[C150J]

Hi all -

Just got a pearl and have a question. I'm a pilot (all of the East Coast and Midwest) and see that a lot of the areas I fly to are "T-Mobile Roaming" areas... does push email work when the device is roaming? Otherwise, I might return the thing.

Thanks!
J.

[NJBlackBerry]

I fly around the US (and the world) quite a bit and have no issues with T-Mobile "roaming" anywhere. In fact, I don't recall seeing a roaming indicator anywhere in the US. Of course, I generally am in or near major cities or highways and not in remote areas.

[aiharkness]

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I have national voice and the BB data plan with TMO. No problems with either. Even when connected through another carrier.

[rambo47]

All your services should work as if you're on your home network. It wasn't always this way, but T-Mobile and Cingular have put their little heads together and realized that with a little cooperation they can get along and even earn some extra $$ with roaming fees. I don't know how it is for other carriers, especially outside the U.S., but you should be good to go with your Pearl.

[PGChi]

Yes Rambo47 is correct. TMobile has partnership agreement with Cingular. One of the old phones I had, I forcibly selected Cingular network and used it for a few days just to confirm and never got any Roaming charges. My old 7105t I had used all over US and never got any roaming charges. However when I tried to use it in Canada I did incur roaming charges. Like NJBlackberry mentioned the roaming agreement is generally in big city areas. Even though your TMobile pearl may be be quad band but if you go in an area where TMo does not have a service and say Cingular does you will just not be able to use your cell at all (you will not incur roaming charges)

[PGChi]

Yes Rambo47 is correct. TMobile has partnership agreement with Cingular. One of the old phones I had, I forcibly selected Cingular network and used it for a few days just to confirm and never got any Roaming charges. My old 7105t I had used all over US and never got any roaming charges. However when I tried to use it in Canada I did incur roaming charges. Like NJBlackberry mentioned the roaming agreement is generally in big city areas. Even though your TMobile pearl may be be quad band but if you go in an area where TMo does not have a service and say Cingular does you will just not be able to use your cell at all (you will not incur roaming charges)

[John Clark]

Originally Posted by C150J

Hi all -

Just got a pearl and have a question. I'm a pilot (all of the East Coast and Midwest) and see that a lot of the areas I fly to are "T-Mobile Roaming" areas... does push email work when the device is roaming? Otherwise, I might return the thing.

Thanks!
J.

I, too, am a pilot...all over the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, etc. I never have any roaming (ie. paying for roaming)issues in the US. It is true that there isn't TMobile coverage everywhere in the US. North Carolina is one that comes to mind. In those cases there are other partner networks that my BB works fine on 98% of the time. Occasionally I run into the a GSM only network in the Midwest but most of the time have full GPRS covereage. As far as Cinuglar and TMobile I wish they had better partnerships. For example, in the Bay area there is no TMobile available but my BB roams fine on Cingular (even though it says T-Mobile and there are no roaming charges). However, in other markets where TMobile maybe doesn't have very good coverage Cingular is available but not useable. Generally when my BB says "Searching..." if I look in "network" under tools it says Cingular. My deduction: Cingular and TMobile have agreements only in certain markets (states or geographical areas). It would be nice if they could get along a little better and widen their agreements. I have a lot of large dead areas where there is no TMobile coverage but good Cingular coverage. However, I rarely see it the other way around so, really, why would Cingular want to do that. I would just go with Cingular but it isn't available where I live. But overall, TMobile works out great for me 95% of where I go. When I get to Europe, it's just like having a CDMA phone in the states! Coverage is awesome (as long as you don't mind paying the roaming charges)

It sounds like where you fly--larger urban areas along the east coast...TMobile will more than likely work out fine.

[C150J]

Thanks John - What equipment do you fly? I'll be starting on the CL-65 in a month. I'm glad you mentioned NC, as all my training will take place in Charlotte... haha!

J.