[hackorsack]

I'm currently on Sprint and I am generally happy with coverage and think I have great pricing (T-Mobile would be about $50 more a month for all four of my lines). I'm a phone junky and the Pearl is fantastic. I'm just wondering if it is worth jumping ship to get a great phone with okay service that is a bit more expensive. Work pays for my service mostly so that should be a "moot" point. I enjoy how the Pearl will go into my pocket....

Most of my worry is just about coverages/reception. I travel a lot to mostly big cities....

[orangedmb]

i got the pearl and kept my sprint phone.

i am using the pearl only for data and maybe in the future i will fully switch over.

[paulbblc]

I would say never switch carriers just to get a phone. Do some research for your area to see who has the better plans, reception coverage, etc. Those to me are more important.

If you find that Tmo has better or equal coverage and cheaper plans I'd say go for it.

Just my .02

[hackorsack]

Thanks for the advice. My T-Mobile coverage in the house is spotty, but I have a T-Mobile engineer coming to the house this afternoon to see if they can improve things. They said they would even do a repeater if needed. I think if they do this....I might have to switch. It is kind of crazy that T-Mobile is more expensive than Sprint....

[coreyg510]

From what I have heard. It isnt all its cracked up to be. A nice phone, but weaker reception and a weaker speaker. No thanks.


Gecko

[GMK]

Originally Posted by hackorsack

I'm currently on Sprint and I am generally happy with coverage and think I have great pricing (T-Mobile would be about $50 more a month for all four of my lines). I'm a phone junky and the Pearl is fantastic. I'm just wondering if it is worth jumping ship to get a great phone with okay service that is a bit more expensive. Work pays for my service mostly so that should be a "moot" point. I enjoy how the Pearl will go into my pocket....

Most of my worry is just about coverages/reception. I travel a lot to mostly big cities....

It is my understanding that the Sprint data plan is circa $40. The TMO data plan is $20. Maybe your 4 phone bundle is less with Sprint buit I think one on one TMO is less bucks. The downside, TMO has the worst coverage, but should be acceptable in most major cities.

[option94]

Wirelessly posted (Cingular 7130c: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

If you need a repeater in your house for t-mobile to work, you might want to stay with sprint.

[thejlw]

If you want a BB, why not just wait and get the 8703...to me $50 seems like a lot of jump up in price...thats $600 a year and $1200 extra if your signing a 2-year contract...

[alslsb]

I want to switch to TMO however 2 problems, coverage in my area and lack of true GPS (e.g. TeleNav) and voice control (Mobile Voice Control) which I have learned to love and depend on. The Pearl has Blackberry Maps and VAD, however they are not as robust as the Sprint equivalent

[splacko]

It's really all a matter of opinion. I left Sprint/Nextel cuz they were hittin my pockets up. T Mo was extremely cheaper for more options. I have the Pearl, but I'm going to get an 8700 because the Pearl is small for these big ol' mitts of mine (lol) But all in all, do what all the other members are saying. Do your research, and make the decision that's best for ya.

[topspeedtop]

i left nextel and went to tmobile for the 8700 and now the 8100. i love it. edge is great. im not use to evdo since nextel never had that. i do miss the direct connect but can learn to live with out it. i would jump ship and goto tmobile. they are great. they will do what ever to make you happy as a customer. the 8100 is great. by far the smallest and best blackberry on the market. even better then the 8700

[hackorsack]

As an update, two T-Mobile engineers just left my house. They confirmed that signal is weak inside of the house (worse than 95). Their only solution was to wait for UMA to ride over the wireless network. He showed me his Samsung UMA phone and said he didn' know when a BB on UMA would be released.

[flash24]

Hey if work pays for your service mostly then why not?? I mean.. if you love the phone then why not get it?

Ok.. this is my motto, If I really want something.. I will have it one way or the other lol :D

[rambo47]

Coverage is king. Without coverage from your carrier even the sexiest phone/pda becomes a "sexy doorstop". Out here in the wilds of northern New Jersey I get very good coverage with T-Mobile. But there are some towns farther northwest where only Verizon has a signal. If I'm not in one of these outlying regions (like Long Valley) at a rugby game or some such falderah then my TMO service is quite good.