A few weeks we asked a question about a BlackBerry 8700t from T-Mobile possibly being on the way. We know that the period of exclusivity will eventually expire on the Cingular BlackBerry 8700c and other carries will start to offer the BlackBerry 8700 line eventually.
This brings us to the question of if the BlackBerry 8700 will do as well on T-Mobile as it will on some of the other carriers that offer highspeed broadband access? I currently own a BlackBerry 7100t. I am, however, switching to a 7130e on the Verizon network and not staying with T-Mobile, upgrading to the 7105t because of the inability to tether the 7105t to my laptop as a highspeed modem.
I must admit that I’ve been pleased with T-Mobile for the most part. I am only speaking for myself but I haven’t had any problems with the service that are worth complaining about. I wouldn’t hesitate to upgrade to another T-Mobile BlackBerry if they offered broadband access, but, since they don’t, I am willing to switch over the Verizon in a heartbeat to get it.
The BlackBerry 8700 line promotes it’s faster more powerful processor, expanded memory, and ability to work with highspeed broadband networks. Would a BlackBerry 8700t kind of be seen as a dud if one of the major new features wasn’t available because of the network?
T-Mobile maintains an EDGE network similar to Cingular’s.
Of course the 8700t will do well on T-Mobile’s network. The 8700 model only runs on EDGE and T-Mobile just finished their EDGE deployment in November of 2005. I spoke with my company’s T-Mobile rep (we have over 1300 T-Mobile BlackBerrys) and he informed me the 8700t is scheduled to launch on T-Mobile on 02/02/06.
Also, Verizon does not offer “broadband” in the sense everyone is thinking about. What they offer is called “broadband access” and isn’t any faster than EDGE, despite what anyone tells you otherwise.
Sam is dead-wrong in as far as internet browsing is concerned regarding Edge vs EV-DO. EV-DO will bury Edge with download speeds averaging 400kbps with some more mature markets delivering 600+kbps speeds as a minimum. In as far as email delivery and attachment download speed is concerned, they are somewhat comparable under normal circumstances. However, significant sized documents will still complete their download much faster on an EV-DO enabled device. Having used devices enabled on both systems, this matter is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Speeds may be slightly better with EV-DO, but EDGE has FAR better coverage. For those that travel, instead of having good speeds in only select metro areas, t-mobile EDGE is on everyone of their towers, so if you can get a T signal, you can get good speeds.
2/2/06 so what is the official word?, is Tmobile offering the 8700?
I got my BlackBerry 8700g from http://www.UShopWireless.com. You are correct this is high speed internet. Great device. Highly recommend.