[blackbelt]

as far as speed goes, a lot of people on the web have clocked higher speeds with Sprint... I've been using it for the past two months, it's been working well so far... also the price includes phone as modem, as mentioned above...

[DiRN]

Keep in mind that if you wish to use your 8700 instead of getting a wireless broadband card for your laptop, you will be limited to GSM providers. If you want Sprint or Verizon your only option will be the card.

[Need]

Originally Posted by DiRN

Keep in mind that if you wish to use your 8700 instead of getting a wireless broadband card for your laptop, you will be limited to GSM providers. If you want Sprint or Verizon your only option will be the card.

His 8700 won't work for Sprint or Verizon, but he could get the CDMA version 8703e to use phone as modem. If he is a new Sprint customer, he could get the 8703e for free buying from ebay and port his number over. After that, he could sell his 8700 on ebay to get back some money too. ;)

[southwestcomm]

Huh? Both VZ and Sprint offer the 8703e. Sprint also includes PAM at no additional cost.

Originally Posted by DiRN

Keep in mind that if you wish to use your 8700 instead of getting a wireless broadband card for your laptop, you will be limited to GSM providers. If you want Sprint or Verizon your only option will be the card.

[DiRN]

Yes, VZW and Sprint both support the 8703e, but that was not the question.

which provider is best to go with if all i want is either a card for my laptop or to use my 8700 as a laptop modem?

I merely pointed out that considering those two options, apasic's 8700 would only work with a GSM provider.

[Outrigger]

also remember that going with vzw or sprint you will need to add a voice plan as they don't do data plans only, not sure if this will be a problem. But cingular and tmobile have data only without adding a voice plan to it. if you travel that much and especially outside of the cities, you won't find evdo EVERYWHERE. but the ONLY way to tell is to get it on a trail basis and do the traveling to see if you get the coverage you need.

[TellarHK]

I would definitely suggest T-Mobile instead of Verizon (or pretty much anyone else) due to Verizon's desire to squeeze every last dime out of customers. It was worth it to myself and my partner to pay $175 each to get out of Verizon contracts because they were such an abusive company to customers. Locked phones, charges for -anything- you wanted to do, and a miserable broken phone policy.

Sprint may be a good choice for some, and T-Mobile definitely isn't as fast as some of the other networks, but as far as dealing with customers, T-Mobile's definitely ahead of the pack.

[mgerbasio]

T-Mobile was great for me. I have more dropped calls with Cingular in a day than in a month with T-Mobile. That being said, if he isn't always near a major city as mentioned above, T-Mobile isn't the network for him. I don't know if they have EDGE rolled out everywhere or just rely on GPRS. For 3g they're going to be using UTMS (slower) not HSDPA (like EVDO Rev A).

Regards-Michael G.

[apasic]

wow lots of insight up until the last post i was thinking tmobile for sure, because id rather have edge all the time than evdo only some of the time ... but now theres mention of edge not being rolled out everywhere with tmobile

is this the general concensus? i figured if theres gsm there is edge, i cant remmber using my 8700 in canada or usa and it not being edge .. anywhere. but that has been cingular and rogers

[mymitsu3kgt]

I have Tmobile in RI and there are some areas away from cities and more populated towns that my 8700g drops down to GPRS. I have EDGE for about 95% of the time. It's weird though cause there are some opposite cases like when I travel to the middle of no where in Vermont but I have a solid EDGE signal.

[mgerbasio]

I haven't used T-Mobile for about two years so you'd do better to check on HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource or look for coverage on the T-Mobile site. I had more grps data than EDGE back then when I used it. As for EDGE, in my opinion it isn't fast enough for anything more than email.
From the hype, especially by Sprint, I find it hard to believe you won't have EVDO by Sprint or Verizon where you'll even find a T-Mobile signal. I know T-Mobile in the last year has made a big push to expand coverage with roaming agreements and where they have service, I found it to be VERY good if not excellent. But in data they are too far behind to be a competitor. You also need to make sure their roaming partners also offer EDGE. They have excellent customer service so you can try calling.

Regards-Michael G.

[apasic]

Originally Posted by mgerbasio

I haven't used T-Mobile for about two years so you'd do better to check on HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource or look for coverage on the T-Mobile site. I had more grps data than EDGE back then when I used it. As for EDGE, in my opinion it isn't fast enough for anything more than email.
From the hype, especially by Sprint, I find it hard to believe you won't have EVDO by Sprint or Verizon where you'll even find a T-Mobile signal. I know T-Mobile in the last year has made a big push to expand coverage with roaming agreements and where they have service, I found it to be VERY good if not excellent. But in data they are too far behind to be a competitor. You also need to make sure their roaming partners also offer EDGE. They have excellent customer service so you can try calling.

Regards-Michael G.

thanks for the input, im definetely going to talk to them . all the websites that mean anything to me are mostly text based and load within a few seconds on EDGE so i really cant complain for the speed, coverage is my only issue.

[TellarHK]

If you can base even part of your decision on whether the carrier is scummy, count Verizon out. Sprint might be a decent option, but Verizon -will- screw you. Somehow.

[Dodge DeBoulet]

Originally Posted by TellarHK

If you can base even part of your decision on whether the carrier is scummy, count Verizon out. Sprint might be a decent option, but Verizon -will- screw you. Somehow.

Having been a Verizon Wireless customer for many, many years and through a number of its incarnations, this statement surprises me. While Verizon seems to charge for some features that are included on other carriers' plans, they're certainly not underhanded about it; they're clearly spelled out up front.

My dealings with their customer service have been consistently good; I've never had a problem getting charges reversed, features added/removed, or billing issues dealt with to my satisfaction.

[mgerbasio]

Here's my experience: I found Verzion's cell service to be excellent. The customer service is very good. I had used them from back when they were Bell Atlantic switching for short times to AT&T (prior to Cingular) and Nextel. Always going back to Verzion.
Then I started dealing with a couple of their corporate stores and always walked away with a feeling that I somehow got shafted. A lot of fast talking after a lot of waiting, discussing what phone and features "were right" for me when I knew what I wanted. The phones were always too far behind in technology, how long did it take to get the first bluetooth phone? Then crippling features started. God forbid you should need a new phone in the middle of the contract.

T-Mobile's customer service is very good too, but their coverage is lacking. I would have gladly kept T-Mobile if I could roam on Cingular and happily would have paid an additional 0.70 per minute as it isn't frequent. I need to have Cingular now anyway so that's a moot point.

Lastly Cingular's CS is good. If they can get a bill correct it would be terrific. Every month my bill is a surprise. I spend an hour on the phone trying to figure out what they added, or changed, to make my bill different from month to month. It isn't fun. Since June it has been horrible with my service cut off twice but this month it finally looks good.

Regards-Michael G.

[TellarHK]

Originally Posted by Dodge DeBoulet

Having been a Verizon Wireless customer for many, many years and through a number of its incarnations, this statement surprises me. While Verizon seems to charge for some features that are included on other carriers' plans, they're certainly not underhanded about it; they're clearly spelled out up front.

My largest problem with them was the crippling of handsets. I had the Motorola E815, which was probably one of the best phones Motorola'd made at that point. It had support for OBEX bluetooth file exchange, several of the profiles supported - and Verizon crippled everything worth getting the phone for. And they weren't particularly up front about it. The crippled features were always buried in the fine print and they even had to settle a class action suit over the E710 predecessor model when they didn't say -anywhere- that they were crippling features.

And of course, with Verizon you often have BREW software - any application you want to run on your phone is going to cost money, because they need to be signed by Verizon.

Not to mention the fact that a camera lens shattered on my phone for some unknown reason, and they wouldn't cut me any deals on a decent replacement that weren't at least the price of getting a new phone with a new provider.

[TellarHK]

Originally Posted by mgerbasio

T-Mobile's customer service is very good too, but their coverage is lacking. I would have gladly kept T-Mobile if I could roam on Cingular and happily would have paid an additional 0.70 per minute as it isn't frequent. I need to have Cingular now anyway so that's a moot point.

That's rather odd, seeing how my phone spends more than half the time I use it on a Cingular tower or another. Seems to me that at least in this area (Northern Nevada) they share towers.

[mgerbasio]

Yes, T-Mobile and Cingular do have roaming agreements mostly where one has coverage but the other doesn't. For example, I can't roam on Cingular in NJ where T-Mobile has (had?) poor coverage in the central-sothern part of the state where Cingular has good coverage.

Regards-Michael G.

[secrecyguy]

Verizon and Sprint is your best choice if you want fast data connection but you also pay alot for it.

For Verizon, it's $79.99 that includes voice and data. It comes with 450 minutes.

The next step up is $109.99 with 1350 minutes.

For Sprint, it's $59.99 plus the voice plan whichever you choice.

T-mobile is the cheapest one to go to but you also have slow data connection. You probably will get around 128k.

T-mobile have several different plans. This only apply to Blackberry only. You can get 1000 whenever minutes with voice and data for $59.99 or $79.99 for 1500 whenever minutes. It also includes unlimited text messaging.

You can also get $20 add on Blackberry plan to your voice plan but it does not include unlimited text messaging.

[Dodge DeBoulet]

Originally Posted by TellarHK

My largest problem with them was the crippling of handsets. I had the Motorola E815, which was probably one of the best phones Motorola'd made at that point. It had support for OBEX bluetooth file exchange, several of the profiles supported

Not by Verizon, obviously.

- and Verizon crippled everything worth getting the phone for. And they weren't particularly up front about it. The crippled features were always buried in the fine print and they even had to settle a class action suit over the E710 predecessor model when they didn't say -anywhere- that they were crippling features.

I beg to differ. While I agree that the phone was delivered by Verizon without features that it was technically capable of providing, the profiles supported were plainly listed in the phone's details on the VZW web site. You'll also note that every phone manufacturer has a disclaimer stating that features will vary by provider. I know, I bought an E815 within a week of its initial release.

And of course, with Verizon you often have BREW software - any application you want to run on your phone is going to cost money, because they need to be signed by Verizon.

And this is deceptive/misleading how?

Not to mention the fact that a camera lens shattered on my phone for some unknown reason, and they wouldn't cut me any deals on a decent replacement that weren't at least the price of getting a new phone with a new provider.

My, my. You broke your phone and expect Verizon to cut you a deal? Ever hear of insurance? Or taking responsibility for your own actions? My beloved VX4400 fell overboard while I was stowing the fenders on my sailboat 2 summers ago. Who should cut me a deal, my boat manufacturer, Verizon, or Poseidon?