mrdeeno

Ok, got a little dilemma...

looking into getting either a blackberry or PDA phone, but having a hard time figuring out the best plan for me.

I currently have Cingular with 450min and rollover (i have like 2000 rollover minutes 'cuz i was in China for months last year). I want pretty much just email/internet/text, but no need for corporate email.

If i keep my current voice plan and rollover minutes, i can get a blackberry phone (not the wide ones, one of the thin ones...71xx models). The voice plan is $39.99, but the blackberry plan for non-enterprise is 34.99, so total per month before taxes would be about $75.

I checked T-mobile and they have a much simpler plan...1000 minutes (but no night/weekend) with unlimited email/internet for about $60 before taxes. They also have a 600 min. voice plan with nights/weekends, and the internet/fax plan for non-enterprise with that would total also about $70.

So my problems are

1) if I go with the T-mobile $60 plan, will 1000 min. without night/weekend be enough? I checked my current usage and average less than 1000 total (regular+night/weekend) min. per month, but four months out of the last 2 years I went close to 2000 min.

2) The $70/mo T-mobile plan sounds like a better option for me, but again, but I can always upgrade to this if the $60 plan doesn't cut it. Ironically, they also offer a 1000min without night/weekend voice plan, and if you get that and the internet/mail plan separate, it also costs $70...but then they ahve the same 1000min. with blackberry mail/internet for $60.

3) I still have 3 months left on my 2-year cingular contract (i'm in a non-prorated state), but I can still upgrade without paying a penalty, but do I want to pay an extra $5 per month for this option?

4) I have not had a problem with Cingular, but most people I know have Cingular, Nextel/Sprint, or Verizon, so I don't have any opinions about T-mobile in my area (they do exist, but I just don't know anybody). I am concerned about the coverage and quality around the NE PA area. Anyone here have any opinions?

Any suggestions?

PolishPete

Well if you are looking for something with the enterprise activation, you might want to stick with a BB becuase of the push function...however the Motorola Q supposedly has the push email also. Treo (PDA type) phones are nice, but you need to login to your email to check it, it won't let you know when you get email like the Treo. I work for Sprint, so I'll recommend them. $39.99 for Unlimited data plan on top of your voice plan...but if you hae a 450 min. plan now, you could try the 39.99 F & F plan for $39.99. But since it is fair and flexible, if you go over they charge you $5 and give you 50 min...so that is only 10 cents a minute overage vs. T-Mobile which is 40 cents overage. Also, this plan include no roaming charges, N&W starting at 7 pm, and free long distance. What company do you work for, Sprint gives discount to like 10,000 companies. Even Abercrombie & Fitch gets a discount.

mrdeeno

I work for flsmidth. my company has a deal with cingular, but they like treos. I think they have somekind of "push" feature because when i travel, my coworkers with treos would get their email "pushed" to their phones and they didn't have to log into anything...but it may just be the company system or an outlook setting set up for forwarding.

I ended up getting a 7130c blackberry with cingular. They had a $5 voice discount with the blackberry plan, so it ends up being about $70/mo for the 450min and unlimited blackberry plan ($34.99 for BB non-enterprise + $39.99 voice - $5 voice discount). But text messaging (SMS) wasn't included (that's what they told me), so I got the 200 message plan for $4.99. I still have almost 2000 rollover minutes, so 450min/mo is plenty. I didn't get the BES because my company doesn't support it, but I'll just set my work email to forward to my BB email. I gotta call up HR to ask them about the cingular discount (i don't remember it being much...5% maybe?). they require some code or something and when the cingular lady looked it up, the one she had was expired.

I got a pretty good deal on the 7130c too...($350 w/o contract), $150 off with 2yr contract and i had a $50 good customer gift card, so total for the BB ended up being around $150.

I thought about going to T-mobile since they'd be the cheapest by about $5-10 month to month, but then i'd be hit with the cingular cancellation charge ($150) and also lose my rollover minutes, plus I don't know how T-mobile is in my area and heard it is only ok around here. I checked out Verizon, which I think has the best voice quality around here (I was with them for 5-6 years before switching to Cingular), but I watched as their customer service quality went downhill and the price isn't worth it. As for Sprint, they aren't that big around here yet, and I only know a few people who have them vs. the number of people I know with cingular. But again, I'd be hit with $150 charge if I went with any of them (my 2yr. contract would've been up in December).

mrdeeno

the 7130c is a pretty cool blackberry. it's exactly the same width as the RAZR and about 1/2" longer. The qwerty board is taking time to get used to though. And after having a RAZR, any other phone made of plastic will not feel the same.

The bluetooth works a lot better with my car...but I got the RAZR almost 2 years ago...I was one of those stupid people who paid $499 for one, so the bluetooth system is probably better with the new phones.

The screen is pretty bright (my background is a partial punisher skull) but still kinda small for web browsing. But my buddy was able to go to some porn sites with it and look at pictures, so I guess it's decent. The only thing I'm concerned with is the memory, so i have all my ringtones on my website and just go to my website to download if i want to change ringtones.

I already have my hotmail set up to push to it, and i was giong to do my work email but forgot to bring my security token home.

The software with it sucks though. The RAZR software is much easier to use, you can upload and download stuff to the phone easily. The BB software is just for backing up and loading programs or themes.

And I have been using motorola phones since I got my first phone, so it is a little different going to a completely different brand and takes some getting used to. But for a total of $150 vs. $499 for the RAZR, i'm pretty happy with it.