Reception in San Diego - Your Opinions Please!

[howetechnical]

Hi all,

Two days ago we received my wife's Vibrant from T-Mobile and I'm loving it. I've been a BlackBerry enthusiast for the past 4 years, and this is the only phone that has me SERIOUSLY thinking about switching to the "dark" side. My question is, how do you all find the service to be in San Diego while driving and in general? I'm an IT Administrator who drives around between typically 5 of the 16 stores I admin for on a daily basis, and -need- the call reception, quality, and reliability to be good. Currently, my BlackBerry Bold 9700 is pretty good, but it does drop about 2-3 calls daily (whether that's due to T-Mobile service at those trouble spots...all of which are the same every day...or the BlackBerry service, I don't know). My wife's Vibrant gets between 1 and 4 3G bars while in home, so it looks to be pretty good (I watched it fluctuate before my eyes during the period of 1 minute). I know of the GPS issue, but I know where everything is in San Diego, so that's not a deal breaker for me right now (as long as it gets fixed). The email issues are also concerning me, but as long as I can get my emails in to read them (I get about 20 a day), along with text messages, I'll be fine.

So in short, I want to know what you fellow San Diegans think of the Vibrant after using it for a little while, driving as well as being stationary. Phone reception and emailing are pretty crucial for me, which is why I stuck with a BlackBerry for so long, but RIM is just so behind on technology and I can't stand it anymore.

 

[motobando]

I live in North County SD and reception seems to be pretty good so far (been w/ TMo for a month). Having been with AT&T (Blackberry & iPhone) so long I did not want to make the jump and suddenly be stuck with poor service....so I bought the Vibrant with the no contract all-you-can-eat $79 service that Tmobile offers and tested them side by side. I can say that the Vibrant does show less signal bars more often, however, dropped calls do not happen nearly as often which is important to me. While driving with either my iPhone or BB (AT&T), I would go from full bars to no bars in the blink of an eye and calls would drop. I have read that the Vibrant has an issue which involves showing less bars even where the signal strength is fine (no bars, yet I can still make calls just fine without drops). Download speed test the other day showed 1Mbps+ and I live in a rural area...not the best, but still decent enough for me.

Now, about the device...I totally prefer the Vibrant as a tool for work. Between the speed of the device, how documents are viewed, and firing off longer emails, the Vibrant has my nod. Swype is an awesome app and I'm faster typing on that than I ever was on my Blackberry (2nd gen Curve), and the iPhone does not even compare in that realm.

Bottom line is I have zero regrets on the device or the service. Hope this helps.

BRian

 

[howetechnical]

Thanks, Brian. I went ahead and ordered the Vibrant this morning. Should have it Tuesday.

 

[SamsungVibrant]

Thanks, Brian. I went ahead and ordered the Vibrant this morning. Should have it Tuesday.

Hey I don't live in San Diego, I'm in LA county. Just wanted to let you know, when you get your Vibrant, which I'm sure you also noticed on your wifes phone, do not pay attention to the signal bars. The algorithm is wrong or something. So even if it shows no signal/zero bars, you infact can still make calls.

I also have a bold 9700, I would have to say the Vibrant has no problems at all with keeping voice calls.

There is a problem however with 3G service. Vibrant just prefers edge way too much in my opinion. I have all my phones lined up next to eachother, they all get 3G and vibrant will be on Edge. Unless the 3G signal is very strong, you will notice vibrant dropping 3G in poor signal areas and quickly switching to Edge.

The phone is fantastic though, you will love it. Just buy a case for it right now, so you don't drop the gorgeus phone.

You should also call t-mobile and get a free unlock code for your Bold 9700, then you can put it up on ebay or whatever you wanna do with it, but at least it will be unlocked.

Take care