Re: [PLUG] Off-topic: Cell Phone Call Quality

["Eric H. Johnson" <ejohnson@camalytics.com>]

Casey,

My previous phone was an unlocked S3 mini. It overall had good voice quality
but suspected the antenna was a bit weak. I used a signal booster in the car
so that I would not drop calls as frequently while driving.  I would also
occasionally drop calls or not be able to get a signal from home. However
none of those problems would generally affect voice quality.

I got rid it mainly because I kept running out of memory. Apps just kept
getting bigger to where there was nothing more that could be deleted off.
Not sure about the S3, but the mini does not have an SD port, so no way to
expand there either.

I have since replaced it with the larger format S6 and do notice better
reception at home as it almost never loses the cell connection. Don't know
if it is the antenna or something else with the phone. My carrier is
T-Mobile, so I can do wifi calling whenever I have a network connection.

I have had a few problems with wifi calling depending mainly on whose
network I am on, and it does not seem to handle range extenders very well
when handing off, but that is an aside not related to your problem. 

>From my experience, I would say it is more likely to be the carrier than the
phone.

Regards,
Eric


I'm finally reaching the limit of my cell phone tolerance. The voice call
quality of my cell phone is terrible, and almost unusable. 

I suffer from frequent tenth-second drop-outs which make it very hard to
understand what is being said. I don't know if its my phone, my carrier, or
my location. I was hoping I could get some good advice from this
techo-group.

I know it is not the other caller, because I even have the problem listening
to my voicemail menu.

I've got a Samsung Galaxy S3, which appears to be a good quality phone.

I'm using Net-10, one of the pre-paid carriers. Their prices are pretty
good.

My location is in NJ east of Philly, and PA, just north of Newark. Both
locations seem to be equally bad.


So how can I isolate the cause of my crappy voice calls?

Is my carrier?
Is it my phone?


If I switch carriers will my quality improve?


I'm a 58-year-old guy, and not looking for gobs of data, but I can't see 
spending $75 per month for a bloody phone.


Any suggestions?

___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug