***Cingular testing 8707?***
 

Can anyone confirm this rumor? Any hearing a release date??:cap:

Different spectrum than the one used in Europe and I think they have limited UMTS locations so I am not sure how exciting this is?

Absolutely correct. Cingular operates UMTS/HSDPA on the 1900 and 850 bands along with their GSM/GPRS/EDGE, but at the time of writing, this is only in 16 markets. The rest of the world operates UMTS in the 2100 band, separate from their GSM/GPRS (and sometimes EDGE) deployments in the 900 and 1800 bands.

So essentially, any device destined for UMTS in the US will only be available in select markets, and it will have to be re-tooled by RIM to have the correct Qualcomm chipset.

well...not entirely true...i know of a certain phone that is Quad-Band 850/900/1800/1900, AND 850/1900 UTMS AND 2100 UTMS...ofcourse its not released and i cant reveal anymore info but dual band UTMS isnt tht unlikely

It's not the 8707 though, that is for sure.

Anyway, you mean tri-band UMTS. ;)

This is good to hear, I was afraid they would not be backwards compatible.

yes tri-band sorry...

My source at Cingular has said that they are currently the only company that has many active UMTS markets, but does not have many phones that support its data speed. Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, and the like have the technology in place, we just dont have the ability with our BB's to use it. There was no firm information from him on when the BB and other such "smart phones" would be released to use UMTS, but speculation puts it in the next six months or so. I was told that the reason for this lack of available technology in the phones is because the UMTS network is nowhere near nationwide, so it would only work in select markets. Oh, and he said not to worry.....the phones will be seamless with backwards compatability.

There are currently PC cards that are using this technology, just make sure that you dont end up with the ONE of them that will only use UMTS.

Personally, I would LOVE to be able to use a UMTS enabled BB in my beloved Seattle area!

Same here. I think (kinda know) that having a universal standard in data service would have the world on one big playing field. Now if Cingular would debut the availability, that would be awesome!

HSDPA is live a number of cities on Cingular, no? Just waiting for the handsets to catch up, I'm assuming.

...to an extent. they will only be backwards compatible, in regards to data, with the GPRS networks. while EDGE has been rolled out pretty much nationwide by Cingular and T-Mobile (atleast within their respective coverage areas), there is a huge hit to be taken by switching to a GSM/GPRS/UMTS handheld, if one plans to travel outside of major metropolitan areas.

these days, there are very few places i can find that i lose service completely. trips i used to take 3-5 years ago are now 95-100% covered, as opposed to 40-70% covered. those same areas have EDGE coverage, for the most part. while everyone and their mom and their grandmom and their dead aunt sally's dogs have cellular service, it is my opinion that we have too much of a competitive market to really see any fast adoption of technology by anyone across their entire network (trickle-down effect from 'quick' adoption in major markets to sloth-like adoption into smaller markets, if it ever even makes it there).

Like many others i would love to be able to use a UMTS enabled BB in my area too. Unfortunately like it has been discussed, we are just waiting for the handsets to catch up with the networks.

I agree that there is a disadvantage to using a device that is very capable within coverage areas due to the fact that you will lose those features when outside those areas. All of the technology is there to have a phone that would work across all bands, which would eliminate the need to carry two (or more) separate devices to meet all of your needs. I am really hoping for good things out of the up comming BB's. I am not going to jump onto the Q wagon nor will i claim that the BB is the end-all and be-all of wireless devices.

Im just another consumer waiting for something that fits my needs best. No matter what brand, name, or carrier brings that device out... It will be great for ME and thats all that anyone is looking for. Forget the drama, people are after different things and the horse many of us have been kicking has been dead since the release of the first flip phone.

You mean the HTC TyTN? Anyway, for phones/devices to be worldwide UMTS/HSDPA, they have to be tri-band 3G, because the US 2100MHz is not compatible with the international 2100MHz. I don't recall all the technical reasons (it's late), but either the uplink or downlink is on a different frequency/band. Currently, the unreleased TyTN is one of the few publicly known worldwide 3G devices.

if the frequency is 2100 mhz... it would have to be the uplink. 2100mhz is the same frequency where ever u go

I just went to buy the 7130c and asked about a date for a blackberry 3G device. The manager at the Cingular store first told me 3rd quarter 2006, then said something would be coming out in July or August. Then he backtracked and said that it would be a PDA, but maybe not a Blackberry.

So, here's the question: Buy the 7130c today or stick with my 7290 and wait for the full 3G device? Advice?

I love it when you speak with sales people...they have no clue! :smile:

IF speed is what you want...just wait for 3G.

If you decide to get the 7130c...make sure you like/can live with the SureType keyboard....I could not.

naw...know what? Im not even gonna say it, your not worth the time

The AWS spectrum is going to be 2100Mhz for the downlink and 1700Mhz for the uplink. Where as everywhere in the world 2100Mhz is both up and down link

I was excited with the 8707 but having used it for a few days while traveling overseas (it was a loaner), I didn't see much benefit it has over the 8700c/g that are currently available. The only advantage is that it operates in UMTS countries such as S. Korea and Japan which I do visit very frequently.

As for using it as a modem, maybe...but I prefer to use my HSDPA card which is 4-6 times faster when available.