BlackBerry 8830

Similar question, thinking about switching to Verizon from Sprint (live in Central California) and I like the BB for the obvious reasons, however I tried the phone in the store and it had “delays” when calling a local plain old telephone system (POTS) land line. To be sure it wasn't the POTS phone I tried the same test at the store with the available LG8700, LG8600 & Motorola RAZR, which were crystal clear and did not suffer from the same delay as the Blackberry 8830. Not sure if the phone needed a software update or if the unit was there for a reason (broken), but why would you demo an inferior product? Very interested in how everyones BB 8830 is performing in regards to reception or call quality in weak or problematic areas when compared to a strong digital phone, such as the LG 8600 or LG 8700. I will be faced with constant weak signals aboard ship and need a phone with stellar reception. Love to have the BB, but if it can’t manage to obtain or keep a phone call in an area where everyone else's phone can then it’s a non-starter, hopefully this is not the case I'm not passing judgment yet. Hope this was just a VZW store problem and not indicative of the 8830 performance. Thanks in Advance for any replies.