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I recently bought the Samsung S950C Galaxy S phone from Walmart and am considering returning it. (I wanted the Galaxy SII but was told by a sales person that it wouldn't work in my area (03813)). The S950C uses Verizon towers, and the Galaxy SII uses AT&T.

The problem is...when I'm in my house, I only get from 0 to 3 white bars, and on a rare occasion, I'll get 4, never all 5 (I forgot to notice the bars when I've been out on the main road, 8 mins. away.). I do live in a pretty rural area of Center Conway, NH.

So is this issue a Straight Talk signal issue, or do I have a lousy signal from Verizon's towers? What would cause this issue, and who should I call about it...Straight Talk or Verizon? Do you think it could be this particular phone, and that I should return it and get the same thing, or wouldn't that change the signal? Another problem is that when downloading apps, wallpaper, etc., it sometimes times-out many many times.

Well, thanks in advance for your help.

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Sounds like there is a problem with your carrier. Did you try using a SIM card from another carrier? – Sid Jan 8 at 13:43
Thanks for responding, Sid. No, I didn't try using a SIM card from another carrier. There's none available to me. But I'm not too familiar with all this what I call 'technical' stuff, lol. But I told my daughter what you asked, and she said I could go to Verizon and ask them to put another SIM card in to see if a new one works. If it does, does that mean my phone is defected and I should return it to Walmart and try another exact same phone? Can we just buy new SIM cards? If so, are they expensive and easy for a novice android user to install? Thanks a lot for answering! – Deborah Dumont Jan 8 at 19:05
Verizon doesn't use SIM cards, so you'd have to buy a new phone and return your current one. There are two competing cellular technologies: GSM uses SIM cards (AT&T and T-Mobile in the USA), CDMA does not (Verizon and Sprint). Since the S950C appears to only support CDMA (specs) you won't be able to use it on a carrier other than Verizon. – eldarerathis♦ Jan 8 at 19:53
@eldarerathis I'm sorry that I'm not familiar with US carriers. Anyway, can you (or may I) put it into an answer? :) – Sid Jan 9 at 1:44
Thanks for answering my question. I've made up my mind that I'm going to return the phone tomorrow, and try another one out. I've only had it for 4 days. If that one doesn't work, either, I'll bring it back and maybe go to Verizon and purchase a phone and plan through them. I was just on the phone for about 20 mins., and my calls dropped 4 times. That's just crazy to put up with that. But thanks very much for getting back to me. I appreciate it. – Deborah Dumont Jan 9 at 1:55

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