How's your phone reception?

[radicchio]

Although I'm excited by the many features of the Note 3, it is, first of all, a phone. I've noticed a number of comments online about the Note 3 having poor phone reception. What has your experience been? Are you satisfied with the reception you get with your Note 3? I'm hoping the answer will be "yes," because I am really sold on this phone; but, if it's not, then I need to know how much of a problem it is.

 

[Chuckcell]

We have an AT&T account. Reception is good in urban and sub urban areas. Not so good in really rural areas (horse farms).
Come to that I've only seen 1 major gerfunckle - with the Maps App in Omaha in February this year, kept dropping signal while I was trying to locate my Motel.

 

[Jamie Wooten]

I also have AT&T and for the most part I really like the phone. I noticed however that in my home I don't get the greatest reception. I had a blackberry for 2 years and never missed a call, text to anything. A lot of times on my BB I'd have 3-4 bars of service. I've had the note for about 3 months and I still miss calls when I'm at home. A lot of times I'm only getting 1 bar of service.
So if you live in a rural area it may not be a good choice but that's only my opinion.

 

[Dominick079]

I bought my Note 3 back in March after owning BlackBerry for years and my reception has worked just fine and never miss any calls or messages wherever I travel. I also have a few friends who also own a Note 3 and they haven't notice any issues with their reception.

 

[radicchio]

Chuck and Dominick, Your responses were what I was hoping to hear. OTOH, I've read various reports similar to Jamie's, and that does make me worry. I know you have a period of time when you can try out a new phone and, if you don't like it, return it. Does anyone know whether you can return it, get your money back, and go back to your previous phone? Or do you have to choose something else that's available for sale at the time?

 

[mballgiles]

It depends on the cell phone you have and where you live. At my home in Farmington Hills, MI, the reception is terrible with the Note 3. I only could get 1 bar and calls sometimes. When I was using my iPhone 5S. I had 4 bars and good reception. I had to purchase a MicroCell from AT&T to get good reception for the Note 3. With it, I am getting 5 out of 5 bars. The reception is the major disappointment of the phone for me. It appears when you are close to the cell phone towers, your reception is good.

 

[Dominick079]

If your getting bad reception with your Note 3 its one of 2 things. Either you have a defective device or its your carrier. Like I stated in my previous posts. I have numerous friends with the Note 3 and many have owned it since it was released and never had a single issue with its reception. Many of them do a lot of traveling around the country and even in rural areas they still have great reception. You would have to speak to your particular carrier about their return policy. I have owned my Note 3 since March and absolutely love it and cant wait for the release of the Note 4. If I was you I would just wait for the release of the Note 4 it should be available for sale by the beginning of October. I know when March hits I will definitely be purchasing the Note 4 and either sell my Note 3 or keep it has a back up phone. What phone are you currently using?

 

[Expydude]

I have to agree my signal was terrible when I was at work. Would only connect to edge just got a s5 and I get 2 bars let all the time. Haven't been on edge since

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[snowpromod]

I have a Note 3 and once all the new releases are out I am switching, the reception is terrible . . . Love everything else, my Note 2 was much better. We are on Verizon . . .

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[radicchio]

I currently use a "dumb phone"---a nine year-old Motorola flip phone. Unbelievable, I know, and I'm tired of trying to text with a phone keypad. I know that going from a basic phone to a smartphone will mean that the smartphone won't be as good as a phone as the old one. But I just want to make sure that I'm not missing calls and texts or dropping calls.

I went to AT&T and asked about returning a phone, and they said that they would allow one return and that they would take it back, but charge a restocking fee of $35. Best Buy said that, if I returned it within 72 hours, they would reverse all the paperwork and there would be no charge to return it. If I return it to Best Buy within two weeks, then they would not refund the activation fee. So maybe the best choice would be to buy it at Best Buy and test it out as much as possible during the first 72 hours.

 

[Coleman Robertson]

I called att and they told me my towers were down but that they would be fixed in a few days.... after a few days they were fixed and still had the same problem so I demanded a replacement and they sent a new one free of any charge and now I get service!!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[SLB26]

I have straight talk on ATT network. I don't know how much difference that makes but I have had issues.

When I had my S3 the service was great. I switched to Note 3 & I started getting my calls dropped when I was at work. Sometimes my phone wouldn't ring. At home was the most frustrating as it was the same issue but worse. Especially on one side of the house I'd often not have any service.

I downloaded an app that shows signal strength which helped. The bars on the phone itself are fairly accurate but it did show me they could be off. 3 bars but very low service.
I also downloaded another app that shows which tower you are connected to what I found was my phone was often on one on the outskirts of town. Wth! Right? It would stay stuck on that one in my home with mediocre reception & then poor - No reception on the other side of the house. I could drive a block & sometimes it'd switch to better one and around town I'd be on others. But fly some reason walk in my house & that's the only one it'd ever be on.

I had the same sim for a long time as I moved it to new phones when switching. I purchased the newer sim that's LTE capable & now I'm rarely ever on that tower. I'm uncertain why though (I know it only gives 3G service but still I should have been able to stay connected to the 4G capable towers near my home with the other sim) but happy about having better service. I'm either on one if 2 towers near my home one gives me 4G & the other 4G LTE & great reception including in my room where I previously often had emergency calls only.

If you are on ATT direct I'm not sure what the issue is ir how to remedy it. Could be defective phone or tower issues. I've heard of some people who had good service having chappy service recently and this is with various phones.

 

[Rukbat]

How the phone is going to perform depends on your AT&T coverage. As far as receiver sensitivity, the Note 3 is good. (I'm sitting at -105dbm at the moment, with no problems. I've had calls with -120dbm with no problems also.)

But if where you need coverage, AT&T doesn't have signal, the phone won't work for you.

(The Sprint version is also a good phone - but Sprint's signal in my daughter's home runs from not measurable to non--existent. It's fine in her back yard, on the front lawn - but the house is in a knife shadow from a ridge between the house and Sprint's tower. So a Note 3 would be useless to me if I used Sprint.)

There are very few phones made today that have bad receivers (other than defective phones) and the transmitters all put out the maximum allowed power. Comments like "I have a Note 3 on AT&T and the reception sucks, so the Note 3 is a terrible phone" are useless without the signal strength. Tell me that you're getting terrible reception with a -85dbm signal and I'll agree that you have a terrible phone. But if there's no signal, or a marginal one, no phone (with the exception of one old Samsung candy bar from about 10 years ago, or the old Motorola 7868) will get good reception. It's like claiming that your car gets terrible gas mileage, but neglecting to mention that you only use it on the beach in soft sand.

Rule #1 in getting a cellphone - determine which carrier has the best signal in places you need signal. I donb't care what fabulous offer Company X has, how cheap the phone is - if they don't have a signal at your house, the phone and the carrier are useless to you when you're at home.

 

[dropnbassonu]

I'm on Verizon and reception has sucked big time since I bought it on release date