Cell Towers, Cell Phones, and Pre Paid

[towani]

Hello all.

Here's my dilema. Currently, i have an LG Optimus V from Virgin Moble. It used Sprint Towers.

The Sprint Tower is about 1/8 mile from my home and I get 2 to 3 bars and it's always dropping calls or I can't hear for anything. I work from home some days and this is unacceptable.

Using Antenna Search, I can see I also live about 1/8 mile from an AT&T tower. Also about 1/16 mile from a verizon tower.

I want to stick pre-paid. Because VM uses all Sprint, I don't want to stick with them. I was thinking of trying Straight Talk because they mostly use AT&T. Although, I noticed they do have 1 phone that uses the Verizon network, the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim.

I really wanted to get the Galaxy SII they offer, but I'm wondering if I'm having bad luck with the Spring Tower, do you think my luck will be the same with the ATT tower since they are both equally far away? Or, does it possibly have nothing to do with distance?

If it doesn't have anything to do with distance, I may try the SII. But, if distance is probably the reason my reception sucks, then maybe I'd try the Proclaim since it uses Verizon and that tower is closer.

I know this is all confusing and it's been very frustrating for me as I live just south of Raleigh, NC and in order to be able to work from home on occasion, I need to have good cell service (I don't have a land line).

Thanks for any advice or tips.

 

[towani]

Anyone? I could really use some advice if anyone has any knowledge about this?

 

[ExtremeNerd]

Get the Nexus 4 in a week. You can then try straight talk on AT&T ($45) and T-Mobile Prepaid ($30) with the same phone. When you figure out which works best for you, stick with it. Nothing is better than personal experience.

 

[Digital Controller]

It could potentially have something to do with the distance because they say that there are certain "dead zones" if you live too close to the cell towers.

I would call Sprint and see if there are any issues on their end, just to make sure though.

Oh and welcome to the forums

Sorry no one was able to get to your question sooner.

 

[towani]

Get the Nexus 4 in a week. You can then try straight talk on AT&T ($45) and T-Mobile Prepaid ($30) with the same phone. When you figure out which works best for you, stick with it. Nothing is better than personal experience.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with this. So are you saying to get a Nexus 4 from somewhere like Amazon, then get the SIM card and try each out? I'm assuming you mean I can get the SIM cards through straight talk for either AT&T or T-Mobile. Is this correct?

Also, after doing some further searching, I've run into some people stating that if you're on StraightTalk, you are a lower priority on cell towers which can lead to bad d/l speeds, etc. Is this true or just myth?

Lastly, is straight talk the best place to get a SIM card from for a phone... or are there other, potentially better, places to get the sim card from?

 

[Digital Controller]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with this. So are you saying to get a Nexus 4 from somewhere like Amazon, then get the SIM card and try each out? I'm assuming you mean I can get the SIM cards through straight talk for either AT&T or T-Mobile. Is this correct?

Also, after doing some further searching, I've run into some people stating that if you're on StraightTalk, you are a lower priority on cell towers which can lead to bad d/l speeds, etc. Is this true or just myth?

Lastly, is straight talk the best place to get a SIM card from for a phone... or are there other, potentially better, places to get the sim card from?

Well AT&T and T-Mobile both run on GSM networks so you would be able to potentially try each one by putting a sim card for each and swap...

Otherwise i really do not know about priority service with Straight talk, but i know a lot of people like it. If you are going to run on Straight Talk then yes....If you want T-Mobile or AT&T get it from them...

Good Luck

 

[UncleMike]

...I want to stick pre-paid. Because VM uses all Sprint, I don't want to stick with them. I was thinking of trying Straight Talk because they mostly use AT&T. Although, I noticed they do have 1 phone that uses the Verizon network, the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim.

I really wanted to get the Galaxy SII they offer, but I'm wondering if I'm having bad luck with the Spring Tower, do you think my luck will be the same with the ATT tower since they are both equally far away? Or, does it possibly have nothing to do with distance? ...

Straight Talk branded Android phones use Sprint, with the exception of the Galaxy Proclaim, which uses Verizon.

If you're considering a Nexus 4, I would recommend getting it from the Google Play store. It will be unlocked and will work on either AT&T or T-Mobile. With that phone you could try either AT&T or T-Mobile via Straight Talk (or another MVNO that uses AT&T or T-Mobile), or go to AT&T or T-Mobile directly. If you want to use Straight Talk, you must get the SIM from them, but you can specifically choose an AT&T compatible SIM or a T-Mobile compatible SIM. The SIM you choose will determine which underlying carrier you use. If your first choice doesn't work out, you can switch to the other, but it will require a new SIM and new activation, so you'll want to do it at the end of a cycle.

Also, if you're porting your number, it might complicate things if you're switching between carriers within Straight Talk (I'm have no experience with this, but I wouldn't expect it to be a buttery smooth transition).

Also note that Straight Talk will work with a carrier-locked phone, but you would need Straight Talk SIM that's compatible with that carrier. This is primarily of interest to people who already own a carrier-locked phone.

 

[Skull Nokker]

Try this:

Go to Settings > About phone > Update PRL.
Follow the onscreen instructions. The update will take a few seconds.

This allows you to download and update the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) automatically.