Treo 700p Reception issues

[Rizzoku]

So I recently had my Treo 650 lost/stolen unfortunately, but it gave me an opportunity to upgrade to the 700p, I bought it used from someone and it's in great condition, with my treo 650 I had excellent reception and even the dingy 5 year old phone I was using before I got the newer treo had excellent reception, HOWEVER, my new Treo has literally NO reception, I used to have full bars in my apartment and now I barely have one and I have missed calls already and have had to go outside, it's not just my apartment but almost everywhere I go where I live (Long Beach, CA) I have never had reception problems until, I'm not sure if there is something wrong with the antenna that makes it have cruddy reception, I have dialed *228 and gone through that whole thing a couple times as well as updating the Treo's latest firmware (it is Verizon wireless network btw) I figure it's something wrong with antenna or something because reception has never been a problem where I'm at and now I barely get any signal I don't think I've ever seen it past 2 bars where I've gone. Is there anything I can do? maybe a new antenna? It's frustrating because I bought it and paid a decent amount for it and not sure what to do about that, I don't think I can get it replaced as I bought it from someone off craigslist so any suggestions? THANKS!

[benjie]

have you contacted the service provider to make sure it has the latest reception/cell site data installed?

Ben

[Rizzoku]

Yeah I did all that, so I opened up the antenna area and tried to see if there's anything wrong but I can't tell and if there is it probably is something deeper inside that I cannot see, I was thinking of ordering one of those short antennas to replace but I just don't want to install it for it to not be better, UGH!

[benjie]

The shorter antenna - I played with one on another device and yep, it is shorter and nope, I noted no difference. I would definitely get back with Verizon about the lousy reception. If you purchased the 700P from Verizon, is it still under warranty?

Ben