SMT 5600--poor international signal strength

[moemoe]

I purchased an SMT5600 from Cingular and then unlocked it to use internationally. Now that I'm in the Middle East and have inserted the local company's SIM card, I'm getting very poor signal strength (or none at all in some places). I would love to know if there's anything I can do to boost signal strength. The crazy thing is that I'll be standing next to a coworker who has a cheap phone and is getting 4 bars and my expensive phone is still searching for a signal.

I called Audiovox's tech support and they were absolutely no help. The guy thought it might be the phone but I bought 2 at the same time and they both have the same problem. Tech guy then said that since my phone was made for Cingular then it just might not work where I'm at.

I'm wondering whether one of these internal antenna boosters would help. Anybody try them?

Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks.

[Mike Temporale]

The 5600 is only a tri-band phone. It is possible, especially when you're travelling over sea's that the country or location you are in doesn't support the frequency of that phone.

Most of the new Smartphones coming out shortly are Quad band phones. So the phone would work without problems on different networks.

Here's some more info on the different bands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gsm#Radio_interface

[moemoe]

Thanks for the speedy reply. I hope you'll tolerate my ignorance on this issue for one more question. If I'm getting a weak signal with the tri-band phone will I get a stronger signal with the quad-band?

Also, would one of these internal antenna boosters help to boost the signal?

[Mike Temporale]

Thanks for the speedy reply. I hope you'll tolerate my ignorance on this issue for one more question. If I'm getting a weak signal with the tri-band phone will I get a stronger signal with the quad-band?

Yes, assuming the problem is the lack of supported frequency - which it sounds like it is. Your friend, is his phone a quad band or world phone? If it is, then I think we can be pretty sure that this is the problem. What country are you in? and what carrier are you using?

Also, would one of these internal antenna boosters help to boost the signal?

No, they won't help at all. They're just a gimick.

[moemoe]

I checked with my friend and his phone is a tri-band. However, he has a Nokia and he said that they tend to work better in this country.

I'm in Qatar and there is only one network provider, Q-Tel. Another friend who has a RAZR said that he's not getting as good of reception as he used to due to all the high-rise construction going on right now. Q-Tel is not known to be terribly efficient so it may take them a while to recalibrate their signals to account for this. Just a guess...

[Sven Johannsen]

Another friend who has a RAZR said that he's not getting as good of reception as he used to due to all the high-rise construction going on right now...

IIRC the Razr is a quad band phone.