It Was Short, But It Was Great! My Journey From A Note 5 To An iPhone 6S...

[Tadrift]

Just because a Note is known to get good signal doesn't mean it did for him in this instance. Carrier and signal depend so so so much on location that every location isn't the same. I don't see why he'd make it up and write a big review just to say the iPhone got better than the note. Just because your belief or experience doesn't match his doesn't make yours instantly correct and his wrong...

So we are saying the same thing then. It is not my belief, it is what is written in this thread. He is not blaming the network, he doesn't see the network as the problem. Everything stated points directly at that. Location you are right, has everything to do with it. He said that signal is ok. I simply stated the Note has a good reputation and it does. But it also could be as simple as settings, all of which he dismisses. Despite good advise, he is determined to say the iPhone is the only solution. I know that not to be true. This means "to me" that there must be another motive for that stance. So you agree? The iPhone is his only solution?

 

[Almeuit]

Despite good advise, he is determined to say the iPhone is the only solution. I know that not to be true. This means "to me" that there must be another motive for that stance. So you agree? The iPhone is his only solution?

But you don't "know" it to be true -- You aren't him, on his carrier, with his phone, at his locations. The note could just be bad for his area where the iPhone holds on some. Again just because you don't agree doesn't mean he is wrong.

 

[Tadrift]

But you don't "know" it to be true -- You aren't him, on his carrier, with his phone, at his locations. The note could just be bad for his area where the iPhone holds on some. Again just because you don't agree doesn't mean he is wrong.

So how does that even apply? The conclusion of every thing said is pretty easy. I am not even sure why you are arguing it. By your argument every help reply given to any thread is meaningless. I am going by what he has said. They aren't my words. I don't need to be there to come to a logical conclusion from what he has said. I would safely say that most experienced phone owners based on the problems he has stated would agree that the iPhone is not his only solution. That again, based on what he has said, there are a number of other potential problems that could be the issue (likely network or related) not related to it being a Note. Therefore, the statement that he has to use the iPhone is actually false.

So yes, I actually can come to that conclusion and it is very reasonable. Had he taken the Note in to be checked to make sure it was not defective or tried a Note on a different network at his home. And fully tested the solutions offered to him in this thread and or had a technician check out what might be wrong, I might agree with his conclusion.

iPhones are great phones. They work wonderfully for many people and if someone wants one, by all means, use it and be happy. But don't say another phone won't work until you have a solid basis to make that statement. Until then, expect people to question that statement. Especially if if what you base that on points to some other technical problem.

 

[Almeuit]

So how does that even apply? The conclusion of every thing said is pretty easy. I am not even sure why you are arguing it. By your argument every help reply given to any thread is meaningless. I am going by what he has said. They aren't my words. I don't need to be there to come to a logical conclusion from what he has said. I would safely say that most experienced phone owners based on the problems he has stated would agree that the iPhone is not his only solution. That again, based on what he has said, there are a number of other potential problems that could be the issue (likely network or related) not related to it being a Note. Therefore, the statement that he has to use the iPhone is actually false.

So yes, I actually can come to that conclusion and it is very reasonable. Had he taken the Note in to be checked to make sure it was not defective or tried a Note on a different network at his home. And fully tested the solutions offered to him in this thread and or had a technician check out what might be wrong, I might agree with his conclusion.

iPhones are great phones. They work wonderfully for many people and if someone wants one, by all means, use it and be happy. But don't say another phone won't work until you have a solid basis to make that statement. Until then, expect people to question that statement. Especially if if what you base that on points to some other technical problem.

My main point is just because it works for you and others doesn't instantly mean there is something wrong with his or he is lying. Everyone will NOT have the same experience everywhere. You're acting as if you what you say is 100% fact and everything he said isn't and is wrong -- that is my issue. You can't expect everyone to have an amazing experience just because you like your phone -- that kind of thinking doesn't help at all since it is a proven fact that all won't have the same.

 

[MDMcAtee]

My main point is just because it works for you and others doesn't instantly mean there is something wrong with his or he is lying. Everyone will NOT have the same experience everywhere. You're acting as if you what you say is 100% fact and everything he said isn't and is wrong -- that is my issue. You can't expect everyone to have an amazing experience just because you like your phone -- that kind of thinking doesn't help at all since it is a proven fact that all won't have the same.

No offense intended but most of us here are saying that there IS something wrong, be it the phone or his network, and poor reception ISN'T the norm for the Note 5.

I have had more issues with Verizon and any phone than any other carrier and this is with their supplied network extenders which got replaced several times at my house ( Which BTW I strongly recommend that the op exchanges his) If that doesn't help it's most likely a defective phone or as Verizon tried to convince me a magnetic anomaly.....but on my end changing carriers fixed the problem..

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5

 

[Almeuit]

No offense intended but most of us here are saying that there IS something wrong, be it the phone or his network, and poor reception ISN'T the norm for the Note 5.

And I get this isn't the norm -- but that doesn't mean the guy is lying or anything. That is my point .. Just because the "norm" isn't fitting his situation doesn't mean he did anything wrong. Some phones just work better in certain environments.

 

[Tadrift]

And I get this isn't the norm -- but that doesn't mean the guy is lying or anything. That is my point .. Just because the "norm" isn't fitting his situation doesn't mean he did anything wrong. Some phones just work better in certain environments.

I don't think he is lying. I don't think anyone is being unfair. I have questioned motives. In short, it would seem that everyone can agree that every phone situation is different and that you are right. I don't think he needs defending, because I wouldn't consider what has been said an attack, just more of an observation given what he has said. So I am not sure why you are doing it. He has not even stepped in here to dispute it.

So you are right in what you say about different phones and environments. We will just have agree to disagree on the motives. I just think he wants to use an iPhone, but I don't agree it was a fair story about his intention to truly try to use a Note. You obviously don't agree, which I accept. I am only responding now to defend myself, otherwise I would be long since done with this thread.

 

[Tadrift]

No offense intended but most of us here are saying that there IS something wrong, be it the phone or his network, and poor reception ISN'T the norm for the Note 5.

I have had more issues with Verizon and any phone than any other carrier and this is with their supplied network extenders which got replaced several times at my house ( Which BTW I strongly recommend that the op exchanges his) If that doesn't help it's most likely a defective phone or as Verizon tried to convince me a magnetic anomaly.....but on my end changing carriers fixed the problem..

Posted from my AT&T 64 gig Black Sapphire leather wrapped Note 5

And you worked through all that because you really did want to use what ever phone you wanted. It was not the phones fault and at some point you realized that by making the effort to find out. Which is my problem with the OP. Had he just started a help thread and said, hey here is my problem. and at some point said, I give up and wants to use an iPhone, it would be different. Instead he headlines an iPhone vs Note story. Guess what, that makes it dramatic. And many people base their buying decisions on stories like that. So if it doesn't add up or give the Note a fair shake, I am going to say something. And I am not even a Note owner, but know it is a damn fine phone, like many other Android phones.

 

[JakePleasants]

Wow, step away for a few days a miss a lot.

First of all, thank you to syspry and Almeuit for giving me a fair shake. While I do think that the conspiracy theorists are being quite paranoid, I can't say it's without reason, because there are a lot of trolls who come to the both Android Central and iMore to do exactly what I'm being accused of. However, I have more than a few posts, and I'd ask you to look at my track record before leveling such an accusation. I couldn't care less what phone someone else buys, but I do care if they want an honest opinion and I can help them with that. So as far as not giving the Note a fair chance, I'd have to strongly disagree. I think I was extremely fair and balanced in my opinions of both phones and my opinion extended to my personal experience only.

I feel like I've explained it as well as I possibly could, at which point I stopped trying because I kept getting the same questions/comments over and over (and mind you, I posted the on AC and iMore, so I was trying to keep up with both threads simultaneously and keep all the comments straight), so I get why you think I just kind of threw my hands up; but I'll give it one more go. Fact is, I have a network extender because the signal in my home is atrocious. As I said, the Note does in fact pull a stronger signal than the iPhone, which is what a couple of you keep saying, but if you would've read the problem then you'd know that the signal strength, even being slightly better, is not a fix (though if it were significantly better then it might be a different story). I need to be able to force my Note on to the network extender, but because you cannot turn off 4G, that's impossible. This is why I was forced to go to the iPhone. It was for NO other reason other than the fact that the iPhone has a setting that allows me to force it on to the network extender 100% of time. As I stated before, if this had been an option on the Note, I would've never even considered the iPhone 6S. I loved my Note 5 and I wanted to keep it. The S-Pen was an incredible tool and I miss it everyday. Unfortunately, though, I can't have a full-time phone that breaks up and drops calls the way the Note did, especially considering that I have a lot of medical problems. The final straw, as I posted, was when I was trying to talk to my surgeon about what to do for a problem that I was having and I had to call back time after time because the call kept getting dropped (and as you know if you're familiar with the medical field, a different person often answers the phone each time and I had to try to retell the whole story in between breaking up to try to get back on the line with the surgeon). As you can imagine, it was incredibly frustrating.

So honestly, I don't know how to make it any clearer than that, so if you want to nit-pick and fight, I'm not interested. I gave an honest account of my experience and some people found it useful, others called my integrity into question because the nature of the forums has conditioned them to be paranoid. Again, I understand why that's happened, but you have to look at it on a case-by-case basis and give each person a fair shot, especially when that person has been around for years with no history of trolling or baiting. Not to mention, I can't understand the desire to troll the forums of a phone that I absolutely loved.

I'd also like to again thank syspry and Almeuit for their fair assessments and for not jumping to conclusions.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Verizon really doesn't have a good signal booster, AT&T has an OK one, really only good for a phone signal though and stops the drain from a bad signal. It is only a 3G one and costs $200. You didn't have to turn off LTE, it was just basically a mini cell tower on your house that only had 3G service. Sometimes you can get them to give you one. I have used the AT&T one. It requires high speed Internet also. The T-Mobile one though.. It is wonderful. It doesn't require Internet and only requires one bar of LTE signal. It is also good of you don't get strong enough coverage through your entire house. I have the LTE Booster and it does great for data and phone signal.

My house is in a "hole" and right below tower signals so even though I'm in a great area for all carriers, I just don't get a good signal.

After using the TMO booster, I would stick with TMO just for the booster.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

So we are saying the same thing then. It is not my belief, it is what is written in this thread. He is not blaming the network, he doesn't see the network as the problem. Everything stated points directly at that. Location you are right, has everything to do with it. He said that signal is ok. I simply stated the Note has a good reputation and it does. But it also could be as simple as settings, all of which he dismisses. Despite good advise, he is determined to say the iPhone is the only solution. I know that not to be true. This means "to me" that there must be another motive for that stance. So you agree? The iPhone is his only solution?

As much as I hate Apple and love Samsung, Apple seems to be more forgiving of an ok to low signal than Samsung is.

 

[JakePleasants]

Verizon really doesn't have a good signal booster, AT&T has an OK one, really only good for a phone signal though and stops the drain from a bad signal. It is only a 3G one and costs $200. You didn't have to turn off LTE, it was just basically a mini cell tower on your house that only had 3G service. Sometimes you can get them to give you one. I have used the AT&T one. It requires high speed Internet also. The T-Mobile one though.. It is wonderful. It doesn't require Internet and only requires one bar of LTE signal. It is also good of you don't get strong enough coverage through your entire house. I have the LTE Booster and it does great for data and phone signal.

My house is in a "hole" and right below tower signals so even though I'm in a great area for all carriers, I just don't get a good signal.

After using the TMO booster, I would stick with TMO just for the booster.

My Note would sometimes connect to the extender on its own, but not often. Because it pulled a stronger signal, it thought it was strong enough of a signal so that it didn't need the booster, but it wasn't. Hence, without a really weak signal naturally, the only way to force the Note on to the extender was to turn off 4G. This is our second extender and it has worked fine with every other phone, so I don't think the extender is the problem. It just seems like a crappy situation without a solid work-around.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

My Nexus will connect to my booster automatically as will my Note and I can still get a signal without it.

 

[dpham00]

Verizon really doesn't have a good signal booster, AT&T has an OK one, really only good for a phone signal though and stops the drain from a bad signal. It is only a 3G one and costs $200. You didn't have to turn off LTE, it was just basically a mini cell tower on your house that only had 3G service. Sometimes you can get them to give you one. I have used the AT&T one. It requires high speed Internet also. The T-Mobile one though.. It is wonderful. It doesn't require Internet and only requires one bar of LTE signal. It is also good of you don't get strong enough coverage through your entire house. I have the LTE Booster and it does great for data and phone signal.

My house is in a "hole" and right below tower signals so even though I'm in a great area for all carriers, I just don't get a good signal.

After using the TMO booster, I would stick with TMO just for the booster.

I would suggest a signal booster from Wilson electronics. It will help a lot. Make sure to get the right model for your needs

 

[Kelly Kearns]

My TMO one is great and free. Had I kept AT&T I would have ended up buying one and getting one that would boost the LTE like my TMO one does.

 

[Almeuit]

Verizon really doesn't have a good signal booster, AT&T has an OK one, really only good for a phone signal though and stops the drain from a bad signal. It is only a 3G one and costs $200. You didn't have to turn off LTE, it was just basically a mini cell tower on your house that only had 3G service. Sometimes you can get them to give you one. I have used the AT&T one. It requires high speed Internet also. The T-Mobile one though.. It is wonderful. It doesn't require Internet and only requires one bar of LTE signal. It is also good of you don't get strong enough coverage through your entire house. I have the LTE Booster and it does great for data and phone signal.

My house is in a "hole" and right below tower signals so even though I'm in a great area for all carriers, I just don't get a good signal.

After using the TMO booster, I would stick with TMO just for the booster.

My Nexus will connect to my booster automatically as will my Note and I can still get a signal without it.

My TMO one is great and free. Had I kept AT&T I would have ended up buying one and getting one that would boost the LTE like my TMO one does.

The Verizon booster is different. Verizon wants people to use VoLTE but their boosters currently do not accept this very well. So the OP is saying his phone would try to use VoLTE but probably have issues due to the weak cell signal -- whereas on his iPhone he can force it to use the extender instead of trying to use VoLTE -- which resolves his issue with cell signal in his house. Also as he said on the Note Verizon does not want to allow people to force certain network settings (Like we can do on GSM phones).

You can't really compare the TMO one to the Verizon one as they really are completely different animals due to the technologies and different restrictions from Verizon (like not being able to change network settings).

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Oh yeah I know the they are different, I just don't understand these cell companies. Obviously the booster TMO is using isn't secret technology. With AT&T I had to get WiFi just to get a 3G signal. My posts were more of a "I know this can work so why don't companies make this work for people" kind of thing.

Obviously companies can do it, so now.. Why aren't they? I found out I could do something different and told them where to stick their 3G booster.. But we shouldn't have to do that. AT&T's booster seems to work better than Verizon's and that is bad if AT&T's is better.

I understand why his issue came about, what I don't understand is why companies are not giving their customers better options. I was just kinda thinking out loud lol

 

[JakePleasants]

The Verizon booster is different. Verizon wants people to use VoLTE but their boosters currently do not accept this very well. So the OP is saying his phone would try to use VoLTE but probably have issues due to the weak cell signal -- whereas on his iPhone he can force it to use the extender instead of trying to use VoLTE -- which resolves his issue with cell signal in his house. Also as he said on the Note Verizon does not want to allow people to force certain network settings (Like we can do on GSM phones).

You can't really compare the TMO one to the Verizon one as they really are completely different animals due to the technologies and different restrictions from Verizon (like not being able to change network settings).

Thank you very much for explaining that.

Oh yeah I know the they are different, I just don't understand these cell companies. Obviously the booster TMO is using isn't secret technology. With AT&T I had to get WiFi just to get a 3G signal. My posts were more of a "I know this can work so why don't companies make this work for people" kind of thing.

Obviously companies can do it, so now.. Why aren't they? I found out I could do something different and told them where to stick their 3G booster.. But we shouldn't have to do that. AT&T's booster seems to work better than Verizon's and that is bad if AT&T's is better.

I understand why his issue came about, what I don't understand is why companies are not giving their customers better options. I was just kinda thinking out loud lol

I understood what you were saying, I never took it in the same vein as the other posters.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

I just don't understand why carriers don't give their customers better options. I had to basically throw a fit to get a 3G booster from AT&T for free when my service went to crap when I bought an LTE phone. I thought the LTE Booster just wasn't technology that could be done.

T-Mobile said, we have two options, they are free and you have your phones at two different locations so you can have two boosters if you want. I was in shock.

My data speed without a booster is about 2 Mbps, really unusable. With my booster it is about 20-30 Mbps. So with AT&T I used about 1 to 1.5 gb of data a month. With T-Mobile, I'm halfway through the month and I'm on 13 gb of data. There was never a reason for me to increase my data with AT&T, but I am about to increase my data with T-Mobile. Verizon signals are the same here.

So.. T-Mobile is making a customer happy, got 5 lines brought to them and are selling me more data. AT&T lost 5 lines after 8 years and they lost all the cell phones we buy also. It would be the same with Verizon.

I just don't understand it. If your customer is having bad service and there are plenty of carriers now willing to buy them out of their contract with you, why wouldn't you make your customer happy when there is such a cheap and easy fix? More money for you.

Either I'm missing something big or AT&T and Verizon are just being idiots and their #1 and #2 spots are in danger.

There are special things I get from T-Mobile loyalty because I kept one plan with them for years, it is about 14 years old and now I have two accounts with them. They have a loyalty department for those customers. BUT.. This free signal booster is what they do for everyone. I left T-Mobile because their customer service was getting so bad and I left over a $5 credit they refused to give, I took 5 lines. Seems like T-Mobile has learned a lesson over the years and OS turning things around. My booster requires you have at least one bar of LTE and doesn't depend on you having Internet. If TMO can do that for free, AT&T and Verizon can too, they just aren't doing it. It just doesn't make sense to to me. The booster is great, the bill cut in half is even better. It just looks like Verizon and AT&T don't care if their customers leave.. I just don't understand.

 

[double923]

ATT should really need to make WiFi calling available on Note 5. It was nice on the iPhone when I am at the area where signal is not as good then WiFi calling seamlessly kicks in.