Rukbat
Retired Moderator
I doubt it's the phone, it's more like weak TMO coverage where you are. (Don't believe the maps, they're guestimates. There's a house near here in a totally solid coverage for Sprint, according to their maps. It sits just in the right spot behind a ridge that the signal skips right over the house. There's kinda-sorts reception from a single pane of glass in one upstairs window [probably picking up a reflection from something]. But the map says ...)If that doesn't work the Note is going back for exchange.
Try AT&T if you want GSM, on the basis of a 24 hour trial and no charge if there's no signal.
(The first choice in cellphones is coverage. If you get the greatest cellphone ever invented, for free, with no monthly charge - and live in an area that gets poor coverage, the phone is basically useless to you. Choose your carrier by coverage. Choose your plan for that carrier based on your needs. Then choose your phone.)