Motorola RAZR cell phones

[HiredGoon]

While skimming thru TV channels the other day, I saw the Verizon Wireless CEO talking to U.S. senators about various topics including dropped calls. He made a statement something to the effect that the RAZR phones have a lot of dropped calls due to low propagation because of how thin the phone is. And then said most people don't mind the dropped calls, they are more interested in the new, fancy phones and features more than service reliability.

I had always heard that when it comes to dropped calls, the phone doesn't matter only the signal and closeness of the cell towers because all cell phones have the same power output.

Can anyone explain this "thin-phone" propagation thing this guy mentioned? Why would a thinner or smaller phone have more dropped calls?

I for one would rather have more reliable service than a fancy phone and wish Verizon would spend more money on more towers and better signals than more phone features that I never use.

[Atomic Dog]

It's both:

Network is important no matter what, but sometimes the design of a phone does not allow for as large of an antenna as we would like. The original razr (v3) does have a smaller antenna. Some other thinner phones, however, do manage to get good service despite the design. the newer versions of the razr (v3xx and v9) have improved signal, processor, and tend to do quite well on the network.

If you are dropping calls with full signal, it's either a defective phone, or network issues. If you are dropping calls with low signal, that's normal; but phone can make a difference for the grey zones.


~B

[djturnz]

I was a cellphone technition for almost 3 years. I worked with most every kind of phone that was made at that time (3 years ago). The RAZR was not out yet, but there were plenty of small phones. A lot of the reason phones are the size they are is due to the periferals that are needed, like keypad, charging jack, LCD. Phones could be much smaller if they would require a toothpick to push buttons instead of your fingers.
The main problem with dropped calls (that were the phone's fault) that I always found was an over heated amplifier. When I got phones though, it was usually because they stopped working, not because they dropped some calls. It's the service that's the issue. Not enough coverage, too many obsticles.

Actually analog phones always had better service in my opinion, but everything is digital now. Too much encoding, recoding, modulation, de-modulation, lots of opportunity to drop the signal.

I also know personally of a RAZR that has been through hell and still works great.

PS the chocolate phone sux. My aunt works for Verizon and she said that the Chocolate is the most returned phone they sell.

[Agent Smith]

I have a V3xx, and I've had little to no problems with dropped calls. The only thing I don't like about RAZRs, is that they tend to sound muffled. Can be hard to hear people at times.

[RocketFoot]

I have a Razr and it never drops calls...the speaker phone sucks on it, though!