OK, I have a T-Mobile phone that got terrible reception (no bars) when I went out to the country. However my son just got a T-Mobile phone and he gets a connection. I noticed his was a quad band phone so I decided to bit the bullet and get one as well. Well I went out to the country and I am still getting zero bars. I didnt get his style but I did get a quad band phone. We have different prefixes, would that make the difference? or is there something else I am missing? not much cell phone knowledge

If by prefix, you mean the area code or exchange of your phone number, then no, that's not the issue

check your phone model against the frequency used in said country

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands
"country" and "quad model" dont help us help you.

quad band has nothing to do with it. It's the phone model. Basically, some models get better reception than others. Your best bet would have been to buy the same model your son had if he received decent reception.