I'm a prospective buyer of Incredible.

I'm reading on many forums and review sites that the strength of signal/reception on this device is very poor, with poor 3G and up/down speeds.

This is a major drawback and certainly a dealbraker for many, especially for those that don't have a strong signal anyway where they work or live.

Guys, please state your experience on this topic.

HTC support team, please make your input here. I think this is a huge issue.

Thanks!

I've run Speedtest on an Incredible and a Moto Droid side by side. Over and over again, the Incredible showed both faster upload and download speeds.

It's important to remember that those bars don't measure somethng specific. It's very difficult to compare signal strength readings across models and manufactures. My incredible generally shows fewer bars than my Droid. So far, that doesn't seem to have translated into anything meaningful in the real world. Calls go through, data is zippy. I've only had the Incredible since Wednesday (yay Fedex mix up!). It is a possible area of concer.

Thanks for your reply!

Other guys ran similar tests as you did, and reported major slowdowns (it appears many compare it with the Moto Droid - I would also, as my switch would be from the Droid also). Also they reported dropped calls.

I guess it depends how good is the signal in general where your location is. A guy did this test in several locations throughout his town, with poor outcomes.

My understanding is that the signal strength reported at the top of the homescreen is not accurate for this device, showing less signal that it actually has.

I've had my Incredible since Wednesday and have had no problems with making or receiving calls.  I love it!

I had an LG Envy 2 before and had all sorts of signal/reception problems before.  My contacts are much happier now.  I have not had a single issue (granted, I have only had it two days, but so far so good)

I could be totally off-base, but after driving around town today wondering why my bars were so low, it occurred to me that not once did I have poor call quality or a poor internet connection. If I had to guess, I'd say it was an issue with the icon/measurement of quality, not actually poor signal strength.

I am having signal issues, and it's not just the icon. Just called Verizon. I broke my contract with AT&T because everyone I know with Verizon had better reception where I work. Now this phone is worse than my Nokia E63, even outside. Get 0-2 bars, with loss of 3G. Made a call at 2 bars, and couldn't be heard at the other end. Sounds like they will say it's just the network in my area, even though the map shows max coverage. Now I am stuck in a new network, that doesn't have any other phone that I like.

Here is an update: let's make our input on the link below on this issue, maybe it will attract some official attention and will get some official explanations, and maybe a resolve.

phandroid.com/.../htc-incredible-signal-strength-problems-vote

I came from using the Motorola Droid previously. I also noticed a loss in signal strenght, for example, in my apartment, on the MDroid the 3G icon was always active albeit my strength meter only showed typically 3 bars. On the Incredible the 3G icon was always grayed out. Always always.

But my main complaint of the phone is voice quality - even in areas with full bars the voice quality is WAY worse than the Motorola. So much so that I took the phone back. I love everything (almost) about the Incredible but I am not going to have a device that leaves me totally frustrated every time I have to talk to someone.

At work I regularly get calls from my wife and daughters. I used this scenario to test since I am so familiar with each one's reception. I live in Montana, one of my daughters lives in Austin and is on AT&T, my other daughter is on T-Mobile in NY. For each of them the voice quality is significantly degraded compared to the Motorola.

I find this completely unacceptable which is why I took the phone back to Verizon.

I did talk to Verizon tech support who then patched me over to HTC tech support.

Having spent a lot of time on the Motorola Droid forums reading people complain about the horrible sound quality of the Droid, I find this all very ironic.

Although my Incredible shows fewer bars than my Droid when they are side by side, I'm still not seeing any actual difference in performance. Voice quality seems the same or slightly better.

I think what this points out is that a) there's a lot of personal preference and b) it's always possible to get a bad unit.

So far, I am mostly happier with my Incredible. However, I'm full prepared to pay the $35 restocking fee at the end of 30 days if I decide it really isn't worth it.

I went to the Verizon store to purchase my first smart phone. I was going in for the Motorola Droid. I did not know that  knew phone was coming out, but it was the first day of sales for the Incredible. I have to admit, I loved the Incredible while playing with it in the Verizon store, much better than the Motorola Droid, so I purchased it. However, along with my bars bouncing from 1 to 3 to 0 and back to 1 in a matter of seconds, over and over and over, I am having poor call qaulity and reception. I have not had dropped calls, but the voice on the other end keeps cutting every few words out. When calling Verizon Wireless I could not even hear the numbers they told you to press to be connected to this service or that service. And when talking to the technician by phone, her voice kept cutting in and out such that I could not even carry on a normal conversation. I LOVE every thing else about this phone and amazed at how fast the internet is and going from screen to screen. But if I can't carry on a 5 minute phone conversation, sadly I have to return it.

I received my Incredible on Wednesday night and have been using it ever since with no reception or signal problems. I switched from a BB Curve and never had signal or reception problems with it except in a couple of known areas - had problems in those same areas consistently for 2 years, so I am sure that was a Verizon issue and not the Curve. I live in SoCal. Yesterday, I drove to Prescott, AZ and while I did experience a couple of moments of signal reception problems in desolate areas of the desert (I was playing with the phone the whole time sending photos, getting weather for my area, sending texts and calls), those moments were far fewer than I had with the Curve. Photos were uploaded to FB super fast. When I got to Prescott, which is a mountain town, and made a call in the Target, my call was dropped. However, I was speaking to my son who is on an iPhone and I lose his calls frequently anyway.

I received my Incredible on Wednesday night and have been using it ever since with no reception or signal problems. I switched from a BB Curve and never had signal or reception problems with it except in a couple of known areas, but had problems in those same areas consistently for 2 years, so I am sure that was a Verizon issue and not the Curve. I live in SoCal. Yesterday, I drove to Prescott, AZ and while I did experience a couple of moments of signal reception problems in desolate areas of the desert (I was playing with the phone the whole time sending photos, getting weather for my area, sending texts and calls), those moments were far fewer than I had with the Curve. Uploading photos to FB via HTC Sense was super fast. When I got to Prescott, which is a mountain town, and made a call in the Target, my call was dropped. However, I was speaking to my son who is on an iPhone and I lose his calls frequently anyway.

I am a VZ technician and I have to say that the reception is really an issue.  Places where my old BB Curve would have had a perfectly fine signal, my Incredible barely registers a signal.  I live in NYC and I am very used to being able to use my phone whenever I want.  I am pretty dismayed over this issue.  I will use the phone for the 30 day period and then decide if this is a deal breaker, but HTC and VZ Wireless need to address this issue!!

D.S.

Thanks for your reply. Kan you please keep us posted with further news coming from the "inside" if available? Thanks!