Anyone in Milwaukee with a Droid and getting bad voice reception/signal strength?

[snorkel]

I am in the Milwaukee metro area and I am getting really bad signal strength for voice calls.

While idle the 3g data bars at my house are 2 to 3 bars, but when I make a call it switches to 2g for voice and I get 0 bars and bad voice quality. 

I only get good voice on the freeway.

I did not know that the voice was not 3g, only data.

If i can't get this worked out I am going back to AT&T before my 30 days are up.

[snorkel]

No one in Milwaukee?

[Fez]

Hmmm.. I dont live in Milwaukee but I was having Voice receptions with my Droid, people kept on telling me that I was mumbling, that I sounded far away etc etc and it was just getting frustrated . I did some research and it came out to be that some Droids did come with out of the box with some defective either Hardware or software issue. I bought mine from Best Buy and all they did was activate my phone and forgot to do the *228 (option 2) update, which is an update that keeps your phone inside the Verizon Wireless network and/or digital service. So yea, anyways yesterday I went to a Verizon store and they performed the update on my Droid and well It actually improved my voice reception. I am still testing my phone and so far I havent had the voice reception problem. I wil continue to test it for the next week and if it comes back again, either Im exchanging a Droid for a new one or like you, I will cancel my contract and go back to At&t, since I am within the 30 days also. Hope this helps.

- By the way, how do you know that your phone drops from 3G to 2G everytime you make a call? Becuase everytime I make a call my 3G icon disapears and I only get to see the bars. So yea..

[snorkel]

Ya, I did the *228 option 2 thing a couple of time made no difference.

When I place a call the 3g icon also disappears, but the signal strength also changes.  I will have 4 bars, but then when I dial I get 0 or 1 bar depending where I am, can also do the other way, might only have 1 bar with the 3g then when I dial I get 4 bars.

Seems like the bars you see before you place the call are only related to the data connection, not voice.

[Fez]

Try going to the nearest Verizon Store from where  you live and try one of their droids that they have their for display and make a call from it. If you experience the same problem on the Droid that they have their then that should tell you that Verizon's coverage is not strong where you live at (which I doubt it). And once inside the store also make a call from your personal Droid. If the Droid from the store works and is not acting up but yours still is then it has to be a faulty hardware issue from your Droid. Try to get it exchanged for a new one, since your under the 30 day warranty period Verizon should not give you any problem in exchanging it for a new one. Good Luck!!

[garddog32]

I am also in Milwaukee and have experienced very poor voice and data signal strength.   I used to be with US Cellular, and I would have full bars everywhere.   Now, I have pretty much zero bars everywhere.    It does seem to fluctuate a lot.   If I move the phone a little, it might temporarily go from zero to 3 bars... but then go back down.   I'll call CS to see if its my phone, but talking to other Verizon users without a Droid, they say have have signal problems too.    Verizon always brags about their coverage map, but that's useless if the signal is so weak you cannot make a call. 

[daddyd302]

I live in West Allis but I work in Milwaukee. I really don't have any issues on the south side of Milwaukee, and I get anywhere from 3-4 bars most of the time. There are parts of the south side that I can 1 bar, but never 0 bar. I had the Droid for 3 weeks and only 2 drop calls, both on the north side of Milwaukee.