I pre-ordered the note 3 before it came out and have had nothing but poor reception ever since. I've been on the phone with Verizon and Samsung every week since I got the Phone. Verizon blamed Samsung at first and Samsung blamed Verizon. Up until only about a week ago would Samsung Reps or Verizon Reps admit there was a problem with the note 3. Everytime I told them my problem the pat responce from either rep was like "I'm not currently aware of any issues with the note 3" to which I got angry and told them to google the term "Note 3 reception issue" so they can see the mutiple threadas of people complaining about the Note 3's reception. I had the original phones sim card replaced at a Verizon store and that made no difference. I then had verizon send me a replacement Note 3 and before swapping out the sim card and battery, I noted the DBM level in my house and the number was identical once I put the sim card and battery in the new phone. I installed the 2 updatyes that came out. Still no better. One of the Verison reps I've been deali8ng with on the phone is named Jack. He actually has been very nice and very helpful so far. Right before Christmas day he called me and told me that Verizon and Samsung now admit there is an issue with the recption on the note 3 and thast he recommended I shpould switch to another brand phone like a Motorola. He said Motorol has the strongest RF reception of any phone and he is probably right.
I live and work in Long Island, NY and travel constantly around Manhattan and the tri-state area. Don't get me wrong about the note 3. I absolutely love the device in every respect except the reception which after all is the first and primary function of a PHONE. I am mad that I paid so much for the phone and Verizon and Samsung did not properly test thew device before selling it. I statrted researching other alternatives. My two top choices based on the fact thaty I want the biggest screen, best camera and reception came down to the Motorola Droid Maxx or the HTC One Maxx. The Motorola although from the reviews is a great phone with great reception, battery life and screen size, is still smallwer than the note 3 and the camera is sub par cxompared to the Note 3. The HTC One Max on the other hand has a nice big display, but then again, the camera and video is not as good as the Note 3 and both the HTC and Motorol lack the S-pen which I really like. But, I need better reception, so off I go yesterday to 2 Verizaon stroes in Manhattan to see, feel and test the Drois Max and HTC One Max. The HTC display peicesa had about the same DB rating as ther Note 3 which was a surprise. Just for the heck of it, I compred the DB rating of my note 3 to the 2 note 3's in the verizon store and was surprised to find that my Note 3 had only 2 or 3 bars on 3G while the store Note 3's had 2 to 3 bars of 4G. I figured my note was locked onto 3g because I was in the subway earlier, so I powered my note off and on again so it could search for a signal and for about 2 seconds it had 2 bars of 4g and then it jumped down again to 3 bars of 3g. Meanwhile the 2 display units were steady at 3 bars of 4g. I left that verizon store (45th street near Grand Central station) and went to the Verizon store near times square. I did the same experiment and got the same results. The store display phones were holding a strong 4g signal while my phone was stuck on 3g. I had to catch a train back to Long Island so I didn't have time to speak with a tech in the store, but I think the stores were given a new batch of phones with a better antenna inside. Perhaps Samsung made the first massive run with bad antennas and the most current batch has fixed the problem? I sure hope so because I want to keep my Note 3 if possible. I emailed Jack, the verizon rep, yesterday and reported my findings and asked him to send me a replacement phone, but to verify without a shadow of a doubt that the replacement is from the most current shipments from Samsung and not from old stock. So far he has not replied back to me yet.
