There are to many variables between CDMA and GSM to say one will handle signal strength "better". Figure at one bar your signal is lousy no matter what. Get a VZW network extender for your home- I did and it works great.

For what it's worth, my blackberries always have 3-4 bars, no matter where I am. And yet when I had an HTC droid, I never had more than 1 bar in the same places, like my house. Clearly it wasn't the signal, but the phone itself. It never seemed to affect anything, the phone was just as clear, never dropped calls, etc. so I never even paid attention to the bars after awhile. But I have Verizon - can't speak for AT&T.

From my experience it will make a difference and VZW will handle less bars better. For the most part with VZW if you have any bars at all you'll be able to make calls and be just as clear as with all the bars. AT&T seems to have issues making calls and with the clarity of the calls with the less bars you have.

The dirty little secret that no one ever tells you is that bars only represent RECEIVED signal strength. It says absolutely nothing about your TRANSMITTED signal strength.

Clear communication channels have to be working both directionsin order to hold a call. The bars on your phone only describe one direction: cell site to handset.

You could be in the middle of Montana picking up 3 or 4 bars of signal from a cell site 40 miles away transmitting at ridiculously high power and still be unable to make a call, because your handheld probably caps out at about 25 miles, even with a great antenna design and broadcasting at full power (about 1/4 watt on most digital phones). Such a design would get a few engineers fired...
(continues)