[Michael.Bauer.127]

I got my 8310 about 2 weeks ago and I read here that blackberry's aren't 3G. But my dad just got his pearl 8110 today and he asked me if it was 3G. I told him no, but he decided to call support anyway because the sim card had 3G on it. About 3 min later, he tells me that support said the blackberry is 3G enabled. True? False?

[NickfromIL]

False. And all the 3G on the SIM card is is basically advertising that the AT&T network is 3G, not the device.

[JSanders]

No, false.

The card might say it, but the device is not.

[Michael.Bauer.127]

I thought so too. I asked this when I got mine if you remember and that's what I told him. But he still called support. I guess AT&T support isn't so smart.

[JSanders]

They tell you what you want to hear? How odd

[Michael.Bauer.127]

Well I guess my dad will be in for a bad surprise. He's a business man and has tons of contacts on his old phone so he was hoping it was 3G so he could just switch sim cards, and when the support person told him, he was at ease. Oh boy.

[penguin3107]

Wirelessly posted (Breaking Ball)

What does 3G have to do with moving contacts or SIM cards between phones?

Maybe you're confused as to what 3G is?

[doe4040]

3G generally means that that sim card can work at 3G speeds in a 3G-grade phone...

New BB series' are though =D

[Dubdub]

If he had a regular cell phone and the contacts are stored on the SIM, then he will have trouble getting them tot he BB, unless he can sync his old phone with Outlook and then sync the BB with Outlook Not very easy to go from SIM to BB direct. I think you have to go one at a time or some such nonsense.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Dubdub

If he had a regular cell phone and the contacts are stored on the SIM, then he will have trouble getting them tot he BB, unless he can sync his old phone with Outlook and then sync the BB with Outlook Not very easy to go from SIM to BB direct. I think you have to go one at a time or some such nonsense.

This is not the case at all. My wife went from a basic Samsung to an 8700, and we simply switched SIMs and ran the SIM Address Import on the BlackBerry. All of her contacts came over (in all caps), with no additional steps.

[Trimix]

I don't really know much about 3G, but is it really that much better over EDGE? I heard that speed wise 3G may not be that much quicker than EDGE and that it takes a while to connect sometimes, whereas EDGE is pretty much an instant connection.

[wjackson81]

Isnt EDGE considered 2.5G (not that that even makes sense)?

[wjackson81]

OK, correction.

According to wikipedia
"EDGE is generally classified as 2.75G, although it is part of ITU's 3G definition"

[wjackson81]

And some further clarification, also from wikipedia...

"In addition to Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), EDGE uses higher-order PSK/8 phase shift keying (8PSK) for the upper five of its nine modulation and coding schemes. EDGE produces a 3-bit word for every change in carrier phase. This effectively triples the gross data rate offered by GSM. EDGE, like GPRS, uses a rate adaptation algorithm that adapts the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) according to the quality of the radio channel, and thus the bit rate and robustness of data transmission. It introduces a new technology not found in GPRS, Incremental Redundancy, which, instead of retransmitting disturbed packets, sends more redundancy information to be combined in the receiver. This increases the probability of correct decoding.

EDGE can carry data speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s for 4 timeslots (theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit/s for 8 timeslots) in packet mode and will therefore meet the International Telecommunications Union's requirement for a 3G network, and has been accepted by the ITU as part of the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards. It also enhances the circuit data mode called HSCSD, increasing the data rate of this service"

[JSanders]

Correct, EDGE is not 3G speed. EV-DO is almost 3G.

As far as copying contacts from a SIM, it is simply and happens all in one swoop. It is copying your Address Book contacts BACK to your SIM card that is one at a time.

[Dubdub]

Thanks for the update. I guess I had it backward. Is this something new with the newer BBs? I thought when I got my first one a few years ago, it was one at a time in.

[Dubdub]

Originally Posted by wjackson81

And some further clarification, also from wikipedia...

"In addition to Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), EDGE uses higher-order PSK/8 phase shift keying (8PSK) for the upper five of its nine modulation and coding schemes. EDGE produces a 3-bit word for every change in carrier phase. This effectively triples the gross data rate offered by GSM. EDGE, like GPRS, uses a rate adaptation algorithm that adapts the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) according to the quality of the radio channel, and thus the bit rate and robustness of data transmission. It introduces a new technology not found in GPRS, Incremental Redundancy, which, instead of retransmitting disturbed packets, sends more redundancy information to be combined in the receiver. This increases the probability of correct decoding.

EDGE can carry data speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s for 4 timeslots (theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit/s for 8 timeslots) in packet mode and will therefore meet the International Telecommunications Union's requirement for a 3G network, and has been accepted by the ITU as part of the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards. It also enhances the circuit data mode called HSCSD, increasing the data rate of this service"

Last time I checked on ATT, the theoretical max was 384 kbps. No big deal as we won't see that anyway.

[greggebhardt]

Originally Posted by Dubdub

Last time I checked on ATT, the theoretical max was 384 kbps. No big deal as we won't see that anyway.

You are right there. You would have to climb the tower and hold your device up to the antenna!

[takeshi]

(nevermind)

[takeshi]

Originally Posted by Michael.Bauer.127

I told him no, but he decided to call support anyway because the sim card had 3G on it.

A 3G SIM cannot transform a non-3G device into a 3G device. The SIM does not contain 3G radio hardware.