Unlocked Blackberry -Any Suggestions for Service Providers

[BullGoose]

I just received delivery of an unlocked Blackberry Bold and was planning to use Net10's Unlimited Talk, Text and Data until I read the fine print...Net10 service will not work with a Blackberry.

I am brand new to the world of unlocked phones and was hoping to tap into the collective wisdom of B&B members regarding my options. This will be a secondary cell phone used strictly for business (I have an iPhone on Verizon for my personal cell). Any suggestions?

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

The Bold name was used on more than one model. You need to find the model number, then look that up on the BB website as to which modes and bands it supports. You are probably looking at a VZW or ATT unit, but have to match the model with the proper carrier or it will not work properly....

Stan

 

[BullGoose]

Hi,

The Bold name was used on more than one model. You need to find the model number, then look that up on the BB website as to which modes and bands it supports. You are probably looking at a VZW or ATT unit, but have to match the model with the proper carrier or it will not work properly....

Stan

I ended up getting the BB 9790 which runs on either the AT&T or T-Mobile network. Since this is a secondary cell, I was not sure if I should try a 3rd party service or just bite the bullet and go with AT&T.

 

[KQY61]

I ended up getting the BB 9790 which runs on either the AT&T or T-Mobile network. Since this is a secondary cell, I was not sure if I should try a 3rd party service or just bite the bullet and go with AT&T.

Hi,

Ok. The 9790 has two sub models. One for TMUS and one for ATT. The UMTS radio bands are different, so we cannot cross that up or you will lose your high speed data. We will figure this out offline....

Stan

 

[Galhatz]

T-mobile coverage is very poor and I ended up biting the bullet and paid double early cancellation charges. It was worth it. They might ''check your address for coverage'', it means nothing.
I'm not at&t's biggest fan, but they were far better than t'mobile.
Though not an option in your case, Verizon is the best IMO and sprint is pretty good too.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

Turns out his unit is ex Fido, so the bands align with AT+T.

Stan

 

[aihpcfl]

Additionally, in case it wasn't communicated offline, the legacy BBOS generally requires a BlackBerry data plan (specific data service for BlackBerry) in order to use the BlackBerry data services, such as the native email, etc. Sometimes it depends on the service provider as to what services may work without the BlackBerry data plan, and some carriers offer plans with lesser services such as social plans. Generally, there may be non-BlackBerry data apps (third-party email, for example) that will work on the carriers regular mobile data. Additionally, if it wasn't complicated enough, some carriers prevent wifi use if there is not a data plan on the line. I don't know the details about AT&T practices, nor any other carriers. Bottom line, BlackBerrys are different, and even more so the legacy models.

I have to say something about T-Mobile. Any customer of mobile phone services needs to check coverage where they live, work, and play before buying. They also need to talk to friends, family, and acquaintances and find out what the services is actually like. That applies with any carrier. It doesn't matter if someone in another part of the country has great service if the same carrier's network in your location is unreliable. As with shaving, do your own homework.

 

[rockviper]

Stay away from the Canadian service providers!

 

[Slash McCoy]

I find Tmo to be much better than ATT at taking care of the customer. I was rocking the $50/mo pay as you go deal, and they helped me set up my unlocked iphone with free tethering and stuff back when I was rocking my first iphone. Now I am doing the Droids and still on tmo, but doing the $2/day deal, unlimited everything (not 4g tho) and I don't pay anything for days I don't use the sim. Put in $100 and the credit is good for a year to keep the account open so if I am out of the country for a few months, I don't pay anything and don't lose my number, and meanwhile I can just pop a local sim in the device to use a local pay as I go account in whatever country I am in. ATT treated me like crap when I tried to use my iphone without a commitment plan. So I ditched them. tmo gives me the best deal.

Have you thought about upgrading from the blackberry to a nice Samsung droid? It is a much more capable and flexible device, and even more so if you root it and unlock it. Blackberry is really so last month. And there is the issue with needing an actual blackberry data plan to use a lot of the features.

 

[BullGoose]

I find Tmo to be much better than ATT at taking care of the customer. I was rocking the $50/mo pay as you go deal, and they helped me set up my unlocked iphone with free tethering and stuff back when I was rocking my first iphone. Now I am doing the Droids and still on tmo, but doing the $2/day deal, unlimited everything (not 4g tho) and I don't pay anything for days I don't use the sim. Put in $100 and the credit is good for a year to keep the account open so if I am out of the country for a few months, I don't pay anything and don't lose my number, and meanwhile I can just pop a local sim in the device to use a local pay as I go account in whatever country I am in. ATT treated me like crap when I tried to use my iphone without a commitment plan. So I ditched them. tmo gives me the best deal.

Have you thought about upgrading from the blackberry to a nice Samsung droid? It is a much more capable and flexible device, and even more so if you root it and unlock it. Blackberry is really so last month. And there is the issue with needing an actual blackberry data plan to use a lot of the features.

The blackberry may be old school but, the push email and qwerty keyboard are an advantage if you are sending a lot of emails. I already have an i-phone as my personal smartphone but want a blackberry as my business cellphone. The Droids are excellent phones and I may replace my Iphone with a Droid when the time comes.

 

[Slash McCoy]

The iphone is getting more and more difficult to liberate from the restrictions that apple artificially places on the device. With each new version of the OS, it is more complicated to come up with a package for jailbreaking the device, and without jailbreaking, you don't have a pocket computer. You only have a phone that can do a few other tricks. The Android OS is much more open. There is a lot of support in the community and even from Google, for rooting androids. The official android app store even lists apps that require root access. The only reason they aren't all rooted from the factory is to keep utter newbies from trashing the file system, but even that is generally easily fixed with a restore. My droid will accept a 64GB SD card. If I run out of space or I want to transfer a bunch of files to a computer or another droid, I can simply attach a 128GB thumb drive. I can easily find app installation files and back them up, without special apps to navigate the file system. I can download my shows via ftp, nntp, p2p, whatever, as fast or faster than my laptop can do. I can check file integrity with par2 files, and extract from multipart rar archives, manually or automatically. I can convert video or audio from one format to another. I can use file managers that give me every option or ability that a full computer file manager can give me. I can copy movies directly from my puter to my droids, using nothing more cryptic or complex than plain ordinary windows explorer. I can easily open and edit pdf, excel, word, powerpoint, whatever files. My droid IS a computer, a computer that fits in my shirt pocket and runs all day without a power cord, that I can also make phone calls on, as well as send texts, pics, etc. A Bluetooth keyboard is simple and convenient to set up, but I don't bother. After heavy use for a few months, you don't really miss the hardware clickety clack keyboard. The iphone is an incredible piece of hardware, even though it is painfully small, but apple severely cripples it and it is very very last month, quaint and antiquated right out of the box. The blackberry? I don't even know if anybody has bothered to find an exploit for gaining root access to the blackberry. The only thing going for it is the tactile keyboard, which is not missed after a few months of heavy thumb typing on a Note3 or S4 or Mega. Push email? Got that on my droid. Don't use it. Rather get my email when I am ready to get it. Iphone even has push email capability. So no points to the bb. The only real advantage of your bb is you already own it, so you don't have to go out and buy it. Of course, with zero subsidy, no contract 32GB Note3s selling for over $700, that is no small consideration. I think the Mega is cheaper, though. And I never use that silly S pen anyway so now I wish I had saved a little money and got a half inch more screen by getting the Mega instead.

I know what Arturo means about ditching the old phone. I still have my old (metal body flip phone) Motorola Razr, which has actually been through a wash cycle, and looks like it was worked over with a belt sander, but still works when I charge it and slide a SIM in it. However, I only make on average maybe two phone calls a month, and phone calls are all that old flip phone does well. I am a DROID MAN. If it sounds like I am trashing blackberry, well, maybe I am, but really I am not putting bb down as much as holding the Droid up high. It is a superb system and getting even better.

 

[BullGoose]

The blackberry? I don't even know if anybody has bothered to find an exploit for gaining root access to the blackberry. The only thing going for it is the tactile keyboard, which is not missed after a few months of heavy thumb typing on a Note3 or S4 or Mega. Push email? Got that on my droid. Don't use it. Rather get my email when I am ready to get it. Iphone even has push email capability. So no points to the bb.
.

The iphone may claim to have push email but it does not compare to the blackberry. I currently own an iphone and have owned a blackberry in the past. The email on the blackberry is heads and shoulders better/faster than the Iphone. In fact, emails show up on the blackberry before they show up on my desktop.