I have the solution. After waiting months for an official EvDo upgrade from Verizon, I successfully performed the "non-official" upgrade on my device. The improvement was minimal at best. At first it seemed great but as time went on I noticed many more things not working as well as did when I orignally had it. Sure the new calculator is cool, I like seeing the EvDo icon and knowing I proved the cust service tech wrong was awesome but I feel overall the stability of the device was greatly compromised. It was also very frustrating to me that Verizon seemed to be so far behind on the adaptation of the 8700 series. I mean by the time we get phones on Verizon Cingular or someone else already has the next model, its lame. Don't get me wrong, I've been a HUGE supporter of Verizon for years now, I think they have the best service hands down but their lack of staying up to date in phones and technology lead me to make a big decision last week. My 7250 had stopped working, who knows what it was, the battery etc handn't been great since the upgrade and little things would go wrong every now and then, customer service mailed me out a new one but before I activated it I said "fk it" and drove over to cingular and 15 minutes later walked out with a brand new 8700c and my same cell phone number. Also, it only cost me 150 for everything. (I brought in the amazon price and they honored it, make sure you print it out). Anyway, let me just tell you, this device is so far superior to the 7250. The screen is amazing, the operation much much faster and smoother. Its a super sturdy and sllid machine. I love the cingular OS 4.1 Speaker phone is rocking, sounds great, the phone keys are a HUGE improvement and the convenience keys are superb. Its smaller, lighter, thinner, cooler, more phone ish, and it even fully syncs via bluetooth with my car(address book and all). Also EDGE is fast, I know some people say its slower than EvDo, and it may be, BUT all i know is my internet is flying, it's actually easy browsing now. Even with the 7250 upgrade the internet still felt like "mobil" internet, but on the 8700 its like a small PC. I bought a bunch of stuff off amazon today and it only took a few minutes. Their service has also been a huge suprise for me, I have noticed no difference from verizon in terms of quality, its all good. I even like how you don't have to type in your password when checking voicemails(really cool feature). Anyway, all I can say is that this change has made a HUGE HUGE improvement in my business world and personal world. It's so nice to have a super reliable, sturdy, and up to date device that operates as fast and as well as this one does. I tried to calibrate the battery over the last THREE days but it wouldn't die. It took two and a half days of regular usage before the radio even turned off. I can't say a single bad thing, switch now! Don't be stubborn, the 175 termination fee is less than you'd pay for the 8700 by the time it hits verizon next year(assumming they ever get the thing). And the time, ease, and support it provides are a easily justified expense for you or your business. Go now, buy it, enjoy, it. You will thank me in the morning.



p.s if you're scared you'd be making a huge mistake you'll regret, goto cingular, buy the thing and sign up for a new number, if you hate it, return it(you'll be completely refunded, and won't pay an account termination as long as its in 30 days) and if you love it then port your number over and cancel verizon. I have no doubts that within 5 days you'll already have completely changed over.


p.s.s
yes I know my spelling sucks, my grammar sucks, but I'd rather spend that time sharing useful information with you guys than double checking my post.

p.s.s.s - if you do go through with it, and you port, and your 7250 is old and can't be re sold, just think of how much fun it is going to be smashing the non EVDO, outdated, useless piece of junk!