a Z30. Also now that my wife has a z10 she is the only one in her church group that gets reception in the church hall. It's kinda fun to listen to her brag about BlackBerry after saying I would never have one. Word of advice (never say never)

Rockin Z30 on 10.2.1.2947 on AT&T

[skstrials]

Okay, I am not sure what this paratek technology is, but is the Z30/Q10 with the paratek antenna noticeably better than other the Z10 or other past BlackBerry devices?

Posted via CB10 using Blackberry Q10

[crackbrry fan]

Okay, I am not sure what this paratek technology is, but is the Z30/Q10 with the paratek antenna noticeably better than other the Z10 or other past BlackBerry devices?

Posted via CB10 using Blackberry Q10

From my personal experience it is noticeably different / improvement over the Z10, which I use also . It also promotes better battery usage. Mind you this Paratek Technology is currently used in Military grade devices. Here is a link that describes the Technology. This is also one reason why I say that BlackBerry is terribly undervalued.
http://www.paratek.com/about.htm

Posted via CB10

[prithvi64]

Clarity of voice call has been much better on z30 compare to Samsung Note, iPhone 4 available in my house.

Posted via CB10

[CBCListener]

More anecdotal evidence...we were camping last week, and needed a new forecast (having had to deal with a deluge and site recovery the previous day...long, off topic story). My daughter and her husband have iPhones...neither would roam on the sketchy signal from AT&T. My wife's Z10? LTE.

Posted via CB10

[BigAl_BB9900]

We have a big tech publication here in Germany that actually runs scientific laboratory tests for reception quality when reviewing smartphones, splitted by frequencies and standards (GSM/2G/3G/4G). BlackBerrys reception quality by these tests is almost always > 25 out of 30 points, iPhones, HTC Ones and Galaxys usually sitting between 20 and 25 max.

That's interesting - I'd be interested to know what the publication is called.

When the Z30 came out, I'm sure I read somewhere that independent research had proved that the new patented aerial in the Z30 was the best design for that size of phone...... I was more than a little sceptical (Marketing people always peddle any old pile of sh*t to journalists) as I could see no reference to this 'independent research'

[raino]

I don't think the Q10 has Paratek. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Troy Tiscareno]

The only BB10 device that has any technical advantage is the Z30, due to the Paratek antenna. Otherwise, all BB10 phones use the same Qualcomm radios that every other non-Apple phone uses. Really, antenna design is the only thing that would make one phone different from another, given the components are the same.

Apple, of course, uses a proprietary chip with possibly some proprietary radios, though it's likely that theirs are based on reference designs anyway. But the iPhone case and antenna design has had some well-publicized issues, as we all know.

[BigAl_BB9900]

My Bold 9900 and Q10 always got better reception (same network) than my mother's Doro..... she had to walk all the way up to the top of the garden (and sit in the stable), whereas I could always get a consistent signal from the porch... (very rural area with very patchy coverage from Orange UK - now I've switched her to Vodafone, she can use her phone in bed.... however, I do think the horse misses the company.....)

[fanisk]

Not in my case. I don't wanna sound blatant, but my Z30 has the worst reception ever. I guess that's partly because of my awful cell carrier, but still. My friends with iPhones and Androids have better reception using the same carrier. It's a well known problem with BB10 devices in Russia (particularly in Moscow), when all Q10, Z10 and Z30 lose connection during the call. It happens multiple times during the day, no matter how strong the signal is.

I tried contacting my provider and they said they will look into the problem, but nothing changed.

I guess, the root of the problem lies in the fact that BB10 devices are not officially presented on Russian market. Hence OS is not optimized for Russian cellular networks. So, we are doomed to dropped calls. Sometimes it renders my device almost unusable. To the point when I start to swear and eager to throw my Z against the wall.

It saddens me. But there's nothing I can do, unfortunately. As much as I love my Z30, sometimes I hate it the same for this lousy behavior.

I was in Moscow last March for a week and never had any similar problem with my Z30!

Sent from my Z 30

[CBCListener]

And for those who may not be getting the same results...it *is* possible that the device with lousy performance is due to it having a bad radio. Years ago when I had a 9700 (on T-Mobile) I noticed that I not only had no coverage on TMo (at the time, not all that unusual) but that I had no emergency service (on AT&T, as usual) while my wife's Curve (then, as now, she was on AT&T) was perfectly happy with it. I called TMo and had the phone exchanged. Problem solved.

Posted via CB10

[Stewartj1]

My work Sammy S4 has way better reception than any of my coworkers iP4's and iP5's but my personal Z10 is even a bit better than my work S4.

Z10

[lift]

The only BB10 device that has any technical advantage is the Z30, due to the Paratek antenna. Otherwise, all BB10 phones use the same Qualcomm radios that every other non-Apple phone uses. Really, antenna design is the only thing that would make one phone different from another, given the components are the same.

Apple, of course, uses a proprietary chip with possibly some proprietary radios, though it's likely that theirs are based on reference designs anyway. But the iPhone case and antenna design has had some well-publicized issues, as we all know.

The antenna design is the most important part of the radio chain. But there are other very important factors also. Like you said, they probably all use the same Qualcomm radios, but where the radio chip is installed on the motherboard is also important. The length of the traces from the radio chip to the antenna. Shielding of the radio chip is also important to avoid stray signals from other nearby chips from interfering with the RF signal (RF signals can be very small and are susceptible to interference). Antenna tuning and placement in the chassis is also crucial. So as you can see there are lots of factors beside the radio chip and antenna that will ultimately determine the best performance of the entire radio chain.
Even without the Paratek antenna BlackBerry probably has some great engineers that consider all the other factors which is why the radio performance is so good.

[kedi]

I seem to get better signal (slightly) with my Z10 than the other family members around the house with iphones and androids. My Z10 is usually the last to lose signal. Actually my old 9380 curve touch had better signal stregth too. I wish BB10 was available for my old 9380. I liked that phone for calls and texting. Anyway ...

[anon(3732391)]

Absolutely!!
After extensive testing.... I found The girls are way more up front when they see me with my BlackBerry!


Disclaimer:
Testing results in other area's my vary

[crackbrry fan]

Absolutely!!
After extensive testing.... I found The girls are way more up front when they see me with my BlackBerry!


Disclaimer:
Testing results in other area's my vary

Too funny, lol!

Posted via CB10

[filanto]

Now my z10 also beats both my wife's IckPhone 4s and yack pad mini on wifi. My neighbors wifi is open and my phone and PlayBook can use it but the apple products can't even see it

[mapsonburt]

I've actually got a pretty funny story about this. In recent years, I've ALWAYS had decent reception in my house with my BlackBerry (whether it was a Torch or the old z10 or my new z10). My son is the world's biggest iFan. He almost never gets signals nor do his friends when they come over with their phones (all on the same network as me). One time while we were waiting for fireworks at a local downtown park, my son and 4 of his iFriends all took to razing me on my BlackBerry so I hauled out snap and downloaded what ever app they were saying only they could get on their iCrap. One by one they tried to get signal... NONE of them could (despite being right downtown in an open park. So I setup my trusty hotspot and let them all have access to my wifi. Last I heard about crapBerry. :-) P.S. My wife's iPhone 3g never gets signals home either. Drives her nuts.

[jhanks64]

Had a client try a Z10, his carrier is AT&T. He was very impressed with how great calls sounded and had almost no dropped calls. He said he is constantly dropping calls on his iPhone 5.

My own experience is generally good service with my many BlackBerry phones on Verizon. There are a few places I have to use my AT&T Z10 though, Verizon has some dead areas.

My daughter recently commented on how she was so happy to have Verizon with good signal strength on her Z10.

I loaned a client a Verizon Z30 and he said it has much better service at his house than his Z10.

[boss_hog]

My Z10 is better than my q10 but neither one have call drops remotely close to either iPhone (4&5) that I have. The calls are always clear to the callers in the same places folks complain about me breaking up on my iPhone. Had a Samsung s3 and it was horrific compared to any of the others except the iPhone 4

Posted via CB10

[Monsterlad]

Always had better reception and more bars on a Berry than anything else.

[guygardner73]

Even pre bb10, BlackBerry handsets were better than the competition at keeping a signal.

Z10STL100-2/10.2.1.3247 O2 UK

[Craigash]

These are 4G Smartphones and if you don't have a 4G Sim and are not connected to 4G, then it's obvious you'll lose out in the phones potential.

When I'm connected to 4G, I tend to use the mobile network to download Films from BlackBerry World, as it's faster than wifi.

Posted via CB10

[higherdestiny]

Has this actually been proven? If so, which current BlackBerry phones are the best for receiving signals?

Posted via CB10 using Blackberry Q10

Yes - and scientifically proven.

In Australia, the major carrier Telstra perform stringent testing of each device they carry. Only the devices with the highest signal strength receive the 'Blue Tick' certification.

The Z10, and the Z30 both received blue-tick certification.
The iPhone 5 or 5S however, did not.