LG VX-8100

I hate to break it to you but the reception is just fine on the 8100. Where the Motorolas outperform the lg's are in fringe areas. I have the LG8100 now for almost 3 weeks here in Rochester NY and have not had one dropped call or missed call due to reception.

I live in northern Indiana and have also never had a dropped call or any reception problems whatsoever with my 8100, EXCEPT inside the Meijer grocery/department store, BUT, none of the Verizon phones I have had in the past, including the 815 had service in Meijer. That is a Verizon issue, not an 8100 issue. So I have no complaints at all in that department.

Also note that the V120 has a radiation level of a whopping 1.55 whereas the 8100 is 1.16. It's always going to be a tradeoff... brain tumor for reception... your choice 🙂

If you want all bars all the time get yourself a satellite phone or an old analog phone and really pump those rads into your head 🙂

When I owned the 8100, I never had a dropped call in the D.C. area.

I will admit- the 8100 pulls up the VCAST stuff a heck of a lot quicker then the 815.

There are tradeoffs between both phones. I had the E815 for one night and returned it the next day for the 8100 and couldn't be happier with it. No problems with reception at all. Like i said if u need a phone that works in fringe areas then go with a motorola, but in my opinion the 8100 is the better package overall.

when I search here and Howard forums, and google there is enough reading to take me to christmas time regarding bad 8100 reception.

Right this moment I am in an office in Uptown Charlotte NC with 1 bar and my secretary has 5 bars on her Samsung 870.

I guess I need to risk brain cancer because missed calls will kill me too.

Thanks for the overwhelming support anyways.

5 bars on a Samsung may not mean the same signal strength as 5 on the LG. I never have had very many bars but I have not dropped a call yet on my 8100. I hope you find the solution that works for you.

You are absolutely right on this. The amount of bars on a phone is dictated by the firmware. Samsung has always seemed to be a bit higher on the signal settings. I have an 8100 and travel all over Arizona and have not dropped any calls. Most cell phone distributers can hack in to the firmware and make the signal seem higher.

Why am I missing calls which go directly to VM on the 8100?
I even dropped a call last night talking to customer service.

Is it possible the phone is bad?

Boulderboy said:
Why am I missing calls which go directly to VM on the 8100?
I even dropped a call last night talking to customer service.

Is it possible the phone is bad?

Yes, the phone could be bad... I had the LG 7000 and it worked perfectly fine for the first few months and then I had the 0 bars issue and dropped calls. I even had a weak signal outside of a Verizon corporate store!

I got fed up and switched to T-Mobile and my problems are gone. I now get a good signal inside the stairwell of a high-rise office building.

It could be an issue with these newer LG phones. The features are nice, but I need a phone that works.

You aren't the only one. The people sticking with the 8100 will not admit reception problems. I had the 8100 for 14 days and then exchanged it for the 815 for the exact same reason. I DO NOT live in a fringe area and I had more dropped calls in 14 days than I have had in 6+ years with Verizon. I had 0 to 1 bar at my office and with my 815 I have 3 and with my 8000 I had 1-2. In my home I had 1 bar with the 8100 and I have 4 with the 815 and I had 3 with the 8000. I will say that my 8000 never dropped a call and I could use it even in areas with known poor reception. It would have no bars and I could still make a call. I don't think I ever saw all the bars on the 8100 and I drive right past a tower on my way to work. I can see it les...
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One of the best responses I have ever read, thank you.
Not that you are agreeing with my problem for the most part but that forums in general are very biased.
I drive a Porsche 997 and am a member at www.6speedonline.com and it is the same there as well.

If I have a problem with something regardless of my position I tell it like it is. It only benefits everyone.

To sum it up, the 8100 is very nicely done but reception IS a known issue.

Regards

You could easily have a problem with that particular phone. I got my 8100 the first day they were available in my area. I feel that I happened to get a very good phone. I have not had ANY of the problems that so many people have had. I admit that many have had reception issues with this phone. I have been in the technical end of the broadcast business and a ham radio operator for many years and I know that RF can do strange things. I can only speak for myself when I say that this is a good phone that has worked well for me. Do some tests and give it a chance and if it doesn't work out, take it back and ask the Verizon techs if they can test the sensitivity. Best of luck. I hope it works out for you.

Have you tried 'force mode' to change to 'cell only'??

Yes we have.

Also we tried another yesterday which is going back. Has same reception problem AND the earpiece volume goes quiet and loud during a conversation. It fluctuates.

Just a poorly done phone software wise.