When you are talking about signal are you referring to the number of bars you are showing or the actual dBm you are showing? The bars are not accurate at all, it is a well known software glitch. If you are on 2.1, go to Settings > About Phone > Network and see what your signal strength is there.

 

I am fairly certain that the number of bars is not an indication of signal strength. My phone rarely shows a full signal, often shows 0 bars (though never the "x", meaning no signal), and whenever I make or receive a call in those circumstances, it always works just fine. In fact, my phone is more reliable as a phone than my Moto Q9m was, which always showed more bars of signal.

 

Ok, -99 dBm is bad signal. Not sure why you would be getting such a poor signal when your wife still has one. I would compare your dBm with your wife's (no idea how on her phone) and see if it is really all that different. As long as you are having problems though, I would keep telling Verizon and getting another phone.

 

no -99dBm is very poor signal.

Technically -1 is a higher number than -100, so a "lower" negative number will always be better.

-105 to -100 = Really bad
-99 to -90 = Not great
-89 to -80 = Pretty good
-79 to -65 = Good
Over -65 = Excellent

 

yea so im showing a -74 but only have 2 bars...obviously the signal is better than 2 bars...

 

A number of people, myself included, believe that the bars are showing your 3G signal and not your actual cell reception.