Carp,<br><br>I hate to break it to you, but Motorolla consistantly makes some of the best phones on the market, as voted not only by the public, but by industry insiders. The problems you're having have nothing to do with the phone, and everything to do with the fact that you live on a tiny little Island with one cell tower and lousy service from Nextel.<br><br>As far as your friends who have no problem... they're all liars. There isn't a cell phone service or phone available in the entire world that doesn't have dead spots, occassional outtages, etc... They just want you to feel like you're the only guy getting screwed.<br><br>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p> I had to figure out the somewhat flakey voice-dialing feature<p><hr></blockquote><p>ATT Wireless offers a subscription feature called VoiceDial, which blows away the on-board voice dialing feature on any phone. It uses a web-based address book that you can set up and maintain online or by voice. You can store thousands of names (including up to 4 numbers per name). You just dial #121, and say "Call Matt at home", for instance, and your call is placed instantly. And once you end the call, you have the option to place another call without redialing #121. The voice recognition technology is superb. Even amidst loud ambient sound, the system "understands" you 95% of the time. I've been able to place calls from the train station platform while a train is entering or leaving the station! Even the rush-hour streets of Manhattan rarely interfered.<br><br>

Very cool!<br><br>I'll have to see if something similar is available through Sprint. <br><br>****************<br>I have no signature at this time

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>They just want you to feel like you're the only guy getting screwed.<p><hr></blockquote><p>Now that's just HARSH! You weren't s'posed to tell him he's the only one getting screwed over. Didn't you get the memo? <br><br>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>I hate to break it to you, but Motorolla consistantly makes some of the best phones on the market<p><hr></blockquote><p>It depends how much you're spending. <br><br>If you buy a $200-$300 flip phone, Motorola phones are nice. Any of their entry-level or mid-range phones are so bad it's almost laughable.<br><br>While it's usually not the phone, some do get better reception than others.<br><br>

Natcherly. A more expensive phone will have a better battery or use it more efficiently, and a better antenna (both of which have an impact on reception). But neither will overcome uneven service coverage.<br><br>

I used to think it was Nextel service.<br>My partner who sits in the same office as me and works on the same project as me has no problems but he has an i35 and I have an i88. The others have the Moto flip phone and no problems either.<br><br>However the i88 phones all have the same problems.<br>The first phone I got was the i35 that went bad then I got the i88 crap - So it seems that the Moto flip phones are much better.<br><br>Now if it was the Nextel service that would effect all phones would it not ?<br><br>

If only you could separate your phone book list into "folders" such as friends, work, etc.<br><br>

Most on-board address books allow you to designate specific icons to each number you enter: Home, Work, Mobil, Main, Other, etc., so you can enter more than one no. for the same person and distinguish which no. is home or cell or whatever. Your's doesn't have that feature?<br><br>

I don't know if the Motorolas can do this....<br><br>But on a Nokia, you can assign caller groups a profile. In that profile, you can choose every specific phone behavior possible to associate with that group. <br><br>For instance, you have set the phone to only ring for certain groups of people. On the other phones I've seen, you can assign ringtones per group, but not silence. <br><br>When I had a Nokia, I had a caller group called "Family." When I went to sleep, I set the phone to only ring for Family and silence for everyone else. <br><br>Can the Motorolas do this?<br><br>