Cell Phone Help

Paul Allen

Paul Allen

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Messages
467
Location
Palm Harbor Fl
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Display name:
Paul
It's time for a new phone and I would like one that I can receive my emails. My choices from Alltel are the Blackberry 8830, the Pearl 8130, the Palm 755P and the Palm 700WX. I have no experience with these phones and would like some opinions.

Thanks
 
Paul Allen said:
It's time for a new phone and I would like one that I can receive my emails. My choices from Alltel are the Blackberry 8830, the Pearl 8130, the Palm 755P and the Palm 700WX. I have no experience with these phones and would like some opinions.

Thanks
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I have spent a lot of time with the Blackberry 81xx and 88xx phones, as well as the Palm Treo 600/650s (older than the 700/755s). Research in Motion (blackberry) puts out a hell of a product, that's for sure. The 81xx series are plagued with trackball issues, and are easily damaged by dropping (much like many of the Motorola V/Z 3 series phones). The 88xx series has a built in GPS, but is much, much bigger and bulkier than any of the other phones you have on your list.

The benefit of the Blackberry devices is that software updates come out much more frequently than either PalmOS or Windows Mobile (which the newer Palm devices run). This means when problems crop up, they are easily fixed by updating the software. Now, I really like WIndows Mobile for useability over Blackberry's interface, but problem for problem, I'd take Blackberry any day.
 
Different question:

Are there any cell phones out there capable of handling 2 lines?

Probably the answer to that is, "Why would you want it?" but I'm just curious. :)
 
Greebo said:
Different question:

Are there any cell phones out there capable of handling 2 lines?

Probably the answer to that is, "Why would you want it?" but I'm just curious. :)
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Yes there are. I have an older digital from Verizon (audiovox) and my company NEXTEL (a motorola i970) both have two lines.
Two lines, twice the cost. They both have to be activated thru the same carrier.
 
Maybe I'll just get a new phone with features I *really* need, and add a 2nd line at home and have that # auto forward after 3 rings to my cell.
 
Thanks - I don't think that works with Sprint, tho frankly I'm not opposed to getting out of their plan if I can. I need to check my lock in date.
 
I have the Blackberry 8100 pearl - $25 after rebates from Costco (at least, in December). I used the Palm 600 Treo prior, and am still struggling with the Palm to Blackberry transition, but mostly because I just haven't sat down to really learn to do things the Blackberry way. I'm about ready to disable the email retrieval ... who know I got so much EMAIL CRAP!!! that thing is dinging CONSTANTLY!!! with work and personal emails. Anyway, solid little phone in the few months that I've used it.
 
I'm on my second Treo. I had a Treo 600 and now a 700P (with the Palm OS). The 600 had one major flaw, which was that the battery was not replaceable, and all the memory was RAM. So, if your battery died, you lost everything you had in the phone. Can't tell you how many times that happened. The battery was lucky to last 24 hours, especially if I had a lot of calls I was making.

The 700P seems to have fixed all the problems that the 600 had. It's a bigger phone (which doesn't bother me). The battery lasts much longer and it's user replaceable. I love the keyboard, which I use for text messaging (I don't use the eMail feature). I also use the thing as an MP3 player, for which it works great. The Palm OS is my preferred over Windows Mobile.

I've played around with the BlackBerry phones and just haven't liked them as much. Then again, I had Palms in high school (the early ones), so I'm used to that interface. That is probably most of the reason. My friends who have BlackBerries love them, but the ones who used to have Treos miss the Treos.

The 600, for its faults, was still pretty durable. The 700P I've had for about 10 months now, and it hasn't given me a single problem. Cost is not great, though. I seem to recall mine was about $400 including case and a few accessories, with my work discount.
 
ditto the above. I still have my Treo 650 for the palm functions. I've been using Palm since way WAY back when ...
 
Greebo said:
Maybe I'll just get a new phone with features I *really* need, and add a 2nd line at home and have that # auto forward after 3 rings to my cell.
Click to expand...

If you are thinking of giving your tenants your cell phone number, don't. They will drive you crazy with calls and since it's a cell phone they will expect instant replies. Having a rollover from your landline to notify you of messages (not the actual phone call) is a great idea - gives you more control over responding to what *is* actually an emergency and what isn't.

If you must give them a cell phone just don't tell them it's a cell phone.

Manage expectations!
 
woodstock said:
If you are thinking of giving your tenants your cell phone number, don't. They will drive you crazy with calls and since it's a cell phone they will expect instant replies. Having a rollover from your landline to notify you of messages (not the actual phone call) is a great idea - gives you more control over responding to what *is* actually an emergency and what isn't.

If you must give them a cell phone just don't tell them it's a cell phone.

Manage expectations!
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Good points. Thanks!
 
Here's another cell phone question. Can you keep the same cell phone number even if you relocate to another state and no longer have the same billing address?
 
Everskyward said:
Here's another cell phone question. Can you keep the same cell phone number even if you relocate to another state and no longer have the same billing address?
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Generally, yes... but some companies with limited footprints might say otherwise.

BTW, those of you thinking about Blackberries and similar units - if you travel internationally, it's been proven that hackers in some countries (and sometimes those are gov't agencies) have been known to read your data and install trojans that can be used to leech data off your corporate networks when you return.
 
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wsuffa said:
Generally, yes... but some companies with limited footprints might say otherwise.

BTW, those of you thinking about Blackberries and similar units - if you travel internationally, it's been proven that hackers in some countries (and sometimes those are gov't agencies) have been known to read your data and install trojans that can be used to leech data off your corporate networks when you return.
Click to expand...

News to me. The closest thing I've seen is the Sony-Ericcson hack to Blackberry, which requires you to accept the Bluetooth connection first.

Simple fix: Don't accept the connection. Also applies to Windows Mobile (so the Motorola Q/Palms would be effected too).
 
smigaldi said:
Try the Motorola Q. Great phone. Lots of features, reliable and a good price. Alltel does sell them for their networks as of 1 Jan.

http://www.wirefly.com/catalog/alltel_wireless/motorola/q/
Click to expand...

I always forget about the Q. The Q and the Samsung Blackjack 2 (I think its called), are great phones for what they are as well. To be honest, there are a lot of phones that might work for the original posted purposes....I'm just not sure what Alltel offers.
 
wsuffa said:
Generally, yes... but some companies with limited footprints might say otherwise.

BTW, those of you thinking about Blackberries and similar units - if you travel internationally, it's been proven that hackers in some countries (and sometimes those are gov't agencies) have been known to read your data and install trojans that can be used to leech data off your corporate networks when you return.
Click to expand...

would that make it a Hackberry?
 
Thanks for all of the replies. If I go with the Blackberry, which one would be better? My two choices are the 8830 and the 8130.

Thanks
 
Paul Allen said:
Thanks for all of the replies. If I go with the Blackberry, which one would be better? My two choices are the 8830 and the 8130.

Thanks
Click to expand...
The multi-function keys on my 8130 are a bit frustrating to me. If the 8830 has the full keyboard, that would sway my choice towards it.

Of course, I'm humbled regularly as my youngest whips out text messages at 250 words per minute, so my comments are from an old curmudgeon and worth what you paid for them. :)
 
Everskyward said:
Here's another cell phone question. Can you keep the same cell phone number even if you relocate to another state and no longer have the same billing address?
Click to expand...

I've had the same Indiana cell phone number for the past 6 years, even though a year and a half ago I moved to Pennsylvania. Changed my billing address and that was it.

I didn't change carriers, I still have Verizon. Technically I'm supposed to be able to keep the number regardless, but I haven't tried switching carriers yet. Verizon's got issues, but overall it's done the job for me pretty well.
 
I've switched carriers a few times and retained my number through it all. You MUST make sure you sign up with the new carrier first and have them transfer the number in order to guarantee transportability of your number. If you cancel with your current carrier first, there's no guarantee on your number being available to transfer.
 
Thanks for the answers to my question too. I was curious if they would care about a mismatch between the assigned area code and the billing address. I guess they don't care at all.
 
Everskyward said:
Thanks for the answers to my question too. I was curious if they would care about a mismatch between the assigned area code and the billing address. I guess they don't care at all.
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They do not care at all. Two of my friends have 847 (Chicago suburbs) area codes but live in Norht Palm Beach, FL. I used to have a New Jersey area code but lived in the Chicago are and Omnipoint could have cared less. They got paid and that is all they wanted.
 
I have the Blackberry 8800 and like the large screen and full keyboard. I have two extra land lines forwarded to it and when they ring I get a message on the screen telling me which forwarded phone number the call is coming through. It's a nice feature if you need to answer multiple lines in different ways. The bluetooth feature is nice. I use the Telenav GPS all the time for land directions as it is visual, verbal (each turn) gives distance to next turn, distance to destination, ETA and continually updates for traffic problems ahead of you, then routes you around them. It also works great through my aviation headset. I like the email feature so I can respond quickly to emails. PDF files are easy to read and send also. Voice dialing comes in handy when you are driving or flying.
 
smigaldi said:
They do not care at all. Two of my friends have 847 (Chicago suburbs) area codes but live in Norht Palm Beach, FL. I used to have a New Jersey area code but lived in the Chicago are and Omnipoint could have cared less. They got paid and that is all they wanted.
Click to expand...

They do care in some cases. Luckily, not mine - I started out in Milwaukee in 1998 with a 414 number, moved to Madison, switched to AT&T, and have kept the same number ever since.

However, a friend of mine had a DC number that they wouldn't let him keep in Milwaukee as the carrier he was with didn't actually have local service there.

So, they don't care... As long as they have service in your new area.

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot. *cough* iPhone. ;)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
They do care in some cases. Luckily, not mine - I started out in Milwaukee in 1998 with a 414 number, moved to Madison, switched to AT&T, and have kept the same number ever since.

However, a friend of mine had a DC number that they wouldn't let him keep in Milwaukee as the carrier he was with didn't actually have local service there.

So, they don't care... As long as they have service in your new area.
Click to expand...
1998 was pre-number portability. That standard was just being developed and published right at the end of the 90's. Local number portability is now the law of the land. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/NumberPortability/
 
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smigaldi said:
Thanks to AT&T locking up the SIM in new, special, proprietary ways you cannot even take the SIM out and put it into another GSM or UMTS phone. :mad:
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You hear that Kent? Stop moving that SIM card back and forth from your iPhone and your Sony/Erickson when you tether the Macbook.
 
mikea said:
You hear that Kent? Stop moving that SIM card back and forth from your iPhone and your Sony/Erickson when you tether the Macbook.
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Did they stop that? The first ones came out and there was a security lock on the SIM and we could not get anyone else's hardware to read it.
 
smigaldi said:
Did they stop that? The first ones came out and there was a security lock on the SIM and we could not get anyone else's hardware to read it.
Click to expand...

It might help that both phones are Cingular/AT&T. :dunno:
 
mikea said:
It might help that both phones are Cingular/AT&T. :dunno:
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The iphone itself is locked to AT&T and that was not the issue. I did some searching and found that there were some problems with some early SIMS for the iPhone being bad. We must have had one of the bad ones. I never followed up with the people doing the review on the phone and this was their initial indication to me.
 
smigaldi said:
1998 was pre-number portability. That standard was just being developed and published right at the end of the 90's. Local number portability is now the law of the land. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/NumberPortability/
Click to expand...

Scott,

I stayed w/Verizon until Feb 2006, just moved physically. Then I switched the number to AT&T.

smigaldi said:
Thanks to AT&T locking up the SIM in new, special, proprietary ways you cannot even take the SIM out and put it into another GSM or UMTS phone. :mad:
Click to expand...

Sure you can... As Mike alluded to, I was swapping it into my Sony Ericsson W600i for a while to tether the laptop. You just can't use a non-iPhone sim in the iPhone. Word is, you can't use an original iPhone sim in the new 16GB model either.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Scott,

I stayed w/Verizon until Feb 2006, just moved physically. Then I switched the number to AT&T.
Click to expand...
Changing carriers in a new local does = LNP. They are under no obligation for you to keep the same number then. That is clearly stated in the FAQ I posted as well. But if you were in geo are 1 and with carrier a if you moved to geo area 2 and kept your carrier a service you can keep your number. If carrier a does not have service there but roaming agreement you can use that method to keep your number as well but check to see what the roaming charges are.

flyingcheesehead said:
Word is, you can't use an original iPhone sim in the new 16GB model either.
Click to expand...
There is something different in the iPhone SIM, I'll have to check it out more with our handset people.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot. *cough* iPhone. ;)
Click to expand...
iPhones_Suck.gif
 
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