[supercrackberry]

I have a sudden need for a new phone and am looking to a BB7100 ( T-Mo) or perhaps a Treo 650 as I use a Palm PDA. I'm leaning toward the BB due to reliability, though it seems P1 has fixed some of the raft of trouble the 650 had. I've read here that it's now on Cingular, but have heard they're a customer srv nightmare. Does 7100t = 7100g or are there functional differences?

Primary question: What experience have forum members had with T-mo, esp on the East Coast? Their own coverage map shows very selective service. I need reception at least a few miles from downtown and preferably through the all Eastern US + major cities elsewhere.

Second: How's voice the *far end* voice quality on the 7100 compared to other cell phones? That is, how do you sound to the person you are speaking to? Rather important for a phone interview or similar transaction. This revealing comment makes me think twice about the 7100:

Originally Posted by barjohn

There are problems with voice quality and RIM is aware of them. A comparison with other phone only handsets will quickly reveal the voice quality issues. This is not to say it is unusable, just compared to some high quality phones the sound is not as good and the unit really falls down in a noisy environment. The screen is barely visible in bright sunlight. If you compare an SX-56, a Samsong i700, LG4500, XV6600, SCH -i600, MPX200 and SE P800 you will find it lacking. Compare it to a Treo 600 and it is a little better sounding. I have owned all of these at one time or another so my info is first hand. Most of the Motorola iDen phones sound much better too and have far better speaker phones. I can't comment on iDen BBs as I have not tried them for comparison.

Could this be varience in hardware quality, or is it that the 7100 is cheaper to build than the other BB models and voice is compromised?

Finally, has anyone here played with a fixed ( new ROM image ) Treo 650?
I've been waiting for some time for a phone/email/pda device worth shelling out for...is it finally here?

thanks

[Vycor]

Okay ive tried almost every blackberry there is.

Service, its about as good as any phone these days. You will get good service in big areas, not so good service in small areas (boonies), i wouldnt worry about service, because you'l get the same with any company in a normal city.

Voice quality, well there are things to be said. My nextel 7520 was louder but it was a newer style, but the 7100t feels more comfortable against your ear so you will be able to hold it better. The quality is good. I have no complaints and i complain about everything.

Notice however, bluetooth headsets could be louder. My 7520 i tried made the headset VERY loud, to the point where i had to lower the volume. My 7100t i wanna scream because i don't use it while driving, because i can't hear with the headset. And in NJ, its illegal to use cells now while driving.

It is slower then other blackberrys. If you want it only for business style emails and you don't care about cool ringtones, then i would suggestr getting another style blackberry. As you get emails and change menus, the 7100t is slower then other blackberrys, because it is kinda toned to be more graphical then others. There are better colors, better sounds so it takes a lil bit to process all that "cool" looking stuff.

Also, the keypad gets a lil getting used to, but i tell ya, once you go 7100 style typing,you wont want to go back. it really is nice and easy.

[supercrackberry]

Thanks!

What I want is the most reliable device for phone + POP mail with good RF and voice on both ends, plus hardware that stands up to normal use (such as being dropped occasionally).
Ring tones, games, timewasters ===> NO.
Some type of web access for mapquest etc is very helpful.
It's a plus if it doesn't look nerdy, but that's far down the list. Brickberries are ugly but accepted - it's understood why one has it.

Since you've been there + done that, which BB is the right one and how much with contract? Do you have a preferred carrier/plan?

regards,

Larry

[vbuckjr]

Cingular has swallowed AT&T so I would imagine if coverage is important then go with Cingular for better coverage not as good service but you shouldn't need much especially if you utilize this forum. I have been happy with T-Mobile but I am not anal on coverage have it where I need it, and have voicemail if not. 7100t have been very happy with Blackberry does it right when it comes to email especially if you don't have the luxury of the Blackberry Enterprise Server, the Blackberry Internet Server used to be called BWC=Blackberry Web Client for stand alone user works great. Speaker phone is great, and have had good luck with using Bluetooth with the Motorola HS810 headset. I have used it in the car just not with the windows down, I think that windows down would be hard to hear no matter what you use. Have a user at work with the 7100g (Cingular's model) Like the look and think the green send and red hangup keys are placed better. But I wouldn't switch from my blackberry 7100t for any other device at this point. Also I have upgraded my Blackberry OS from the 3.8 to 4.0 as soon as it arrived, improved syncing with Outlook.

[Vycor]

Im a T-Mobile customer. I pay $59.99 for my blackberry unlimited user and 1000 minutes. No enterprise (dont need it), enterprise is another $10/month.

When I was using nextle i had the 7520 which i grew to like, except for the fact that you CANNOT SMS (blackberry's nextels dont use SMS, i dont know why but you can receive SMS but you cant send or reply to them). Its a good solid phone. It has the 2-way build in, and its got all the keys. I actually liked having it on my side, but i wanted ringtones. It IS pricey though. First you need a phone plan. Then tack on a data plan for your blackberry emails. It was about $100 in the end with phone+blackberry.

So nextel has a more business style blackberry w/2way but its pricey.

Now t-mobile does have other blackberrys of course, and with that cheaper all-in-one plan its probably your best bet. I think T-Mobile has the best priced blackberry plans, but i havnt exactly looked at other carriers.

[sbpinbb]

I just recently moved from Sprint with a Treo 600 to TMO with the 7100t. The reception of the 7100t doesn't seem as good for me, but I've heard of a lot of people complaining about Sprint in my neighborhood. I think in general, the Treo got outstanding reception. However, I travel overseas and would have to take my phone and rent overseas if I was going to be there for a while... major pain. I think the coverage issue is really a toss-up. My Brother had been using a 7280 with AT&T, and I think the overage was a little better in our office and the battery life certainly stronger, but the 7100t is a gem to use!

I didn't like the feel of talking on the phone with the calculator style BBs. My Brother always used his handsfree, but it's not convenient for everyone. My only complaint with the 7100t is the battery life. Everything else stands up to the Treo for me, and it's lighter, screen is outstanding, I'm used to the suretype and find it's actually easier for me in comparison to the Treo.

I selected tmo to test 1st (business acct - 5 users - BES s/w) because their data rate is outstanding in comparison to ATT/Cingular. I've been pleased, not delighted, but pleased. I think the inside use of the 7100t could be better and think that and battery life extention could be the drivers of rev 2.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

[GTNTP]

I am using TMo with 7100t and have not problems. I travel a lot to major cities on business and have not noticed a bit of problem with reception. I do enjoy the e-mail feature as I need to be available for questions that come up at the plant. I am not using BES and it is working fine for me. The volume I ahve found seems to be location specific. I do not know why other than I can go to the same places and have to turn up the volume and go to others and have to turn it back down. As for ease of use I like the BB over the Treo in that I like the smaller form keypad which works great with Suretype. You have to trust the Suretype software and if you do you just keep typing and it figures out he word you wanted 99.9% of the time. We have sales people at our plant that use the Treo 600 and 650 and they ahve commented that they like the form and ease of use of the BB better.

My 2 cents worth.