[davidlw]

I have a Edge BB from AT&T and where my office is, I cannot get good reception at all. I had to switch to Verizon and bought their BB and it works great. The problem is my employees and family all use AT&T so I cannot take advantage of free calls within the system. Why on earth can't Rim come out with a 3G phone for AT&T. 3G at my office works fine, most of the new AT&T phones are now 3G so what is the hold up with Rim? If they would come out with a 3G BB I could dump the Verizon BB which works great by the way, and go all AT&T and have free calls to my employees and family. What a freaky delima. Oh well I guess that I am stuck with 2 systems until Rim does the right thing.
David

[NJBlackBerry]

RIM builds what the carriers want to sell. There has been a 3G BB out for a while - just not on the US 3G frequency. When the GSM carriers have 3G fully rolled out, I am sure the 3G BB will follow.

[jibi]

Uno. Dos. Tres. Quatro. Cinco.

Wait until the May/June time frame and you'll be switching back to AT&T (more than likely, based on the previous year of WES then launch). With that said, it's very doubtful the technology gap between GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA will really benefit you by moving to a 3G frequency. If anything, it'll likely HURT you, as it's a much higher frequency thus it cannot travel as far in distance (more towers are needed for higher frequencies). This is why the very low-frequency VZW network works so much better than most other providers.

[ezrunner]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Yup
ATT towers 2 mile optimal range

VZW 3 mile optimal range

[Sith_Apprentice]

and for the record, EVDO is not 3g. at best its 2.5g.

As for the lack of 3g blackberries, RIM defines 3g as simultaneous voice and data. Wifi Berries accomplish this, as well as the 8707 that uses UMTS overseas.

[silver_2000]

if you get bad reception at work with 2g ATT device its really unlikely you will be in a 3g ATT area

[dstrauss]

AT&T announced yesterday(?) a major initiative to install over 1200 towers and fill in/expand 3g coverage nationwide (including huge upgrades in HSUPA high speed upload service). As the others have said, 3g signal penetration is lower than EDGE/GPRS, so 3g is not likely to help until the new tower improvements are made.

[davidlw]

OK will some of you that understand 2G and 3G explain the reason that this happened when I switched to a Motorola QH which is 3G, I could get good reception at my office. I am still using my AT&T 2G BB and I break up during conversations. I am also using the Verizon BB and it works fine where I am. With the AT&T Moto 3g it worked fine. So will I or won't I have better luck with 3G BB? I sure hope so, I want to be able to go all AT&T so that I can use it with family and employees etc. Please help me understand.

[RobM]

maybe a hardware defect...try changing the phone and see if you get the same problem...if you do, ask att about cell tower location to where you are and what the issue is, they can tell you over the phone...if all else fails, dont know what to tell you

[NCBuckeye]

How many times has a post ike this been posted...I would just get a new job, new location and you will fine. Why didn't you keep the Q if it helped you for free calls?

[davidlw]

Buckeye, the moto had sync problems. A windows issue, nuf said. As for the new job and new location, you know the answer to that.

[sidsub]

Originally Posted by davidlw

OK will some of you that understand 2G and 3G explain the reason that this happened when I switched to a Motorola QH which is 3G, I could get good reception at my office. I am still using my AT&T 2G BB and I break up during conversations. I am also using the Verizon BB and it works fine where I am. With the AT&T Moto 3g it worked fine. So will I or won't I have better luck with 3G BB? I sure hope so, I want to be able to go all AT&T so that I can use it with family and employees etc. Please help me understand.

1. Verizon is a different network, different towers, etc., so what generation it is has no relevance to your ability to make a call.

2. Whether it's 2G, 3G, 1G, whatever, a GSM phone call is a GSM phone call. It depends on the signal strength from the tower, and how well your phone can handle it. So, if the Moto on AT&T worked well, and the BB dropped, then the problem is with the BB's reception, not the network, and what kind of G's it has. As another poster pointed out, a different BB could help, maybe even another model, but it'll have nothing to do with what kinds of data throughputs you're going to get (which is what the 3G stuff is about).

[davidlw]

Sounds logical Sid thanks for the info.

[TJefferies]

Originally Posted by sidsub

1. Verizon is a different network, different towers, etc., so what generation it is has no relevance to your ability to make a call.

2. Whether it's 2G, 3G, 1G, whatever, a GSM phone call is a GSM phone call. It depends on the signal strength from the tower, and how well your phone can handle it. So, if the Moto on AT&T worked well, and the BB dropped, then the problem is with the BB's reception, not the network, and what kind of G's it has. As another poster pointed out, a different BB could help, maybe even another model, but it'll have nothing to do with what kinds of data throughputs you're going to get (which is what the 3G stuff is about).

That's not entirely true. While all 3G AT&T towers are supposed to have EDGE backbones, I have personally witnessed cases where EDGE reception was low but 3G reception was high. It is not the norm, and proper tower construction will not yield this result -- but I have personally witnessed it, so to say that it's impossible or that no matter what frequency it's interchangeable is incorrect and misleading for the poster.

There is a solid difference between EDGE and 3G, and it is absolutely POSSIBLE that you can be in an area where 3G reception is high and EDGE reception is low. Just because it's not SUPPOSED to happen doesn't mean that it can't, and to pretend that is the case doesn't really help any one.

If you reliably get better 3G connectivity than EDGE connectivity, there is likely a problem with the EDGE antennas or routers on your local tower and this should be brought to the attention of your cellular provider so that they can either replace the defective or non-spec antenna, or replace the cabling between the two.

There are a lot of things that can happen to a tower that would cause 3G data connectivity to be more reliable than EDGE, it's just that none of them are ever SUPPOSED to happen, so if you are experiencing it, you should report it...

The two frequencies use different base stations and antenna, so it's very possible that the EDGE antenna or base station is in error and the 3G base station and antenna are in a working state.

[dietcoke]

Take this with a grain of salt... I had an ATT Biz Advisor tell me through email that two new devices are coming out in sept/oct for att that have 3g,wifi,gps... I am awaiting an email for him to explain what is in each device... Also asked him when os 4.5 will be released for att blackberries.

i have my fingers crossed.

[SoxFan]

Won't a 3G AT&T Blackberry enable you to select the best/fastest network?

I would think if 3G is available it would access that, and if not, default to EDGE?

Isn't this what happens with EDGE, which can transmit data, and places where I can only use voice only.

My 8200 just broke. I am trying to decide whether to upgrade to a Curve 8310, which will be $80 with a two year contract, and then sell that one (unlocked for $200 in the summer?), and buy the next generation 3G one in summer. My guess is that will be about $500 without an upgrade and $300 with an upgrade...so, by that analysis, it would cost me $100 more or so to buy and use the curve thru the summer.

[NCBuckeye]

Originally Posted by SoxFan

Won't a 3G AT&T Blackberry enable you to select the best/fastest network?

I would think if 3G is available it would access that, and if not, default to EDGE?

Isn't this what happens with EDGE, which can transmit data, and places where I can only use voice only.

My 8200 just broke. I am trying to decide whether to upgrade to a Curve 8310, which will be $80 with a two year contract, and then sell that one (unlocked for $200 in the summer?), and buy the next generation 3G one in summer. My guess is that will be about $500 without an upgrade and $300 with an upgrade...so, by that analysis, it would cost me $100 more or so to buy and use the curve thru the summer.

Those 8200's had horrible quality.......

[ArgonNJ]

Originally Posted by ezrunner

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Yup
ATT towers 2 mile optimal range

VZW 3 mile optimal range

I assume your talking only about data. ATT and Verizon both operate in the 800mhz cellular band.

[SoxFan]

Originally Posted by NCBuckeye

Those 8200's had horrible quality.......

Yes. I had to buy a trackball out of China and replace it for $25 (AT&T wanted $400). Now the USB input is broken. AT&T won't stand by the warranty because they say the red dot means there's water damage when there never was any, and neither of these issues has to do with electronic functionality -- just cheap/broken parts.

[penpower]

Originally Posted by SoxFan

Yes. I had to buy a trackball out of China and replace it for $25 (AT&T wanted $400). Now the USB input is broken. AT&T won't stand by the warranty because they say the red dot means there's water damage when there never was any, and neither of these issues has to do with electronic functionality -- just cheap/broken parts.

I don't think you got what he said - a 8200? you meant 8100 right?