Tag Archives: T-Mobile

[Help/Technology] The Dark Side Beckons… With a Vengeance!

Alright… Most of you technologically wild folks know that the big tech shows are going on. Apple’s WWDC, E3, (I think) Computex etc… These are all industry breaking shows in which manufacturers and developers get to show off their works in progress or even finished products pending release. However… for me, things got interesting.

Almost 1 years ago, I had blogged about the iPhone 3G finally hitting all of the global carriers… yet that it was still flawed from not supporting things many basic features that even standard phones have supported for the last few years. Things like MMS (picture/video messaging), video recording, A2DP Bluetooth stereo streaming, encrypted e-mail were just some of the issues I had with the iPhone 3G being balked as the update the phone needed… Another thing later on when the iPod Touch revision came out was the support for the Nike+ system. Somehow… the iPhone missed out on that and it would basically hose any interest I had as I would love to track how much I run be it for classes or just working out. The final nail in the coffin would be that I had friends who noted iffy phone service on the iPhone via AT&T because I feel that BASIC functionality is very essential.

Yesterday and Monday’s updates on the gadget and tech blogs were quite an eye opener, however. Most of them had pointed to Apple’s new iPhone 3G [S] site and had noted that a lot of my grievances with the 3G version have been resolved. Phone calls seems to have gotten better with those who are using the leaked Developer version of the iPhone 3.0 software/firmware. The phone also has improved with things like faster processor, the addition of a compass with the GPS chips, and a few other features. The Nike+ system finally got added so it sweetens things a little bit more. Sure $200 – $300 for a phone is a bit steep… but at this moment… That’s basically the price point I am looking at for phones.

To thicken the plot… When I had left Commerce on dorm check-out on May 7th, my BlackBerry was showing I had weak T-Mobile service throughout all of Commerce. The few times I have been back in the past couple weeks, my signal has diminished to T-Mobile going to Roaming Mode on Cellular One’s backbone. This is rather crippling… The reasons for that being 1) When I am on roaming, I have asked my BlackBerry to kill my data functions to prevent roaming charges and 2) I get charged extra for taking calls while roaming. Point #1 is a killer because I have become really data centric with my BlackBerry especially when I am without my laptop. Point #2 is just murder for me as a college student, especially considering I got TONS of calls from classmates with AT&T during the day time hours with my already small minute pool.

AT&T seems to have a stranglehold for the area, as my friends have noticed. I have heard some hearsay of the Commerce area AT&T users mentioning that 3G service is unrolling soon or already present. On top of that, AT&T is killing the 2G towers in favor of the 3G revolution. Sadly, the only BlackBerry on AT&T that is 3G ready is the BlackBerry Bold and it’s not quite what I am looking for. T-Mobile’s signals are diminishing and sadly their BlackBerry devices are just rehashes of my Curve 8300 or the Pearl 8100 series. Call me odd but the fact that just about any smartphone supports Lexi-Comp, including the iPhone, is a huge impact to me as a pre-pharmacy student.

For now… I am in no rush really to convert or anything of that sort yet. I am roughly 2 weeks away from my current T-Mobile 1 year contract finally expiring and I also need to see where my own family stands as far as service goes. I know my own family is debating on if they may be switching carriers or staying and doing month-to-month with T-mobile. If they are switching, then it makes a little more of a big sell point for me to jump ship with them… If they stay, then I’ll really need to sit and talk with them.

Anyone who has insight on this… Post away and let me know!

Bravo T-Mobile and Hooray for Me!

Almost a year ago… family had asked me to switch from at&t Wireless (formerly Cingular) to T-Mobile so they wouldn’t have to waste minutes on calling me. When I tried to do the switch, my credit was simply not good enough to snag my own line without a ridiculously huge deposit. I was devastated and at&t hiking rates on me was making me rather sick. It didn’t help that I was also recovering out of debt so my dinged up credit record wasn’t helping at all. So family stuck in and had said “Use one of our names and get your own line.” Which I did and I joined their ranks with T-Mobile…

However… This past December, family had said “You need to get your own line with T-Mobile, if you can’t… have fun losing your phone number”. That was something I couldn’t have happen as my phone is now my second life line other than the web. I had to get T-Mobile to do a “change of responsibility” to my account under my family’s name and see if I could get one in mine. They informed me that my account under their name had a full discount upgrade available and that by transferring responsibility to me, I would more than likely lose that and have to wait 30 days for a “partial upgrade discount”. I just decided to bite the bullet and see if my credit was able to pass me. Fortunate for me… My credit seems to have healed enough to qualify me for my own line. I decided to do the change of responsibility to ease my family’s burden of supporting me and I just went with knowing that I probably lost my upgrade.

However… Today, on trying to pay my dissapearing final bill over the phone with T-Mobile… I found an interesting revelation from my dialogue with the representative:

Zero: I wanted to know how long before my account is able to do a full discount upgrade? I had heard from a few reps in-store and over the phone that I would more than likely lose it and start from square one.

Rep: Actually Zero, your account seems to have gotten that upgrade discount transferred! Did you have a question over that?

Zero: Is it a full discount? The reason I ask is because I am rather excited for the Blackberry Curve 8900 coming to T-Mobile on 2/11/09.

Rep: I am showing it is a full device discount should you decide to do a 2 year agreement. I will say that I am glad you’re excited about the Curve 8900 coming to T-Mobile and I hope that we hear from you again when the time comes for you when you do choose to get the new 8900!

I will say that the outstanding customer service that T-Mobile has is the reason I don’t want to change providers. The “Death Star” had failed to even answer simple questions with the amount of zeal that T-Mobile has. I am glad that my upgrade didn’t vanish and it just shows how much I am glad to be with T-Mobile.

Blackberry Blitz Clears – One Phone Emerges: The Blackberry Curve 8900

A while ago, I had posted in my “Blackberry Blitz” article saying that T-Mobile may be gutsy enough to swing for 3 Blackberry devices to be sold ’round February. However, ’round Christmas, there were confirmations that T-Mobile decided to nix the idea of buying up the Blackberry Bold. Places like PinStack and Blackberry Forums were reporting that they had confirmed reports from T-Mobile spies saying any hopes of the Blackberry Bold coming aboard were very much dead.

Then this little gem popped up on TmoNews:  “Blackberry Curve 8900 Release Date…” and a similar article over at Boy Genius Report. The summary of both articles is really more or less positive confirmation of T-Mobile shooting for a release date of 2/18/2009 for the Blackberry Curve 8900. This is rather awesome news as I have enjoyed my Blackberry Curve 8310, but on (hopefully) upgrading to an 8900 series I want to go to a phone that I know will satiate me for a fairly good while. Should all go well and T-Mobile not encounter any other snags, I will silently wait for the release of the Blackberry Curve 8900.

Then the rumors of the Storm for T-mobile have gone cold… but I don’t mind it so much. Cause well… I am not much for a touch screen Blackberry! LOL! Though some speculate from Crackberry’s posting that the Storm 9520 series heading to Rogers of Canada may be a sign that the Storm could be heading to T-Mobile. I personally think it has a fair shot of landing with AT&T as well… However in that posting… I am far more interested in their release of the Blackberry Pearl Flip 8200 that has wi-fi AND GPS! Oh well, I suppose that’s a rant for another time…

Rumor Mill – The BlackBerry Blitz May Be Coming to T-Mobile…

So… With RIM making an aggressive attack and failing badly cause 2 mobile phone companies somewhat screamed at them to get the BlackBerry Storm out to market… (ahemVodafoneGlobalVerizonbastardsahem) This has caused RIM to have a bit of an issue of creating a negative image for the Storm. However… some have made mention that with the new firmware upgrade that was officially available from Verizon and Vodafone, it seemed to clear some issue up. However, there is the issue reported on various users on the web saying that some of the hardware buttons have fallen off! If you want to see some of the bad press generated… Check out Wired’s Blog from their Gadget Labs here.

However… Lucky for RIM, their BlackBerry Bold has gotten them quite good praise. To have wifi, GPS, and 3G while being as stable as it’s predecessor the 8800 series… RIM has hit the person who wants a powerhouse corporate communicator. It both has corporate beauty as well as casual beauty. There’s also the matter of the BlackBerry Javelin (or it’s other name, the 8900 series Curve 2) pending its release soon to the US. So far, Rogers Telecom Canada has it, but rumors shroud its US release. The Javelin is one of the devices that follows more the principles of the 8300 series Curve, it’s not quite as hardcore as its cousin the Bold.

I was reading this post over at TmoNews and some of the users mentioned corporate tidbits that February 2009 may be the month of the BlackBerry for T-mobile. The reasons for that being…

  1. Verizon didn’t pay big money for a 6 month exclusivity for the BlackBerry Storm 9530 in America… They only paid enough cash to get 90 day exclusivity. So for the GSM release, it was a bidding war between AT&T vs T-Mobile and T-Mobile won the battle. The day that Verizon’s 90 day exclusivity ends would (in theory) end 2/21/2009. Three months would be plenty of time to let RIM perfect the Storm as well as engineer one for the GSM/3G bands for T-Mobile. I would make an assumption that for T-Mobile, based from the forum posts and things around the web (like other users) that T-Mobile’s version may be called the BlackBerry Storm 9520 with stuff like myFaves, HotSpot@home, wi-fi and possibly GPS on the phone. I just hope the GPS is REAL GPS and not that sorry excuse of GPS found on the BlackBerry Pearl Flip.
  2. The speculated release date of T-Mobile’s BlackBerry Bold has been speculated from first quarter to even second quarter of 2009. The only thing is… November was when AT&T got the Bold 9000. It seems AT&T fell into the same trap as Verizon with not fronting enough cash to get a 6 month exclusivity period, but managed to get just 90 days. I don’t remember the exact release date for the AT&T BlackBerry Bold, but I would assume it’d be close to 2/21/2009 that the Bold’s exclusivity to AT&T wears out. Should this be true… T-Mobile’s Bold may be called the BlackBerry Bold 9020 but just bundle a few additional features like HotSpot@home and myFaves; while hopefully leaving alone the fact that it has true GPS on it.
  3. Floating rumors say that because T-Mobile Germany has the BlackBerry Javelin, that it is destined for T-Mobile USA. There was also some rumors that another BlackBerry was supposed to come out end of the year for T-Mobile in conjunction to the BlackBerry Pearl Flip. However, it doesn’t look like the Javelin is coming out this Christmas. Naturally, I could see it coincide with the February blitz of BlackBerries and possibly some promo around then too like a possible rescaling of BlackBerry net plans.

Should the speculation and rumors be true… I may just hold on to my phone until February and wait for the BlackBerry Blitz. That would give me much more equal footing to things like giving BlackBerry devices equal footing to the G1. oi vay… Decisions, decisions…