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Cell phone quality

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by oz_media

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Due to a few people asking me cell questions lately, I'd like to get some other opinions on the matter.

Myself, I find the newer Motorolla flip phones to be garbage compared to the original StarTac or even the StarTac 6000. When Motorolla started offering the similar StarTac3300, they seemed to be on a downhill slide, QUICKLY.

StarTac's only disappointment for me (6000E) was that the circuit boards are sandwiched so close together that they easily short in heavy humidity (bathroom) or VERY light misty rain. (Dropping mine in the toilet didn't help one bit! GLUG, GLUG, flicker,dead).

I have recently added a Nokia 3595 to my plan, cool color and a bunch of useless junk but good battery life and a solid handheld unit. I still have a NOKIA 3360 with InfraRed that I wouldn't give up for my life because of the wireless modem it offers for my laptop. I only get 56K dail-up speeds but it is really neat to sit on the ferry (without waiting for a network carol to free up) and dial my ISP from the top deck.

A friend of mine has recently killed his OLD phone with the local Telco. They won't offer him a free replacement even though he's been with them for 9 years!(Cheap bastards). I got my 3595 free, just by asking for a new phone from my provider (Rogers AT&T Canada)as did my neighbor (his is being couriered today).

Now to back up a little.
My friend who has the dead phone with the Telco, has been advised by the Telco that the Nokia phones are no good and that Motorolla flip phones are better.

My experiences and those of people whom I know with Motorola phones prove otherwise.

Motorola= Very flimsy phone, limited battery life (that dwindles fast as the battery ages)and terrible reception (regardless of network used).

Nokia: Strong phones (have nailed up picture hooks with my 3360), better battery (didn't start to lose charge abilities for at least 1 1/2 YEARS, and MUCH better reception. Where my last Motorolla phone wouldn't even get a signal (same network as now)my new phone gets FULL signal strength!

Anyone else noticed strengths or weaknesses in either?

9 replies

by cactus pete

It all depends on the model... How about telling us which provider, and we can comment on the various options under that plan?

by oz_media

I have no interest in finding a provider. My Rogers AT&T Canada phone is free and I get unlimited WAP access, messaging and GSM features free (Good thing, it's damn expensive here normally.)

The question is regarding cell phone QUALITY.

A phone with a poor battery life, one that is easily broken etc.

by cactus pete

I have a Motorola i90c, but I don't know what model they call that when it's used with AT&T. It's been great. I got the extended battery, and it can go days without a charge, much better than the 10 hours I got with any of my last 3 phones.

I've never had a good LG phone.

Most of my new toys are phone/PDA devices, let me know if you want them included in the review.

by maxwell edison

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I was watching an extreme left-wing, liberal biased, touchy-feely, human interest story infested local news broadcast the other day, you know, just one of the usual local news shows, and I saw a story about a new regulation (a new law, I suppose) that would let a person take his/her cell phone number with him/her when he/she changed cell phone providers. (There ought to be a word for the combined gender him/her. I'll use him from now on, since I'm a he, just for clarity's sake.)

The conclusion of the story suggested that this would significantly increase competition, since most people elect to stay with their current provider just to keep the same number - even if it had lousy service. Now people will be more inclined to change providers for whatever reason. Cell phone service will get better, and prices will drop. That's what competition does, you know.

At least that's what they said.

.........In about a month.

by oz_media

THings will get better from the competition.

Well I agree, marketing 101 says that's what is SUPPOSED to happen.

Unfortunately, cell providers seem to be getting worse. The plans aren't as good as the old plans, the phones aren't as good as they were just 5 years ago, the savings and offers aren't as god.

I still have the same plan I had 7 years ago, granted I get my phone free because a family member is a majority shareholder in Rogers AT&T Canada but even still, new plans can't touch mine. Even Rogers new plans aren't as good, thus I stick to my old plan and keep the same number.
I still had better analogue coverage than todays GSm coverage (except overseas).

Oh well, at least they are TRYING to compete.

by cactus pete

It's supposed to start 24 Nov. They call it "Number Portability".

Let's say that again, "Number Portability". Good.

We're holding off from contracting our division's cell service until then to get better rates, actually. I doubt the service will change for some time, however. In fact, since they do a lot of cross selling, and using each other's networks for roamers, and sell many of the same devises, I see little room for improvement.

Now I havent' read the law itself - and I suppose I will have to. I've not seen a single reference by any news agency that tells me how well this number transfer has to go. "Sure, we'll transfer your number. Give us a couple of months, we're extremely busy."

by oz_media

"I was watching an extreme left-wing, liberal biased, touchy-feely, human interest story infested local news broadcast the other day"

You go, Maxwell! That is SOOOOO Max Edison!
Good thing you don't read our Provincial rag!

For a taste, look up The Vancouver Province newspaper

by oz_media

Not REALLY interested in other devices, I was making a case for a friend between Nokia and Motorolla.

As for LG, I avoud their phones. My Nokia has a way longer battery life than my Motorolla. In Canada this is just because Telus uses a CDMA network as opposed to the Roger AT&T GSM network, which offer beter call quality and battery life as it is just a hybrid TDMA network.

by oz_media

Number Portablity has been around for MANY years. It is a massive selling feature for business systems but with cell phones, it is limited. There are a few cell phone networks in Canada who oofer portability but they restrict it in order to keep clients. Just because they CAN do it, doesn't mean they will.

I managed to switch networks about three years ago and get my number ported but that was only through friends in the industry.

What is worse, NOKIA offers a lot of features that Rogers Canada restricts. Channel select dialling, if left enabled would allow the older TDMA network phones to work as wireless modems where you could connect to a laptop or PDA and dial you regular ISP at 56K. they disble it so they can charge $5.00/MO FOR 150kbs of bandwidth.

The GSM phones are also disabled for the same reason. I wanted my GSM phone to IR with my laptop so after a little research I found a MOntreal based company that reenables the feature (by reding the codes over the phone) for $250.00!!

Being a retarded price, I opted out. I then met with Ted Rogers (Rogers communications)right hand man who simply traded a fully enabled phone from his trunk for mine. I can actually InfraRed my laptop and surf for free, only 33.6 to 56k but hey what do you expect for free?

In conclusion, cell phone networks have a lot of features they COULD offer but don't in an aim to seek higher revenues.
Beat them, it's not too hard.

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