Hi, I'm new here as you could see I've registered today.

I'm really, really fed up with my Sidekick as if I'm paying $30 monthly for nothing. I'm not gonna call T-Mobile for credit back every time I get a crap service from them. It's been going on since October, maybe before...

I'm looking to move on to Blackberry, but I'd like to know if I should stay with T-Mobile and get Blackberry instead of Sidekick?

I use AIM a lot, I use emails for work as well, and I can use text. But I don't talk on phone at all. So I should be looking for basic plan at $29.99 monthly? Will that plan work with AIM, etc?

I'm aware of JiveTalk or however you name it, because they work better AIM implented on Blackberry already. $20 one time fee, more people.......

But my question is should I stay with T-Mobile and get Blackberry? Or go with Sprint Blackberry?

I'm looking to try to keep the cheapest monthly as possible.

Whether you keep TMo or Sprint is really a question of coverage. As long as both have identical coverage where you live, work, play and travel, I would personally recommend TMo for the lower cost of $19.99/month on the BB Data Plan which you will want/need, for full data and internet use. You can get the cheapest voice plan available from TMo if you don't use it as a phone at all.

But coverage is your issue here, and we all can't answer that for you (although it does get asked here everyday).

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8100: BlackBerry8100/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

If cost is your concern then I would stick with T-Mobile. You can get a data only plan for $40 a month.

Can I even still trust T-Mobile because of my experience with my Sidekick?

I could even go for TRIAL with the Blackberry and see what happens from there? But if I put one scratch on it, I pay to keep, I know that's the problem, but I'll have to be very careful.

My father has TMo Blackberry 8703g, sometimes text don't work good for him... I get that sometimes on my Sidekick.

And if my extra info will help. I go to West Chester, PA....I live in Marcus Hook, PA.....I go to Washington, D.C.....I travel through I-66, I-81.... to go to Roanoke, VA...

I'm sure some of you would help me out with this with my extra info.

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8700/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I agree with all the above. I've been happy with TMO, and the price of blackberry data plan is great. But coverage is the priority. If TMO coverage is good, I would advise stay with them and see if the issues you've had go away with the blackberry.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8100: BlackBerry8100/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I wonder if it is a coverage issue causing the problem. You might want to test Sprint out in your area, or ask someone with Sprint service how their coverage is.

Well, I'm betting he doesn't have a 8703 on TMo, since the 8703 is a CDMA network device, and TMo is a GSM network.

As far as the coverage for TMo and Sprint, you can look at their websites, be a little resourceful on that yourself. I have travelled I-81 and 66 through Virginia and TMo coverage was non-existent but has improved overtime. Last time I was in Roanoke, TMo had coverage.

Texting works fine with TMo. Your SK issues were SK issues, likely, unrelated to TMo.

Same with being in Roanoke, it has not failed me. The Sidekick works great along the 66/81, but of course the problem I have right now persists. Unless you were speaking of for Blackberry. And as for the texting, it has been sometimes a problematic, same thing with my father.

If I am not happy with my TMo Blackberry, what do I do?

I know that Sprint service are great, simply said. I have friends who has BB 8703e under Sprint, it has not failed them as well. I will ask them how much they're paying theirs monthly..


Whoops, double post, my bad.

I have not been anywhere in Michigan, Hawaii and Ohio where EDGE has not been available. Before I got the BB I could not get a signal in the building at work. The BB and EDGE has a great 4 to 5 bars inside. While my Samsung T809 was a great phone the BB seems to do much better in all locations. In my case I have to attribute my service gains to the quality of the BB.

frist thing first find out in your area what is the best cell provider. you have Tmobile look at your side kick do you have good signal all the time. i have had tmobile around NJ and there service is ok not great sprint sucks. i found out that ATT/cingular to be the best. jive talk is the best program for aim and email wise blackberry and chat its the best hands down. i have about 11 differnt phones and i always go back to my blackberry and these are not cheap phones and even returned my iphone 8 gig twice.
def go with a blackberry and see how service is in your area. remember you have 30 days i think to test cingular before you are locked into contract

I can't speak to all the questions you've raised, especially concerning rate comparisons across platforms. But I'm a recent immigrant to Blackberry Curve, after having a Sidekick since 2003. I'm still with T-mobile. Like you, I had problems with the frequent service interruptions, delays, etc. I use email more than IM (but I did use both), but both have been plagued with service issues, as you are well aware. The questions is: How much of the trouble was due to T-mobile, and how much was Danger? In answer, I have to say that email and IM (Jivetalk) on the BB have worked *very* well, so I have to assume that much/most of the trouble was with Danger, or perhaps the interaction between Danger and T-mo. On my Sidekick (LX), email from my gmail POP account could take anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours to arrive, and the "manual fetch" capability was disabled last May. On my Curve, gmail (without the special gmail application, which I haven't bothered with) arrives just about instantly.

IM sessions on my Sidekick used to be pretty good, a year or so ago, but performance has deteriorated, and there has been more and more lag, with occasional spells of good performance. Jivetalk IM performance has been as fast as on my PC.

Again, I don't know the costs of the different plans, but as a longtime Sidekick user I can say that the performance of my Curve on T-mobile seems much better than what I'd been getting with my Sidekick for quite a while. I hope this is helpful.

Well, this has not made my decision yet.

I'm not too sure whether to go with TMo or Sprint.

I'll ask around here and see how it is.

But I do understand all your posts. Thanks for your comment.

The cost is more of a concern since my family are having money problem badly. But they still manage to pay for my Sidekick. If I get Blackberry and cost more, it'll hurt the money.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8820/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

I say make the change. I used a sidekick before, and I hate that phone. Functionality for anything other than AIM is just horrible. Make the change, you won't regret it!

I have a Sprint 8703e and my wife uses my old BB on TMO. Pricewise they are the same monthly cost $29.99 but that's only because I got my 8703e through Sprint Relay. We have had the TMO plan for almost 3 years and have never has any problem with it. The Sprint 8703e also works well. Either one will work better than your Sidekick.

I still have a Sidekick 2 and honestly have o real problems with it. I've had it for over 2 years and it only just started having any problems.
I've had no problems to speak of with Tmobile (detroit area) as far as signal and service.

My main reason for switching up to a BB curve was that the Sidekick lx is $299!! and that's with a 2 year extension. It adds nothing to my existing phone besides a music player and pretty screen. For $249 the curve is a great value with al of the extra features and Tmobile has a BB plan that is the same price as my Sidekick one.

I'm excited by UMA for when i'm at relatives houses with poor reception.

Overall in the same boat as OP and just wanted to give my 2 cents to help out a bit. Excluding tmobile possibly sucking in your area, I'd recommend them, especially for the price.

I love my Sprint BB service. I get my GMail on my BB before I get it on the site. In the long run it ended up being cheaper than T-Mobile. I paid $99 for the phone and my monthly bill with Voice and Data is $60. And I used the PAM feature and averaged 800 kbps down. That is faster than my friends DSL service.

I had T-Mobile for 2 months and cancelled it because of the constant service issues.

stay with tmo, the blackberry plan is 19.99 a month for everything, and that is less than sprint. tmobile's plans cost less than any other company out there.

they also have the smallest coverage area

not beating them up I use TMO and ATT

I agree that a lot of the reception issues may not be T-Mobile's fault but rather the abysmal antenna in the Sidekick line. I had both a Sidekick 2 and a 3 and was amazed at how much better service I received when I switched to my 8800. I now have the 8320 because when I have poor service, I'm usually in an area with Wi-fi that I can connect to, which more or less doubles my coverage area.

Can you try the Blackberry for a 30 day trial? I think T-Mobile allows this. A data-only plan for Blackberry runs 39.99 a month on T-Mobile, as seen here: Unsupported Browser