nobody talks about reception

Coming from a Z30 and it's virtual keyboard, and almost switching to a passport for it's PKB, and discovering BB was coming out with the Keyone and it's PKB, it felt like, that's it, the one I am meant to have. So I waited, and waited, May 18 finally came and I could pre order,from Rogers, for May 31. I received a phone call May 29, my phone was in, hooray, "I'll be right over" only to be told I couldn't have it till the 31st, "officially, it wasn't released yet". Ugh...had to wait again, knowing it was in. The day finally came, I went in as soon as the Rogers store was open, changed my phone plan, had them do the initializing of the phone at the store and drove home. what a , in my eyes, a beautiful phone, nice heft, felt great holding it, loved the keys, great screen, just awesome. I decided I would wait to get home to explore the phone before I even made a call from it. again I thought what an awesome phone. I finally made a call, I was downstairs in the house, the basement, not really underground, there is a rear walkout, I phoned the wife to tell her I got it and what she thought of the voice quality. Nothing, she couldn't hear me........I moved around, still nothing, I went outside, She could hear me. Went back in, nothing. I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I did some exploring with the phone, walking throughout the house, the signal strength went from to 0 to 1 to 2 to 3 and back to 0. major drop outs. Long story short, took it back, the guys at Rogers were great, they tried different things, rebooting, a different sim card, talked to IT support, they rebooted. Nothing worked, nothing fixed the dropouts and poor reception problem. I wanted that phone, I still want that phone, but I had no choice, couldn't live with it. Am back to my Z30 with a virtual keyboard. Royally depressed.

My Dtek50 is the same way, every BlackBerry 10 phone I own has amazing service including my Priv, but the Dtek50 is a different story.

Not the first report of bad signal strength. You can try another unit, could just be a factory defect.

But I suspect that TCL is just using bad parts.

Oh yes, somebody does talk about reception:

https://forums.crackberry.com/blackb.../#post12900026

I mentioned this in previous threads. Call quality is ok. Classic was much better. hd voice will help but thats an att issue.

Originally Posted by John Vieira

Not the first report of bad signal strength. You can try another unit, could just be a factory defect.

But I suspect that TCL is just using bad parts.

I feel the same way from my experience thus far. Just off basic parts bin. Nothing tuned in this device, not ready just like the z10.

Told my Bell rep who knows me as a fiend for BlackBerry that I'm going to wait out this one till Civic day. If new batches aren't fixing the reception issue.. this will sadly be not only the BB I didn't buy on day 1, but not buying at all. :(

My reception is okay, clearly not as good as previous Blackberry's with the parateck antenna, and a bit worse then my iPhone and Pixel, but still fine. Guess it depends on your area, if you are already in an area you have low signal, it may be worse then you are used to.

Originally Posted by Lobwedgephil

My reception is okay, clearly not as good as previous Blackberry's with the parateck antenna, and a bit worse then my iPhone and Pixel, but still fine. Guess it depends on your area, if you are already in an area you have low signal, it may be worse then you are used to.

Im in the same boat. Do you think its the antenna? Im already thinking the price tag here belongs at 399-450 at best.

Originally Posted by niklow

Im in the same boat. Do you think its the antenna? Im already thinking the price tag here belongs at 399-450 at best.

It does. But diehards will argue that the premium price is for the keyboard it's a shame other hardware basics are being skimped on (mind, antennas, etc).

But how come, the budget phone DTEK50, made by the same company, does apparently not have these issues?
I had no problems making phone calls with the DTEK50, but can't make calls with the K1, while sitting on the same couch, using the same SIM card.
DTEK50 was € 360,- 1 year ago, the K1 now is ~€600,- (providing you get one)

The Dtek50 and 60 were already finished designs, with parts that TCL knew how to use.

They were further bolstered by BlackBerry, changing up some of the parts.

The key one was designed by BlackBerry instead, and put together by TCL.

Maybe it's not low-rise parts, but bad BlackBerry design.

Originally Posted by John Vieira

The Dtek50 and 60 were already finished designs, with parts that TCL knew how to use.

They were further bolstered by BlackBerry, changing up some of the parts.

The key one was designed by BlackBerry instead, and put together by TCL.

Maybe it's not low-rise parts, but bad BlackBerry design.

I agree. My question 'how come' was more of rhetorical nature. BB's exit from being in control of handset design & manufacturing happened in that very phase when K1 design was about to be finished and production ramp up should have occurred, via the regular suppliers/manufacturers.

Then TCL took over, and probably had to get involved in finishing design, selecting parts & material, maybe change this and that to make it more 'cost efficient' for them, and to get prepared for producing something that they never did before (KB).

I personally think that this was the reason for the delays, the clumsy launch 'process', and I'm also afraid that it is still too early for a release, QC doesn't seem to be at a appropriate level, and other issues seem to rise.

And I hope I'm totally wrong.

Here in San Antonio, my whizbang LG V20 used to drop call constantly. Outside my neighborhood is a long hill shielded on both sides with limestone. The only phones that do not lose service in that area are my blackberries, the new KeyOne included. I spend 3-4 hours a day on the phone at a minimum. Call quality thus far has been great, connectivity in my car via Bluetooth has been great, and I seem to have LTE just about everywhere.

I am glad I am not having some of those issues. It would be impossible for me to work with bad reception. I also do a ton of email, contracts, notes, etc so the PKB is an absolute necessity.

Fingers crossed that I don't start experiencing any problems or. Back to Passport I go!

no reception issues with me so far! I'm on T-Mobile in San Diego, CA

There is also wifi calling available for my carrier if I so choose. That could help with your reception issue if your network supports it :)

I don't use WI FI, I don't need to. I have a big enough plan with my carrier, it's not an issue. Where I get 5 bars signal strength with my Z30, I get 1 bar to 0 bars signal strength. I'm hoping it's an issue TCL will address or BB, because I really want to have this phone.

I'm noticing decently worse Cell signal compared to my S7 Edge in multiple areas. (On Rogers in the GTA) I'm hoping it doesn't take too long for them to enable wifi calling.

In the UK. My K1 is on Vodafone.and it holds on to a weak signal better than my ZTE Axon 7. Best download speed in busy London was 67mbps. Very happy with radio performance.

My reception is OK but really nothing exceptional quality.

Thanks for the info! im on Tmo myslef and in SD too. I am even more excited that i will have this in a few days.

Originally Posted by hec666

Thanks for the info! im on Tmo myslef and in SD too. I am even more excited that i will have this in a few days.

Also, I was pleasantly surprised when my voicemails automatically loaded up in my phone app in the visual voicemail tab! :)

didn't have to fiddle with ANYTHING!