[macroy]

My annual contract is just about up with T-mobile. And its been a pretty frustrating year with the reception. I've heard some bad things about the reception of the T610... but I'm not sure if the provider is also to blame. So, I'm wondering if I should just switch phones... or actually switch providers too.

I'm curious to know - Those who have T-mobile, how is your reception compared with your buddies? and those with T610s, but other providers.. how's your reception?

Thanks in advance.

[OptimusG4]

I had a T616 and the reception was great. I now have a T637 and the quality seems to be improved.

[sideus]

I have a t-616 and T-Mobile. I have some bad reception areas, but it is not the phones fault, T-Mobile has alot of dead areas where I live.

[maxintosh]

The T610 and T630 are known for having bad reception. But if it's completely unusable, T-Mobile is probably to blame. A better phone won't pull in a signal in areas there simply isn't saturation. Better reception will improve the clarity of calls in areas where there is at least mediocre reception.

You might look into switching to Cingular. Since they absorbed AT&T's towers, their coverage completely dwarfs T-Mo's. Sad but true. I'll be switching in August.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by maxintosh:
The T610 and T630 are known for having bad reception.

I don't know about that as my t616 has awesome reception on Rogers (in Canada). When they switched to 850MHz my reception went up 40%. I have almost always full bars even in buildings and even underground.

My friends have the same phone in my city but on a different provider and standing side by side the almost always have lower reception.

It is definitely the fault of your provider.

[maxintosh]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
I don't know about that as my t616 has awesome reception on Rogers (in Canada). When they switched to 850MHz my reception went up 40%. I have almost always full bars even in buildings and even underground.

My friends have the same phone in my city but on a different provider and standing side by side the almost always have lower reception.

It is definitely the fault of your provider.

Yes, yes we've heard about your T616 and its amazing antenna. However, a lot of people did not have that experience. And I say this having owned six Sony Ericsson phones (I know, I'm a phone junky), including the T610 and T637. The reception really is quite mediocre/poor on these devices.

[justinkim]

I've had no complaints with coverage in the NYC area on my T610 from T-mobile. In fact, I've been much happier with T-mobile than I was with Verizon. Fewer dead spots in the areas I frequent.

I may still drop T-mobile in favor of Cingular -- Cingular seems to have a better selection of newer phones. T-mobile also seems to be dragging their feet regarding 3G rollout.

[SeSawaya]

T is for Tiny.

thats what a verizon rep told me as I walked away from her.

but shes right. My T610 is really bad most of time. BUT in the city (Chicago) its amazing. Otherwise I love the phone, I just cant always use it.

I'm looking at Cingular next June 1st.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by maxintosh:
Yes, yes we've heard about your T616 and its amazing antenna. However, a lot of people did not have that experience. And I say this having owned six Sony Ericsson phones (I know, I'm a phone junky), including the T610 and T637. The reception really is quite mediocre/poor on these devices.

So what you are saying is that both my t616 and current t637 are freak miracle phones and somehow when I went to Buffalo NY the reception went to hell for hardware flaws and not because it switched to some other provider ?

[Xeo]

I have the T610 and T-Mobile. The reception isn't great. There is pretty good T-Mobile coverage at my college but as soon as I go into buildings I lose reception. I have seen many people chatting in those same dead areas, so either they have different providers or phones. It's hard to say.

I would seriously be looking at Cingular. They're plans have always looked pretty decent and now having all AT&Ts towers, the coverage has to be amazing. As long as they support some decent phones, go with them. I would switch except I don't want to get sucked into a 12 month plan since I don't plan to be in the States for more than 6.

[DigitalEl]

I had two T610s w/T-Mobile. Neither worked in my house. I'd have to go into the backyard or the garage to get even two bars... And often then, calls would be dropped.

My first T610 was replaced on warranty, b/c I thought it just had to be a faulty unit. My second T610 just stopped working. Wouldn't turn on anymore... And it was NOT dropped or anything. IMO, they suck. I'm through with Sony Ericsson.

I replaced my broken T610 with the cheapo "free" phone you get when you sign up for service, the Nokia 6010. I now get great reception throughout the house and rarely drop a call anymore.

I didn't want to spend on a fancy phone just in case those rumors about an Apple/Motorola one being launched are true. If that happens, I wanna have some options.

[roberto blanco]

i have exactly that set-up (in germany though).

i really like the t-610 and my reception has been just as good as with the previous nokias i've had.

i don't know how good t-mobile usa is, but to me it sounds like you might want to switch providers (should you want to stick with that particular phone).

over here the t-610 sucks in combination with vodafone, but seems to work fine with most of the other providers.

[Mastrap]

I love my T610. Excellent reception both with Rogers in Canada and Vodafone in the UK. Never any trouble whatsoever.

Also, I once dropped it in water (don't ask, it involves carrying it in my shirt pocket and giving water to the cats). Fished it out, removed the battery, dried it and switched it back on. Works without a hitch. A fine phone.

[Mrjinglesusa]

I had a T610 on T-Mobile in Charlottesville, VA and in my apartment the reception was pretty poor. My wife still has hers and can't use it in the apartment because the reception is so bad. I upgraded my phone to a SE K700i and I get FULL SIGNAL in the apartment. Moral of this story? If you get SOME signal with the T610 a better phone may be able to pull better signal from T-Mobile. The T610 is notorious for poor reception and losing signals.

[effgee]

Originally posted by macroy:
My annual contract is just about up with T-mobile. And its been a pretty frustrating year with the reception. I've heard some bad things about the reception of the T610... but I'm not sure if the provider is also to blame. So, I'm wondering if I should just switch phones... or actually switch providers too.

I'm curious to know - Those who have T-mobile, how is your reception compared with your buddies? and those with T610s, but other providers.. how's your reception?

Thanks in advance.

T610/T-Mobile combo works like a charm here - if I were you I'd ask a buddy with a different phone to switch SIM cards for a couple of minutes so you can see whether or not a different phone improves things for you. Alternatively, simply stop by your local T-Mobile shop and ask to try a different phone with your SIM card.

[rambo47]

T-610
T-Mobile
Northen NJ and New York City

Although I just upgraded to a Blackberry, I still switch over to my trusty old T-610 as the mood strikes me. Good to very good reception, but not quite as good as my wife's Motorola V60 on Verizon. I credit the external entenna on her phone vs. the internal one on the T-610 more than anything else, mostly due to the fact that the difference in reception is so slight.

Best feature of the T-610: Bluetooth. Syncing with a Mac is simple, and the bluetooth headsets are sweet.

I switched to T-Mobile a couple of years ago during the blackout in NYC. My Verizon phone was dead, but folks with T-Mobile were getting through. That did it for me. We keep one phone on Verizon and both mine and my dauther's on T-Mobile.

[macroy]

Originally posted by effgee:
T610/T-Mobile combo works like a charm here - if I were you I'd ask a buddy with a different phone to switch SIM cards for a couple of minutes so you can see whether or not a different phone improves things for you. Alternatively, simply stop by your local T-Mobile shop and ask to try a different phone with your SIM card.

Hm... that's actually not a bad idea. I just didn't think they'd do that. But I guess its worth a try - the worst it could happen is that they'll say "no".

[-Q-]

I've had a T637 in Atlanta and it gets much better reception that my T68i ever did. I rarely drop below 4 bars and I never drop calls. I've had issues dialing out, but that's only occurred in saturated places like the airport.

After coming from Sprint, T-mobile is a breath of fresh air.

The wife travels constantly for her job and she uses Verizon. She has nothing but positive things to say about them also, but they're phones (feature-wise) aren't great.

[justinkim]

Originally posted by rambo47:
I switched to T-Mobile a couple of years ago during the blackout in NYC. My Verizon phone was dead, but folks with T-Mobile were getting through. That did it for me. We keep one phone on Verizon and both mine and my dauther's on T-Mobile.

Really? I was caught in the blackout, too. At the time I was using a Verizon LG VX6000 (I think), and got through most of the time with it.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by -Q-:
I've had a T637 in Atlanta and it gets much better reception that my T68i ever did.

The t68i did have slight reception problems and the t6xx is a huge improvement over it.

[itai195]

My gf and I both had T610s with T-Mobile for a year. They use Cingular's network here, which is decent. We had horrible reception for a year. Switched to AT&T and Motorola phones, and haven't had any problems since. I'm willing to lose some phone functionality for the bluetooth syncing a phone like the T610 has, but I could barely use mine as a phone due to reception problems.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by itai195:
My gf and I both had T610s with T-Mobile for a year. They use Cingular's network here, which is decent. We had horrible reception for a year. Switched to AT&T and Motorola phones, and haven't had any problems since. I'm willing to lose some phone functionality for the bluetooth syncing a phone like the T610 has, but I could barely use mine as a phone due to reception problems.

Did you try the T610 on the At&t network?

[itai195]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Did you try the T610 on the At&t network?

Nope. I guess it would improve slightly. I can use the Cingular network (which T-Mo uses here) with my new phone and it is worse than AT&T's, but I still get reception in areas where I previously didn't with the T610.

[waffffffle]

I currently have a T610 on T-Mobile in New York. Reception is alright, but my sister on Verizon has always had better reception than me. I've had T-Mobile for 4 years (previously VoiceStream in this area) and I've had a new phone each year. Previously I was using all Nokias and when I got the Sony Ericsson I found reception to be significantly improved. That being said, I despise the interface on the T610. It is extremely unresponsive and sluggish, the joystick often thinks that I'm pressing it in a different direction than I actually am (horrible for games), the screen is atrocious and the button placement and general UI is a nightmare. I'm hoping to get a Nokia this year (or that Apple phone) but I will most likely switch to Cingular/AT&T and take advantage of the good rebate on the T637 right now. I hear that phone fixes many of the problems with the T610.

[rozwado1]

T-mo and T610 (*long exhale*). My reception is poor compared to everyone else. It has always been an issue in Michigan. Luckily in Florida I get good service, although I'm switching to Cingular in a few months. (Hopping on parents family plan for $10/mo - beats $45 at t-mo)

[maxintosh]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
So what you are saying is that both my t616 and current t637 are freak miracle phones and somehow when I went to Buffalo NY the reception went to hell for hardware flaws and not because it switched to some other provider ?

No, no, no... what don't you get? Where you live your area is probably well-saturated so any phone would perform well, so it's not an issue. Most of Europe is heavily saturated for example, so RF performance isn't as big of a concern in that market. However people that live in areas that aren't as well covered (like Buffalo, NY and a lot of the US) will be able to notice a difference between a phone with a mediocre antenna and a good one. You may have had better reception in Buffalo with a different phone. SE's newest phones have good (even great) antennas but the T6xx were poor compared to many other manufacturers' models. If it doesn't matter for where you live, then great, but to a lot of people it does.

I wish you would stop telling people the T6xx has a good antenna just because your mobile provider has saturated your area well enough so that it doesn't matter. Now certainly US providers need to work on their signal saturation, but the Big Three seem to be doing well in that respect. It's T-Mobile that is getting left out in the cold here...

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by maxintosh:
I wish you would stop telling people the T6xx has a good antenna just because your mobile provider has saturated your area well enough so that it doesn't matter. Now certainly US providers need to work on their signal saturation, but the Big Three seem to be doing well in that respect. It's T-Mobile that is getting left out in the cold here...

So in other words it is the provider.

Again, my t68i didn't work very well on the same provider as it has reception issues.

[lasvegasgamer]

I've been using my phone (T610 / TMo) for about 2 months now as a convert from Cingular / AT&T. Let me tell you, the people at their store sure are nice about getting you into the contract, but once your a customer... oh god. I've never had worse customer service or paid more in overage fees ever. Also, I travel a lot and I've noticed that my t68i would be okay on the AT&T / Cingular network, my T610 is pretty good. Verizon is usually better but then verizon has no idea about how to run a company.

I could share some horror stories but I'd say stick with TMo , you'll be suprised. And recently they have some kind of "like our reception or walk from your contract deal" or thats how the ad read, it might be them just looking to see if you they have towers in the area, but maybe its worth a shot