Hey everyone,

I have a 7290 through cingular, which is covered by insurance. Unforutnately I lost it yesterday helping a friend move and I'm not sure whether to call the insurance company to have it replaced or but a new model 8700. I would really like the 8700c, however, does anyone know whether or not the 7290 is even sold anymore? I was hoping that if I filed a claim that they would give me an 8700 insted of another 7290. Does anyone here know if thats the case?
Thanks in advance

The 7290 is still sold!! are you out of contract? you could upgrade if you are. You could also try buying an 8700 here on BBF in the Buy sell Trade thread

Sundarban, I believe you will personally like the 8700 over the 7290, but your "if" questions will have to be answered by your carrier/insurance. They should allow you to upgrade or offer the insurance amount as a discount on the 8700.

Thanks, unfortunately I'm under contract until September. It's a bit odd, when I check my "upgrade" status through cingular online, it says I'm not eligible for one until September. However, when I was at the cingular store yesterday they said I could upgrade that day. I wonder whether they can just offer you an upgrade whenever they want, so long as you renew your contract..I don't know...anyway, thanks for the response. I'll most likely get the replacement and then upgrade in Sept.

I didn't think of that. I'll ask them when I call!
Thank you.

Sun... sometimes you are offered a bit less $$ upgrade discount even if still in the current contract. The upgrade discount could be less come September...

Most insurance companies don't allow you to Upgrade by paying the difference anymore. not saying it isn't possible but I haven't heard of anyone having successfully done this recently. If you are a high value customer they can make an exception on the upgrade, lets say you have a 100 dollar rate plan and BBdata you would be a high value customer. they do have some leeway as to what the can do.

I would go to the 8700.

Are you referring to "most insurance companies" that the carriers use? Cingular doesn't offer insurance for any of their smartphones so the OP must be using a third party insurer...

Takeshi,

Yes the insurance carriers use. Unfortunately Cingular doesn't cover smartphones as you stated. Thanks for helping to clarify, to early in the morning I forgot they don'tcover smartphones! I have mine covered through my Renters insurance 10 bucks a year covered up to retail value of phone at purchase.

Wirelessly posted (NakedBerry: BlackBerry7250/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Have it replaced and sell the replacement unit to help pay for your upgrade to the 8700.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7130/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

I'm with Cingular. If you want an 8700c I might suggest you act as quickly as possible. It's my understanding that they are discontinuing the 8700c very soon without notice, just as they have done with the 7130c,& 7290, again without notice.

The moment I heard this same story about the 7130c I ordered another new one to have as a spare, & I'm glad I did, because the very next day they were gone. The same thing occurred again, each model was on the web one day & gone the next day. What is especially misleading it that they still appear on the RIM web site.

Good luck.

I am not sure that this is true as you can still get the 7290 from Cingular. I can tell you that if the 7290 or 8700 is no longer supported by Cingular there are going to be a lot of CW employees who need new pager.

They could be on their way out down the road but I wouldn't rush to get one as they seem to be in pretty good supply and I don't see them losing support on the CW network anytime soon. My gf is planning to get a new BB in August and she doesn't even want a new one, she wants the 8700 and I am pretty confident I will be able to find her one for a good price in August.

Cingular is misleading with their upgrade vs. out of contract time. When I was with them, they said I was eligable for an upgrade in May when my contract didn't expire until August of that year. (found this out a little too late - naughty sales reps!) They will make you sign a new contract (usually 2 year for a better deal). Its just their way of playing on the american need for instant gratification in order to keep you under contract.

Are you sure? I'm in New England (Boston to be exact) and the 7290 is no longer sold in stores around here, and on the cingular website the only 7290 they offer is the referbished model. Nonetheless, I'll call the insurance company today to see what they plan on replacing my phone with, or if I could get a discount on an 8700, before they go away!

I wouldn't say that they're "misleading". The truth is that your upgrade eligibility and contract term are two separate things. Most people just tend to upgrade as their contract expires.

You can ask a rep at any time and they can tell you the date for either or both. It would actually be misleading if they gave you the wrong date(s).

Fortunately I have been paying insurance through cingular on a monthly basis before this went into effect, so when I called today they did offer to replace the phone as a courtesy (they would not upgrade me to the 8700c), however they made me aware that I would no longer have insurance on the new device. I might just take the new 7290 as someone suggested and sell it to pay for an upgrade. Any advice on which companies insure smartphones for low cost?

those that do insure generally require at least a 100 dollar deductible. Id stick with cingy then since you have GSM phone it is easier to replace device or go to TMO

So what steps would I need to go through to do this? Once I get the replacement do I activate it with my number, then buy the new phone and have the replacement deactivated, sell it, etc? Otherwise if I don't activate/deactivate whoever I sell it to wont be able to activate it with their number, right?

with GSM it is the SIM card that matters. If you activate BB service on it just make sure the PIN is disassociated with your BIS acct before selling so the buyer won't have a problem activating the device

Respectfully, I believe my post was misread.

One cannot order either by phone or on the web, a NEW 7130c, or 7290. That said, I understand that there are a small number remaining in some stores, however none of the 9 stores in my area have any. Perhaps the stores by you do.

What I did NOT say was the devices would no longer be supported, as Cingular is very good about tech support long after any particular phone they sell is taken off the market.

Regarding my comment on the 8700, that was simply passing on my thoughts based on my experience.

Cheers....

Wow, lot's of terms I don't fully understand..sorry. Maybe if I hypothysize a similar situation, I'll get it str8. Say I did have my old phone, it simply broke, I call the ins company, they ask if my sim card was OK, I say yes...ya ya ya.. 2 days later I get a replacement phone, without a new sim card. Yes?

So, if I were to activate the replaced phone, I'd have to insert my old sim card, call the number to activate the phone and there I'm back on the map.
Then, once I buy the new phone (8700c) I will remove my sim card from the replacement phone, insert it into the 8700c and have Cingular activate the line, deactivating the replacement phone. Now what I have is a replacement phone with no SIM card, unactivated. My question is, what do I have to do (in english to get it into selling mode where the buyer will not have a problem activating it with Cingular?

Hope that helps.

Just have to make sure if you have a Blackberry data plan that it is no longer attached to that plan and you should be good to go!

you would also do a security wipe of the 7290 to make sure none of your info is left on it

I do currently have a data plan on my 7290, but when I activate the 8700c and deactivate the replacement 7290 there should be no problems with the data plan I deactivated and the new phone? It's not clear what my data plan would have to do with the replacement phone once the line has been deactivated.

With regard to "security" are you saying I should do a "sweep" of the pseudo broken phone before I return it to Cingular or the replacement phone I put my sim card into before I sell it or both

I will have to look up how to do this security swipe because I am hooked up through my employers BES and concerned now that you bring it up@!

wipe both devices if you can. people have received refurbished devices with previous owners info on them. do your self a favor and wipe the devices of your info if you can!


In most cases once you activate the new device it should remove the old device from the service. I am just syaing to call in an make sure so as to avoid issues with whomever buys the replacement device

Gotcha.
No worries.

I hope I did not come off as rude as that would be the last thing I want to do.

and to the post on upgrade eligibility, I think you can upgrade at the 22 month mark but don't quote me.

Thanks for your courteous response, I did not take your earlier post as rude at all. I simply took an opportunity to show that being courteous to one another on this forum is my preferred choice.

Especially since I notice from time to time that people are less than friendly with one another and take this all too seriously.

Regarding the upgrade, I have been told it's once every 18 months, which so far I have managed to shortcut. When I'm ready for a new phone I go into my local store and simply ask if they will extend the upgrade price, and they always do. This past year I purchased 5 phones for the upgrade price or less. If it were not for this flexibility in pricing I could not justify getting a new phone as often as I do.

However, that said they _ask_ me to extend my contract. This is no big deal for me as I have been completely satisfied with Cingular. Plus they simply ask me in a nice way, they don't demand it. In addition if and when I have had an issue or error, they have taken care of it and always offered some kind of additional consideration for their mistake. I could not ask for more.

Cheers.....