Now that T-Mobile has more spectrum, they should seriously work on improving the quality of their data network, especially if they want to attract business users. My good buddy Andy writes about his nightmares with Blackberry service on T-Mobile, and is throwing up his hands in frustration.
I can understand how he feels – I had recently signed up for T-Mobile Blackberry service, which worked just fine in New York, but back in the Bay Area, the emails just don’t show up because there is no data coverage in large parts of the region.
It is not the fault of Blackberry because when we checked with T-Mobile store employees, they expressed their frustration about the lack of good data coverage. (I love the fact that RIM email always works.) However pretty Blackberry Pearl might be, if there is no data coverage, then it is pretty useless.
In frustration, I turned that BB connection to a voice line, and am using Cingular as a data carrier. I am currently using Nokia E61. When I travel to NY (which will be often) I am going to turn on BB….
I’ve had spotty coverage myself in the Bay area. But I love T-Mobile. EDGE is fine for me for speed.
the service was perfect in new york, but here it doesn’t make sense at all. it drops to GSM everywhere except for downtown san francisco, which is quite frustrating, and makes blackberry almost pointless. now i have two devices – one each for each coast.
Om, Andy, etc have expressed many issues with T-Mobile, but I have had zero problems with my Blackberry 8700 service from them. Even in the Bay Area, I’ve been blessed with EDGE coverage almost everywhere, and at least GPRS everywhere else. I live in Portland, and things work great here as well.
I invite you all to contact the carrier’s Blackberry support department whenever you have a problem with your service. I’ve found them very knowledgeable and quick to fix any issue I’ve ever had.
As far as I know, from what I know of T-Mobile’s network, they are 100% GPRS enabled on any cell that they own at this point. Almost all of the top 100 DMAs have EDGE installed on at least 50% of their cells. So if you are having issues with “data coverage” you should speak to someone in support and make sure your Blackberry is sorted with all of the right Service Books and Host Routing Tables installed on your device.
I’m all about a little carrier bashing, but don’t do it until it’s time. Let’s try and be fair here.
I dont know about that. I have had three blackberries in past four years, including the Pearl I bought yesterday. This is in addition to HP iPAQ and the MDA. But I think Blackberry data service is pretty good. Never missed an email. Guaranteed I live in Seattle, but I do keep visiting bay area since both my employers over this period – HP and Google – are headquartered there, and it never has been an issue.
I invite you visite Europe. Here full data coverage in all countries with your BlackBerry with all Mobile Network.
I’ll concur with Aaron above. I’ve been surpsied to see people diss T-Mobile’s coverage, I’ve personally have never had a problem, especially with Blackberry; and I live in the Bay Area.
I recently switched from Cingular (and their horrid customer service) to T-Mobile (and their JD Powers domination in customer service), and I have had nothing but great service up here in the Seattle area. The Blackberry Pearl works like a charm.
I have to say that T-mobile has excellent customer service and I am very pleased. Its much better thank stinkular. I have no problems at all understanding the plans and using the service everywhere I go. I am a very picky person also when it comes to customer service. T-Mobile has been great!