I’ve heard a few rumors recently that the BlackBerry 7130e is going “End of Life” at the end of October. This move by RIM is probably in anticipation of the release of the CDMA BlackBerry Pearl 2 that we’ve heard is coming to both Verizon and Sprint in November.
I personally use the Verizon BlackBerry 7130e, and, although it has been very good to me, am admittedly ready to upgrade to something new. I thought about moving to the 8703e and even the 8830, however, I am one of those crazy folks that absolutely loves SureType. The BlackBerry Pearl 2 can’t get here soon enough.
My tool of choice is also the 7130e and like you, I am ready to upgrade. Unlike you, I am over Suretype so the PEarl 2 is a non-starter. I need something phonelike, like the 7130 but with a dedicated keyboard. What I want is the Curve on Verizon as I cannot sacrifice coverage which I would have to do on AT&T. Let’s hope VZW get’s it together on this one.
Hey Robb, do you know if the vzw’s pearl will be a “world edition” like the 8830?
More pining and dreams of verizon ok’ing this generation of RIM Blackberry’s, on top of dreams that RIM even gives a crap about cdma or verizon. RIM is in the right how they service the GSM market first, then almost 2 years later drop a left over crumb for the declining cdma technology. Why bother to design products for a company like verizon which only cripples and removes functions from the devices before they allow the customers to buy them.
All GSM RIM Blackberry’s are “world edition”(s) Says something for providing service using the standard, open Global System for Mobile communication.
Here we go again.
You guys want top of the line RIM gear? All you got to do is break the myth, the FUD, the mental block, that verizon is any better than the other service providers. Remember the rest of the World knows differently.
Skyjet15,
I haven’t heard that the CDMA version of the BlackBerry Pearl 2 is going to be a world phone and I would guess that it wouldn’t be. They are a bit cramped for space and I doubt that they could fit the GSM radio in there along with the CDMA and GPS.
Was not meaning to start a war. I travel extensively on business in the US and have had several carriers. Verizon has had the best coverage, hands down. If I want to travel worldwide, then GSM makes sense. However, I only travel to Canada on business so no worries. Note that I live in the Carolinas so T-Mobile is not a factor. Also, I worked for a carrier. In terms of density of coverage in the US, Verizon is the leader. No doubt. The carriers know this internally as well. Side note, if you live in an Alltel market, they usually have the best coverage in those areas. Second side note; Sprint EVDO coverage for data is strong and fast. RIM makes their decisions based upon GSM global adoption. Makes sense to me. But I do hope Verizon catches the Curve or a device like it in the near term.
JHP2,
Unless Verizon is changing “business as usual”, the BlackBerry Curve won’t come out until we are well into 2007. I hope that I am wrong on this one but Verizon usually lags behind GSM carriers by about a year.
Thanks Robb. When I was with the carrier, the RIM team I worked with pmade it clear that they deploy based upon number of BB’s the carrier installed in the past and what the WW potential is. Given Cincular’s strong history with BB, they get products first. Combine that with the bigger WW market for GSM, and Verizon and Sprint will always be behind on BB deployment. My understadning from people at RIM was that this was their decision, not the carriers.
JHP2,
That actually makes sense. I know that hellno would agree. What doesn’t make sense is why CDMA development is so far behind (generally a year) when RIM says that it is relatively easy to port over to CDMA.
https://www.rimarkable.com/laptop-magazine-qa-with-research-in-motions-mike-lazaridis
If RIM is truly dictating when they come out with CDMA BlackBerrys, Verizon needs to turn up the heat on them. When Verizon customers that gladly pay the premiums for “their network” and are willing to wait a year get new devices after they’ve already come out on GSM start to perceive that GSM carriers can give them the same or better network coverage as the “can you hear me now” network, Verizon will be in a world of hurt, i.e., they become a commodity.
I truly don’t think that Verizon needs to be concerned with this in the immediate future because they still have the best network. (I just lost hellno 🙂 ) AT&T, however, is catching up, and there will eventually be a tipping point.
verizon’s got little game when it comes to telling any top-tier device manufactures what to do. There is nothing in it for the device manufactures to develop for a service provider which then cripples and removes functions making the device manufacture look bad in it’s customers eyes.
you forget robb (and others) verizon doesn’t care at all what you or I the customer wants or says. If they did the crippling wouldn’t happen, the lies wouldn’t happen, the FUD wouldn’t happen, and verizon would be at least on par with Sprint giving customers every chance to own the top tier mobile devices. verizon’s not giving a crap about what it’s customers want (or even respecting it’s customers) is a BIG part of the problem. You WILL do it verizon’s way, because verizon said so! verizon is constantly getting caught FUD’ing and blaming others for verizon’s own greed and arrogant corporate culture.
ps keep on believing the FUD about verizon having the “best” network. 🙂
How Every Mobile Operator Claims Its Network Is The Best
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060503/0346202.shtml
More verizon lies:
http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/05/03/does-verizons-pay-people-to-lie/
No doubt about Verizon having the best network in terms of coverage. I used to compete with them in the business channel and they were tough to beat if it came down to that. Verizon reps are trained to sell the network. They are also more focused on the business customer which partially accounts for their lack of flexibility in working with individual users. Hellno has one thing right, with VZW, it is their way or the highway. If they are smart, they will stop crippling some device features to grow the business. They rely on their huge corporate install base currently but need to get better comsumer offerings. Sprint used to cripple devices as well but are much less likely to do so now. Note that in the US, one of the best reasons to choose a CDMA carrier is their ability to roam. Sprint, Verizon, Alltel and US Cellular customers can often roam on each other’s networks which expands potential coverage greatly. It was a feature I sold and use personally. There are still huge swaths of the country that you cannot find a GSM signal. If you have a tri-mode phone, you can often be cooking with gas in those areas. Oh, just to be difficult, did I mention how much better CDMA sounds? 😉
There are ALSO still huge swaths of the country that you cannot find a cdma signal.
With providers upgrading once cdma networks to GSM that cdma signal is getting smaller and smaller.
GSM consumers also have the ability to roam on t-mo, at&t, alltel, Rogers, and over 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries of the world.
Again, we are speaking domestically. For WW, there is no doubt that GSM is th eway to go. And there will always be areas not covered. However, CDMA has a bigger US foootprint and the roaming footprint of a CDMA phone is unsurpassed in the US. My VZW phone does not work at my parents house, nor does my wife’s Sprint phone. Nor does my brother’s AT&T phone. However, my wife and I can roam on Alltel, which is still, and for the near term, a CDMA carrier (they also have a lot of analog). T-Mo, eh? Well, they are cheap. Even if they sound awful.
In any event, I do not need to believe the FUD. I have user experience and market experience. I hope AT&T does begin to offer a seamless network with a fast data footprint all over so I have more choices in devices. Until then, as my mobile i smy only business line, I cannot make the change and lose coverage..which I would certainly do in the areas I frequent. BTW, what did VZW do to piss you off?
You’d think someone claiming to be in the industry would know the basic fact that Alltel has quite a big GSM network for it’s roaming partners.
Now trying the FUD line of cdma having a “bigger US foootprint”? again also not quite right. The cool-aid must be clouding all that “user experience and market experience.”
There’s alot of GSM coverage in the US, just as much coverage as cdma. 60+ different companies in the US alone with GSM networks.
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_us.shtml
and
http://www.3gamericas.org/English/Maps/operators_maps/index.cfm
It must be rather embarrassing when those not in the industry can teach those who claim to be in the industry….
GSM accounts for 82% of the global mobile market, 29% of the global population use GSM technology. The GSM Association currently has operator members in 218 countries and territories. 2.5 billion GSM users.
Hellno, Alltel has some GSM out west they acquired with Western Wireless. They use that for roaming agreements with other GSM carriers. They only sell CDMA to their customers and sell rural roaming to CDMA carriers, primarily VZW and Sprint. Full disclosure, while I never worked for Alltel, I am a shareholder. Bought several hundred shares at 20 and change. Once again, you revert to global coverrage vs. domestic. Long story short, I am not relying on FUD, your favorite pet expression, I am relying on my experience, which is that VZW has better voice density and coverage in the areas I go to than AT&T. Your mileage may vary, but Consumer Reports dogged AT&T’s claims of the best network. As I mentioned, I was in the industry. And while I will not claim to know everything, i have dropped over 2,000 EVDO cards with toughbooks into police and municipal vehickes in one deal alone. So, enjoy your GSM. Hope it works for you as well as VZW is working for me.
Presenting opinions as facts? There it is, personal opinion. JHP2 finally you said your opinion is vzw “has better voice density and coverage in the areas I go to”, which may or may not be true. It was tough weeding through FUD labels like “the best”, “the leader”, “unsurpassed” to get to the truth that in your opinion cdma providers are better than GSM providers which you don’t use.
Well aware Alltel has GSM and they currently use it for roaming income. There are 60+ different domestic companies providing GSM networks in the US.
Yet nothing (even cool-aid fueled FUD) is going to turn around reasons why device manufactures have many many good reasons why not to develop and manufacture devices for the dwindling, non-standard, proprietary, cdma market. As RIM Blackberry fans, it seems that some consumers which chose cdma always need to be reminded that GSM gets the top of the line BB’s and cdma users should understand and accept there are many, many reasons why cdma gets the 1 or 2 year old hand me downs. Sooner or later upgrading to open, global standard, non-proprietary GSM technology is inevitable. IMO pining away waiting for the top of the line GSM RIM BB devices to trickle down to cdma years later, is not at all worth it knowing GSM coverage is just as good if not better than cdma coverage in the US.
To say nothing about the crippling and function removal vzw does to the devices when they finally do get there years later.
Hard to make a reasoned point when you choose to read what you want to. In any event, VZW has one thing going for it, the best network. Gartner Group agrees and customer surveys conducted by Consumer Reports back that up. Internal documents at the carrier I worked (past tense) for backed this as well. I do not love VZW and did not/dio not work for them. They make stupid decisions to cripple devices. Sprint is finally getting smart and backing away from that nonsense. But, VZW has great signal density and coverage in most areas of the country and when combined with other CDMA carriers, especially Sprint, Alltel and US Cell, terrific footprint. CDMA carriers also have a large buildout in high speed EVDO networks, which is important to me as I use it and have recently sold wireline backup solutions using JBM routers and wireless connection cards. You may have seen Sprint compare their high-speed coverage area with AT&T. A list of GSM carriers does not change that..Sprint alone has over 30 roaming agreements.
As far as RIM, their carrier teams have told me face to face why they offer their devices through Cingular/ATT first, they have sold the most BB’s to date. An additional benefit is GSM adoption in the rest of the world, which I do not dispute. If I were them I would do the same thing. You want opinion? My opinion is that AT&T makes a sweet deal with RIM to get a period of exclusivity the same way Sprint and then VZW did with Palm for the Treo.
Well, enough of this. It is far too much like the Apple vs Windows lunacy. You are a GSM fanboy..and from what I can see in other threads, an Apple fanboy. Good on you.
P.S. I have used GSM..my company has a T-Mo corporate account. Gave it back to get a VZW BB. Still use the HotSpot account. Second, most of these posts were typed on a Mactel……Have a nice day.
You can fight GSM over CDMA all day long. At the end of the day it comes down to what works better for how you use it. I make more voice calls so I want to be as clear as possible and where I live GSM can’t even come close to the voice quality I need. As far as cost goes for my monthly service, if you look at any wireless carriers web site, most of the plans look the same. Why would I pay the same for a poor voice quality on my handset?
As far as features being crippled on my blackberry, well I guess if I was CEO of VZW I would probably do the same thing. If you think about how much money is given up for features like that, when you could make a profit from it. Think of it like it was your business. I probably would do the same. VZW is not the only company to do this too, it is just the one that is talked about the most.
On another note… American GSM phones can not be used, and work well, when traveling over seas. The frequencies and technology is totally different. If you (hellno) had some facts about GSM technology you would already know that you can’t take you ATT phone to Europe and use it without having any problems. I working for a large GSM carrier for some time while they were switching from TDMA to GSM and one of the reasons they went to GSM is that they could fit more people per line then TDMA ever could. In doing so, we lost voice quality so we could cram more people on one tower then we ever could before. If anyone is money hungry it is the GSM carriers. You pay the same for CDMA then you do you GSM, wouldn’t you want to sound like you were sitting at home on a landline then talking to someone from a tin can?
JHP2 and Ralph, both claim to work within the industry yet each sounding worse and worse spreading the FUD and the ignorance.
Ralph “American GSM phones CAN and ARE used over seas with NO problems if you have a clue in what your doing and what your talking about. GSM is GSM, the frequency’s are mostly standardized on 4 different frequency’s which most “American” GSM phones have. Have you ever hear the term quad-band? Pretty sure the “large GSM carrier” you work for didn’t upgrade technologies from tdma to gsm so “they could fit more people per line” ALSO you gain quality by upgrading from TDMA to GSM.
Keep up hourly cool-aid breaks to keep the FUD coming. There is no end to the ignorance of some cdma fanboys. Please knowledge before ignorance….
“Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. GSM service is used by over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. Its ubiquity makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs significantly from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels are digital call quality”
“The key advantage of GSM systems to consumers has been higher digital voice quality and low cost alternatives to making calls, such as the Short message service (SMS, also called “text messaging”). The advantage for network operators has been the ease of deploying equipment from any vendors that implement the standard. Like other cellular standards, GSM allows network operators to offer roaming services so that subscribers can use their phones on GSM networks all over the world.”
http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/faq.shtml
Also FUD’ing and excusing verizon for crippling and removing features and functions from their customer’s devices? There is no excuse, it’s anti-consumer, it’s wrong and it’s typical verizon nickle and diming. It’s the verizon greed and arrogant culture. When customers point out verizon’s games then verizon lies and tries to blame others. verizon has been caught in class action lawsuits and have been found guilty of this. verizon’s crippling actions are not good for the consumer, they are not good for the device maker, and if verizon had a clue to look big picture their actions are not good for them either.
The false excuse that “VZW is not the only company to do this too, it is just the one that is talked about the most.” It might sound good to you, it might help you excuse the fact that verizon is screwing you the customer, but the statement is just another verizon fanboy excuse. just like your mythical GSM voice quality argument, no merit there either.
Please knowledge before ignorance. You’d think those claiming to be in the industry would know the basic facts, at least you’d hope that was true.