Motorola V551 / V330 / V547 / V555 / V557

At the local Cingular store they had a five working models, the LG 1400i, Moto 551, 180 and two Nokia phones. Anyway out of the four working phones this one had the worst reception. It had no bars or displayed Cingular extended. All the other phones, including my three year old Sony T62U and the Moto V180 and a salesmans Moto Razr displayed at least two bars with the LG receiving the best signal at three-four bars. This was during a heavy rainstorm Now in Western MA we have very spotty service even in large cities due to the lack of towers, and the terrain. I am wondering if people have better luck with the reception with this phone. I like the features on it but don't want a phone that would be a expensive paper weight.

Chuck