Cell phone question

[LastManOut]

My contract with Sprint ran out long ago and am looking to lower my monthly bill.

T-mobile has a lower rate for what I want and I can get all new phones.

Anyone have experience with the Blackberry type phones, especially the Blackberry Flip-Phone? I have been told it is a teaser, disposable, designed to break after one year so you will upgrade to a better Crackberry phone.

This sounds kinda goony.

[Dredly]

I haven't used the new Blackberry flip phone yet but have extensive experience with the PERL and the CURVE (which I'm using now).

I like the Curve quite a bit, but the PERL had an excellent form factor for sliding into pockets. Generally speaking the blackberries are very reliable devices but they are only worth the money if you are going to do a lot of email on them (ie: work).

They do what they are designed to VERY well, and that is mobile email.

Coverage in your area with T-Mo should be great, if you do a lot outside the lehigh valley and off the major highways you may have some issues though, I'd suggest checking the coverage map.

oh and make sure you get a T-Mobile@Home phone if you aren't in great network coverage.

Let me know if you have any other questions

[D-FENS]

I have T-Mobile and use an iPhone with their service in Pittsburgh.

Why I like T-Mobile: First of all, they're the only company that didn't violate Federal law and hand over usage data to the NSA without consent or a court order. That's, of course, my primary reason for being with them. Additionally, their customer service has always been pretty good. Far far far better than dealing with AT&T (Cingular or whatever name they're using to escape their reputation). My coverage in Pittsburgh is just fine. When I travel to Center County, it's spotty on the trip but they team up with other providers in the area so I get great coverage in the mountains of Woodward, PA. I even check my mail when I am buck hunting . It's just spotty on the trip to and from. I think Verizon is about the only provider that you're going to get great road-side coverage with but at twice the cost

What I don't like about T-Mobile: No 3G in Pittsburgh yet and their EDGE network isn't very fast. Granted, I get what I need to, it's just not very fast. Then again, that's probably half iPhone and half shitty EDGE network. Like most phone providers, there's a bunch of extra taxes. My plan is $40 a month for 600 minutes, unlimited nights and weekends and $20 for unlimited data (slow data). $5 for 400 text messages. My bills are usually just over $75 a month.

As far as Blackberries go. I like em. I don't have one but I configure and support them for customers. They're pretty badass devices but maybe a bit much if you just want a basic communication device and not a full-featured communication device.

Emails are piling up. I'll have to leave my review here.

[dc dalton]

My son has had a Blackberry (no flip type) he got with his Verizon plan for over 2 years now and has never had a problem, this from a kid that broke 4 phones in 3 years when we were with AT & T

[david1]

I have the Treo 700 I think that is the number. Its from verizon and the reception is horrible, the internet service is slow, but the texting is great due to the key pad.

[Perkascene]

I got an iphone in Novemember, I really like it. Besides being able to do just about anything, it gets great reception pretty much everywhere. I love the voicemail on it, you get a list of voicemail received and the name or number of who left it, instead of dialing into a mailbox. I get all of my e-mail on it. Web access pretty much anywhere, it's great.

The GPS is super handy too. It comes with a pretty capable application built in. You can turn it on and set the map to satellite view, and see all your surroundings (from a satellites perspective) as you drive along. Turn-by-turn directions, etc. I even got a program for trailblazing. You turn it on, it makes a waypoint every X amount of yards you travel. You can set it to make a waypoint anywhere from every 5 yards to every 545 yards. All kinds of neat stuff is possible with it.

With unlimited date and a basic text messaging package, it's $90 a month. The voice portion of the bill gets cheaper if you have a family plan.

[Legion_Prime]

I've been on my parents T-Mobile family plan for a couple years now ($40 a month for more time than I'll ever use unlimited data and insurance) and got a BB Curve about a year ago. The BB fucking rocks, it blows everything else out of the water. The Tmobile@home routers are a great deal, got my parents into one with a rebate that came out to it being free. My experience making calls via WiFi . . . eh, the data via WiFi is exceptional and the calls are bearable.

[djturnz]

I think that Verizon has a better coverage area than T-Mobile, especially because they bought out Alltel.

I have an LG Voyager Titanium (version 2) . I love it. Full HTML Browser, mobile email, MP3 player, touch screen front with flip open to full qwerty keyboard.

To me, the only other thing a Blackberry does is it will work with an exchange server for work email. I can;t do that. but I can access my yahoo, gmail or any other web based email.

Also, a Blackberry requires a more expensive data plan than a non-BB phone.

It even beat out the iPhone in some comparisons, although I think that was the Voyager Black (first version) and the first version of the iPhone. Both are in new generations and I haven't seen any updated comparisons.

[Kaos]

I've carried a curve in business use (on call 24 hours a day) and it has some design issues that they addressed with the BOLD, which is what I am carrying now. Been carrying blackberries for work for over 4 years now.

The trackball retaining ring tabs can break and then you lose the ball....virtually rendering it useless.

If possible and affordable look at the bold. Keep in mind to fully utilize the blackberry you will need the unlimited data plan.

The bold has been great, the screen is sharper than the curve and has wifi in it as well (though I think the latest curve revisions do too). Alot of features are BB-OS dependent, but the Bold certainly performs well.

I drop a 16gb mini sd card in it and it doubles as a music player for me (and the mini sd card is easily accessible without powering the device off - unlike the curve.)

Takes decent pictures - video is slightly blurry.

For me the BB is a requirement for portable email and corporate data access while on call.

[mrwildroot]

I travelled between NYC and NC for years, and had nothing but problems with TMobile.
Their cust. svc was non-existant, and yet they continued to bill me for service I did not receive.
I went with Cingular (now ATT), and all problems disappeared....except Tmobile...even tho I was on month to month after completing my 2 yr service contract, they insisted that I could not close out my service w/o 90 day notice.
Tmobile was the worst!!!!
join them at your own risk.
mw