Problems with cell phone reception?

Lately I've been noticing friends and family experiencing problems with cell reception much more than before. None of them are using the same cell phone carrier so it's not related to just one particular company. However it could be that some of the newer cell phones with their internal antennas are not doing the same job as some of the older models with the older style antenna. I wonder that because my old model cell phone doesn't seem to have some of the same issues....