All, can anyone share their experience with signal strength/phone reception on their 8700s? At home, my 7100 signal bar goes from 1 to nothing, and hope that the radio on the 8700 will keep the signal stable inside this poor reception area...

Cant say I have noticed a difference

The signal ability is better than the 7290 and maybe better than the 7100t; however, I don't have it anymore so I can't be certain. In my house I get from 1-2 bars on the 7290 and 2-4 bars on the 8700. The 7290 loses signal in several spots along my normal commute to work and so far the 8700 seems to keep a signal. The 7290 would occasionally drop calls in weak signal areas. I haven't had the 8700 long enough to see if it holds the call or not.

I find the 8700 perhaps ten to twenty percent stronger.

I'll second that, give or take. To put numbers to it, I'm getting -68 to -72dBm when I used to get -85 to -90 with the 7100g. I used to be able to drop a call very predictably by walking to a section of my house. Doesn't seem to happen anymore. You can get the dBm from BBToday, closer the number is to 0 the better.