Dropped Calls, and What You Can Do About It

Here are some ideas to consider:

1) Did you drop only one call?

Dropping one call is nothing to worry about it! It’s a normal incident on all mobile networks, so don't go crazy about it.  

You need to understand it’s a WIRELESS PHONE. Are there any wires shooting out of it into the nearest phone pole? No.  

They are never going to be as faultless as a land line, so you ought to adopt some realistic expectations regarding cell phones. Come to terms with reality: you are going to occasionally drop calls.  

2) Are you dropping all calls, in all places, at all times?  

So, you’re dropping calls everywhere; is it possible that your phone carrier has unintentionally programmed your handset with the ultra trendy feature of "Drop Calls In All Places"?  

Don’t even bother calling customer service if you have this problem.  You need to take on a rational comprehension of cell phones. If you drop calls in all places at all times, it's not an issue with your phone provider; if it were, then tens of thousands of other customers on the same network would be flooding the call center, all complaining of the same thing. Face the facts, the problem is with your handset and it’s time to fix it or replace it.  

Also, if you got your phone on a two or three-year contract and you expect the phone to survive those 2-3 years, you’re crazy.  You need to expect the phone will last one year, and if it still works for 2 or 3, you’re lucky…and not disappointed.  Me, I’m happy when my phones break because it means I can go buy the newest technology now!

3) Do you constantly drop calls in the same location?  

Now we're talking. This is the ideal circumstance for which to call your carrier. You might get better results if you could get some friends or family members to call in about it too. If there are more complaints coming in, it’s more likely the client care department will bring this to the attention of Engineering.  

Keep in mind that the Engineers at all cell phone carriers already know which sites drop the most calls. There are also drive-testers out in the field recording the signal strength all over the place.  Between them and Engineering, they know most of the problem areas.  

Are some phones more apt to dropping calls?  

Well, do you have a stubby antenna? If so, you vastly increase your chance of dropping calls. Or do you have one of those "internal antennas"? They look cool, but if you’re already in a weak area or you’re indoors, you’re just asking for trouble.  

Also, do you have a flip phone or a "stick phone"? Stick phones (or candy-bar phones) almost always perform better than flip phones.  

Sorry. It’s the truth.  

Remember this article the next time you drop a call. You might reduce your disappointment level and prevent you from making unrealistic demands to your provider.