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I can almost guarantee you that the incredible will have just as poor or slightly worse reception than the droid. While the signal bars on the incredible aren't always accurate, until you make a call or start surfing, there does seem to be some indication that in poor service areas the droid performs better.
Lucky for me I live in metro Atlanta, which Verizon has peppered with towers. I get a good signal everywhere.
As for what I would do...I'd exhaust all efforts (signal extender, standing near windows, going outside on the porch, even getting a prosthetic arm with a cell booster in it) before I'd ditch my android phone and go back to bb full time. LolLast edited by BzB; 05-01-10 at 12:24 PM.
05-01-10 12:18 PM - Breny, I feel you pain, and laugh NOT at your expense. BzB, that is funny!I can almost guarantee you that the incredible will have just as poor or slightly worse reception than the droid. While the signal bars on the incredible aren't always accurate, until you make a call or start surfing, there does seem to be some indication that in poor service areas the droid performs better.
Lucky for me I live in metro Atlanta, which Verizon has peppered with towers. I get a good signal everywhere.
As for what I would do...I'd exhaust all efforts (signal extender, standing near windows, going outside on the porch, even getting a prosthetic arm with a cell booster in it) before I'd ditch my android phone and go back to bb full time. Lol05-01-10 12:58 PM - Breny, I feel your pain, as I also live in a Verizon poor signal black hole.
I just got a Network extender and will be installing it today. From your previous thread, I know that this may not be an option for you due to you having satellite broadband. Looking at the NE's documentation it says that your router must be able to support VPN (Virtual Private Networking), and your internet connection must be an always-on broadband internet connection with a minimum speed of 300 kbs. I don''t know where the satellite broadband internet fails here.
What I can tell you is that Verizon is selling the Network Extender at $199.99 with a $100 mail in rebate through August. Also, I confirmed with the CSR that like any other phone accessory sold by Verizon, there is a 30 day period in which you can use the Network extender and return it for a full refund if it doesn't work out to your satisfaction. Oh, and you also get free FedEx overnight shipping, I ordered my NE on Thursday, and I got it Friday in Hawaii.
As far as returning the Moto Droid for the HTC Incredible. You have several options. Do an outright RETURN, get a refund for the Droid under the 30 day worry free guarantee. Then if you wait 4 days and purchase an Incredible, you will not be charged a $35 restocking fee. The restocking fee will apply if you return a phone and purchase another phone within 3 days. Or you can do a one time switch to another phone (HTC Incredible), but then as you said, you will be stuck with the Incredible, even if it is worse than the Droid in reception.
In your case though, if you flat out state that you are exchanging the Motorola for the HTC due to poor signal reception and service issues and make them annotate that on your account, you MAY be not be stuck with the Incredible if it doesn't work out for you. Verizon should not make you stick with a phone that doesn't give you acceptable service, they SHOULD be willing to make exceptions to the one time switch policy in your situation due to service issues.
Another option is to try getting another Motorola Droid, as you may have gotten one that doesn't perform as well as it should. Bottom line, talk to the manager at the Verizon store and see what you can work out with him/her.
Hope that helps.Last edited by xliderider; 05-01-10 at 01:07 PM.
05-01-10 12:59 PM - Breny, your last thread about this same issue had some good ideas. This repeat thread does too, but from experience, owning multiple BB's, the Motorola outperforms them by a county mile. The Motorola traveled with me to Kansas, and on those flat nothing can be seen roads, I did loose 3g twice, but I never lost my phone signal. Sorry, hope it gets better for you, and I would try everything listed on your 2 threads about this and report back about the success or failure of each one. PEACE!!! It is not the end of the world if you get stuck having to use your tour, but it may stink05-01-10 01:04 PM
- Thanks for all the info! Maybe you can update how the extender works for you? I just went and looked at it again and its says not reccommended for Satelite internet, so I don't know?
As far as a straight return...I've have the phone about 2 weeks already, will they still do a flat return? I thought for a return you only had a few days.
Its very frustrating and I can't decide what to do.
Overall, if I am going to have a bad signal....which is the better phone to have the bad signal with??? (LoL I can laugh at my own pain
)
Breny, I feel your pain, as I also live in a Verizon poor signal black hole.
I just got a Network extender and will be installing it today. From your previous thread, I know that this may not be an option for you due to you having satellite broadband. Looking at the NE's documentation it says that your router must be able to support VPN (Virtual Private Networking), and your internet connection must be an always-on broadband internet connection with a minimum speed of 300 kbs. I don''t know where the satellite broadband internet fails here.
What I can tell you is that Verizon is selling the Network Extender at $199.99 with a $100 mail in rebate through August. Also, I confirmed with the CSR that like any other phone accessory sold by Verizon, there is a 30 day period in which you can use the Network extender and return it for a full refund if it doesn't work out to your satisfaction. Oh, and you also get free FedEx overnight shipping, I ordered my NE on Thursday, and I got it Friday in Hawaii.
As far as returning the Moto Droid for the HTC Incredible. You have several options. Do an outright RETURN, get a refund for the Droid under the 30 day worry free guarantee. Then if you wait 4 days and purchase an Incredible, you will not be charged a $35 restocking fee. The restocking fee will apply if you return a phone and purchase another phone within 3 days. Or you can do a one time switch to another phone (HTC Incredible), but then as you said, you will be stuck with the Incredible, even if it is worse than the Droid in reception.
In your case though, if you flat out state that you are exchanging the Motorola for the HTC due to poor signal reception and service issues and make them annotate that on your account, you MAY be not be stuck with the Incredible if it doesn't work out for you. Verizon should not make you stick with a phone that doesn't give you acceptable service, they SHOULD be willing to make exceptions to the one time switch policy in your situation due to service issues.
Another option is to try getting another Motorola Droid, as you may have gotten one that doesn't perform as well as it should. Bottom line, talk to the manager at the Verizon store and see what you can work out with him/her.
Hope that helps.05-01-10 01:17 PM - Not sure about the flat out return policy, again talking to the Verizon people is key.Thanks for all the info! Maybe you can update how the extender works for you? I just went and looked at it again and its says not reccommended for Satelite internet, so I don't know?
As far as a straight return...I've have the phone about 2 weeks already, will they still do a flat return? I thought for a return you only had a few days.
Its very frustrating and I can't decide what to do.
Overall, if I am going to have a bad signal....which is the better phone to have the bad signal with??? (LoL I can laugh at my own pain)
I find it interesting that the documentation about the Network Extender says "not RECOMMENDED for satellite internet", not something like "WILL NOT WORK with satellite internet" so it might mean that it may work, but some people have problems with it. I dunno, perhaps people with more technical knowledge can chime in on this. Or maybe someone who has actually tried a Network Extender on satellite internet.
Like I said, you have nothing to lose if you try the Network Extender. It comes with a return shipping label if you decide not to keep it. All you would need to do is box it up and drop it off at a FedEx drop-off location.05-01-10 01:29 PM - Yikes, my old age memory forgot about my other thread. BUT - I did try everything on there except the extender...even ordered the little booster you suggestedBreny, your last thread about this same issue had some good ideas. This repeat thread does too, but from experience, owning multiple BB's, the Motorola outperforms them by a county mile. The Motorola traveled with me to Kansas, and on those flat nothing can be seen roads, I did loose 3g twice, but I never lost my phone signal. Sorry, hope it gets better for you, and I would try everything listed on your 2 threads about this and report back about the success or failure of each one. PEACE!!! It is not the end of the world if you get stuck having to use your tour, but it may stink - altho its not here yet.
Thats what I don't get...Moto has worked great for us in the past. Well not GREAT - but great for where we live.05-01-10 01:32 PM - No worries, heartsYikes, my old age memory forgot about my other thread. BUT - I did try everything on there except the extender...even ordered the little booster you suggested - altho its not here yet.
Thats what I don't get...Moto has worked great for us in the past. Well not GREAT - but great for where we live. I hope that booster works! Yeah, I just like to give people I like here a hard time (mostly) ha ha, and maybe a droid switch wouldn't hurt either as xlider said. That sucks, I had a phone on a different carrier, and it would only work on one side of my house, so I know how frustrating it is, especially on a good network with what is supposed to be a great phone! Can't wait to hear it when you say yay, reception issue solved05-01-10 02:38 PM - Update on my Network Extender installation...
After what seemed like an agonizingly long wait to see if the GPS signal would register so that the NE would activate, it finally did. My signal strength went from an indicated 0 - 1 bars without the NE (-88 to -91dBm) to 2 - 5 bars of signal strength (-47 to -83 dBm). That may not sound like much improvement, but you have to remember that the dBm signal strength scale is not linear, I believe it is either exponential or logarithmic (can't remember which), but I know that a 3dBm change in signal strength represents half the power of the higher value.
The NE is located on the 1st floor of a 2 story house, the weakest signal is on the 2nd floor far side of the house from the NE. I must say that the 2 bars (-83 dBm) is still a solid signal and I have no doubt that there will not be any problems with dropped calls on that level of signal. The -47 dBm signal is when I am standing right next to the NE, it's as if I were standing next to one of Verizon's towers. 
My setup is: Cable Broadband Internet, NE connected to a WiFi router, NE GPS antenna setup on a window via extension cable (23ft. cable provided).Last edited by xliderider; 05-01-10 at 04:07 PM.
05-01-10 04:01 PM - Wow, to me thats a huge improvment! Since I'm getting -100 to -104dBm here!
Hhmmm, I guess t may be worth a shot eh?
I think I may head out to my Verizon store and exchange my Droid for the Incredible and see about the NE.
OH, anyone know if I have to clear all my settings on my phone or will they do that?
Update on my Network Extender installation...
After what seemed like an agonizingly long wait to see if the GPS signal would register so that the NE would activate, it finally did. My signal strength went from an indicated 0 - 1 bars without the NE (-88 to -91dBm) to 2 - 5 bars of signal strength (-47 to -83 dBm). That may not sound like much improvement, but you have to remember that the dBm signal strength scale is not linear, I believe it is either exponential or logarithmic (can't remember which), but I know that a 3dBm change in signal strength represents half the power of the higher value.
The NE is located on the 1st floor of a 2 story house, the weakest signal is on the 2nd floor far side of the house from the NE. I must say that the 2 bars (-83 dBm) is still a solid signal and I have no doubt that there will not be any problems with dropped calls on that level of signal. The -47 dBm signal is when I am standing right next to the NE, it's as if I were standing next to one of Verizon's towers.
My setup is: Cable Broadband Internet, NE connected to a WiFi router, NE GPS antenna setup on a window via extension cable (23ft. cable provided).05-01-10 04:17 PM - If you are getting -100 to -104 dBm readings on your Droid and didn't experience much problems using your Tour, then that leads me to believe that you have a defective Droid. There is no way a BB Tour can pull in a weak signal like -100 to -104 without dropping calls either.
Call Verizon, they have coverage maps and can see what kind of coverage you should be getting based on your address. If it shows that you are in a sucky coverage area, then that will help your cause tremendously in getting an exchange to another Droid. Again, get them to annotate your account that you are having coverage issues with your equipment. That notation on your account can go far in having a manager waive the one exchange per 30 day policy. So you could exchange the Motorola Droid for another Droid (I'd go this route) or if you get the NE and IF it works, then the HTC Incredible would be the way to go.05-01-10 04:30 PM
