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Brooklyn Newbie's profile

Contributor

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1 Message

Thursday, December 5th, 2013 6:45 AM

ZTE z992 (Avail 2) Poor Reception. Typical?

Just bought the Avail 2 (ZTE Z992) as an upgrade to my old and battered Nokia 2320.  Great toy with lots of features, but one big problem.  It has really poor signal reception.  Where I get a solid and reliable 4 bars indoors on the Nokia, the Avail gets mostly one, sometimes two, which means it won't reliably connect to make or receive calls.  The wifi reception is also on the weak side, with about two thirds of the range of our other devices.

 

Is this typical for the model, or do I just have a lemon?  

 

Thanks.

Master

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10.2K Messages

10 years ago

Did a quick review search on the phone and most of the reviews are pretty solid: http://m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/reviews.jsp;jsessionid=F4C199AE7FF46B729565B30E82302603.bbmdotp-app32-127?skuId=9826348&pid=1219043331742#review-9

However, the second one from the bottom on the first page stood out to me.

"What's not so great: Limited coverage area
I drove five hours from Milwaukee to Minneapolis and had no service for 3 of the 5 hours. Not sure if it was the phone or network. Either way, I could not talk, text, or use the internet function."

Based on what has been stated above, I would say that there is a chance that the phone may have some signal quality issues, but I cannot say for certain as I have no experience using the Avail 2. If you are not particularly satisfied with it and you are within the 14 day return window, you may return the phone or exchange it if you'd like.

Tutor

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10 Messages

10 years ago

I'm having the same problem. I'm on travel and had a cheap not smartphone GoPhone, but it had good reception. And my iPad 2 has great AT&T reception. But from the same location the Avail 2 I got yesterday has really bad reception. Most of the time I can't even send or receive text unless I go to a higher floor or outside.

I just bought it yesterday at Target so assume I can still return it. But if I do - what are my other smartphone options?

Thanks,

Doug

Master

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10.2K Messages

10 years ago


@douglerner wrote:
I'm having the same problem. I'm on travel and had a cheap not smartphone GoPhone, but it had good reception. And my iPad 2 has great AT&T reception. But from the same location the Avail 2 I got yesterday has really bad reception. Most of the time I can't even send or receive text unless I go to a higher floor or outside.

I just bought it yesterday at Target so assume I can still return it. But if I do - what are my other smartphone options?

Thanks,

Doug

Yes, I am very certain that Target will allow you to return the phone. Just make sure you remove your SIM card from the phone before you return it. And of course, clear any personal information you may have entered into the phone. 

 

 

Assuming you are a postpaid customer (non-GoPhone), you have one of three options. You can either purchase another cheap GoPhone smartphone to use with your account (hopefully one that had better reception quality), purchase a used smartphone (which is know as BYOD), or check your upgrade eligibility status to see when you may be due for an upgrade, assuming you are currently finishing out a two-year contract. 

 

Hope this helps! 

Contributor

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3 Messages

9 years ago

my phone is the same way but i ont have to travel payed a hundred dollars for  a piece of crap that im have to reset several times a day

 

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