No LTE here, which phone to get?

[hull22]

I live in Destin, FL, where the nearest Verizon LTE service in an hour away in Pensacola. I currently have an HTC Thunderbolt(came from a long line of iPhone 3G, 3Gs, 4). I am fairly satisfied with the phone. I like the design of the phone. I leave it in CDMA mode of course. Battery life is okay except for when I'm work. The area where I work has poor 3g signal and inside the building is a cellular deadzone for everyone. I basically have to leave my phone connected to the charger all the time at work, with no signal or intermittent 1x signal, occassionally receiving a call or txt. If I forget to plug it in, the battery is less than 50% by noon. I'm on a family plan and can use my wife's upgrade(she has no contract using a iPhone4 purchased on ebay).

I'm looking at Droid Razr, Rezound, Galaxy Nexus(whenever that comes out), or the iPhone 4S. I'm wondering whether or not it's worth it to get another LTE phone when I'm stuck on 3G. Perhaps I should just get the best 3G phone, the iPhone4S. Maybe Verizon will bring LTE here next year, who knows?

I primarily use my phone for checking email, an occassional text, web browsing, occassional Netflix, and USB tethering with EasyTether.

 

[johnlgalt]

I'm in a 3G only area with the nearest 4G being 100 miles north of me (Atlanta GA). I bought the BIONIC knowing full well that I was in a 3G only service area.

Also, I never put my phone in CDMA mode only - in my tests on my phone, I have no discernible difference in battery life between having it on or off.

Finally, is the deadzone at work absolute? If it is, why not consider putting it in airplane mode? You could use something like Tasker to enable / disable airplane mode based upon your location / time of day, so that if you were to step out for lunch it would re-enable cell and data when you're out of the dead spot....

 

[hull22]

I thought turning off the LTE radio was supposed to save battery life.

The deadzone is almost 100%. The problem with using something like tasker to turn it into airplane mode. Without wifi or gps on, how would the program know that you've left the area to disable airplane mode?

 

[gvillager]

I would still get a 4G device. There is a strong possibility that they'll launch 4G in your area next year.

Why do you stay with Verizon since they have such poor service where you work? Isn't there another carrier that provides better service?

 

[hull22]

I would still get a 4G device. There is a strong possibility that they'll launch 4G in your area next year.

Why do you stay with Verizon since they have such poor service where you work? Isn't there another carrier that provides better service?

Unfortunately, everyone has poor reception, regardless of the provider. I have consider trying out Tmobile or AT&T to see if it's any better, but nobody has reported better signal with any particular provider.

 

[WA_Bob]

I'm not living in or working in a 4G coverage area. But, I live next to one of the biggest in the nation (Houston, TX) and end up there allot. So most of the time I don't use 4G, but it's great to have it when I do. I'd recommend going with a 4G device if you're sticking with Verizon. At the rate their coverage is expanding you'll get 4G before your 2 years is up. As for which device, if you like HTC I'd say go with the Rezound. Otherwise, I'm partial to the Bionic but I'd recommend going into the store and playing around with the Bionic, Razr, and the Nexus and Droid 4 when they come out next week just to see what you like.

Even if you really don't end up using the 4G much, it seems like it'll come on all of the higher end phones from here on out so I wouldn't worry about not being in an area to use it yet.

BTW: I had a Thunderbolt and it never seemed to get good reception when i was in my office. My Bionic, on the other hand, hasn't even seemed to blink at keeping calls or data connections going. I know different people have different experiences, but I'm happy with my choice.