I don't know about you; I'd rather shoot myself than subject myself to opening two new mobile accounts, and subsequently closing one, returning the phone, dealing with terminating the account and the invariable billing hassles, collection agencies, etc.

Prepaid is easy. You talk to no one. You activate online. You toss it when you're done. My time is worth WAY more than the $50 this will cost for both carriers.


310-430 is Cincinnati Bell. As for Sprint... you must've been out in Wyoming. Their Mobile Network Code has been reissued (310-020) to Union Telephone who's a regional carrier there and has very pervasive coverage. T-mobile just rolled out apparently in Laramie but coverage is reportedly spotty.

Very good deduction. I was in Cody, WY at the time I roamed on what was labeled "Sprint." As far as I recall, I had pretty good T-Mobile service in Cheyenne, Casper, and a few places around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Does anyone know T-Mobile's policy on changing phone numbers? I signed up last December, and apparently the number they gave me used to belong to some guy who didn't pay his bills, so now I've got random doctor's offices and collection agencies calling me every day. :(

Call them immediately and explain the situation.

While T-Mobile is far from great, AT&T just sucks.

I have a At&T Blackberry (8700C) through my office, and a personal blackberry through T-Mobile (Pearl). I have used both fairly extensively overseas, and while I dont use voice on either one, the bottom line is cost. I have used both devices in Europe (UK, Spain, Norway, Germany, Austria etc), Iceland, South Africa, Mexico, Carribbean and Uruguay. Both work remarkably well, do what a blackberry is supposed to constant email, seamless replies. The only difference is that my company pays my AT&T and it is significantly more expensive for an international standalone blackberry plan (around $70, I believe). T-Mobile, I have a grandfathered stand alone blackberry plan at 29.99 a month, with the option to add the 19.99 unlimited international email as I please. At&T you cannot add and remove the international blackberry plan, I believe there is a atleast a year committment I believe. Even if you were to sign up with the new blackberry plan for $40 a month, plus $20 for the international blackberry plan it is still $10 cheaper than AT&T. It really comes down to price, and T-Mobile has AT&T beat from a standalone blackberry plan point.

Some people will say that there are places AT&T will give you better coverage (that might be true with voice, but I have not seen it with Data), but I have yet to see it. Then again I rarely leave major cities, although I just did attend a wedding out in Cheyenne, WY and both services worked great.

The initial suggestion of buying prepaid phones may not provide an accurate test of coverage. Both AT&T and T-Mobile have more roaming agreements over each others towers in place for post paid service.
In most cases, prepaid plans for testing of T-Mobile's service would probably show a more limited network.

If you're going to use the BB as a business lifeline, sign evaluation contracts with both carriers. Make sure that the agreement they sign stipulates that you can cancel within a certain period (usually 30 days, I think), owing only for the airtime you use. Try the coverage of both where you normally range. At the end of the test period, cancel the one that doesn't give you the service you need.

It's not an issue for BlackBerry users YET, but T-Mobile's lack of 3G in the US is what has kept me at ATT. I use a Samsung Blackjack for voice, push-email, mapping, other data, and tethered data on my laptop when traveling. The 3G speed makes tethering a viable alternative to pay wi-fi in airports and hotels. Living in Atlanta, Cingular service is solid and 3G is abundant. Other major cities have had abundant 3G coverage as well. Tethering is still possible on T-Mobile over edge but the speeds are more in-line with dial-up where 3G speeds compare favorably with high-speed (cable, dsl, fios).

To be sure, 3G puts up some impressive numbers
 

But for email and occasionally checking a reservation, T-MobileWeb's 45kbps (according to http://speedtest.net) is plenty fast enough for me. I like being able to use it any time and anywhere for $5.99 a month without worrying about running up extortionate data charges.

Didn't the tortoise win that race?

Let me echo the above. And, we've had a small business account and t-mobile and a sales guy sometimes will come to us to show us a new phone. We have a human being who answers the phones when we have problems (though sometimes they send us to help desk folks who have, stunningly, been pretty helpful, as have the blackberry folks).

I've been to places without T-Mobile service -- but some of those places, like the Laurentians, now have service. And, I've gotten calls in the lodge at Sunshine Village, which is inside Banff National Park in Alberta. [And you have to take a gondola to get to the lodge]. Coverage in the western suburbs of Boston has gotten much better.

I am a satisfied T-Mobile customer, having switched from AT&T as well a few years ago.

With respect to voice service, roaming is cheaper on T-Mobile but if you travel to far-flung locations, beware! Roaming is indeed $0.99/min in Europe ex-Russia but it ranges from $1.49 (Japan) to $2.99 (India) in Asia and can go up to $4.99/min in places like Togo (West Africa.) I found out the hard way about Togo earlier this year. :td: So if you travel all over the place like I do, make sure to check both carriers' roaming rates. And by the way, Russia is at $4.99 like Togo on T-Mobile. Go figure!!!

With respect to data, you are dependent on having access to local carriers' data service, which is not always the case in some locations (I can think of a number of African and Asian countries where T-Mobile's roaming agreement is for voice service only.) With T-Mobile's data plan, you do have access to T-Mobile Hot Spots in Europe at no additional charge for the most part. I ran into an exception to that at Waterloo Station in London, and I am sure there are others.

Where did you get Hot Spot access? I've tried many places with no joy. Do you have to have anything besides International Roaming turned on?

But you're most certainly right about voice and data outside of Europe - unless you buy a local SIM, you're going to pay through the nose with either carrier. The T-MobileWeb trick only works if you're on one of their cell sites (not a partner).

My understanding is that Hotspot access only works with two of T-Mobile phones. I have the HotSpot@Home plan, and with 2500 minutes a month from home, that $10 (July deal) a month is a great price.

The two phones are 'low end' basic phones. No Blackberry. One is a Nokia. Now my minutes don't count in Starbucks, Kinkos, or any T-Mobile Hot Spot...so long as my phone connects to the network.

As an update, last week T-Mobile released the blackberry curve, which does work in conjunction with the hotspot at home service. Details are listed on the website below. If I used T-mobile for voice I would ditch my pearl in a heartbeat for the curve.

I also believe as comicwomen said the $10 deal is gone, I believe it is $20 a month now.
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/...c-4fd62ce2db70