Hi all, first post for me. I'm picking up my unlocked pearl this weekend and have a couple of questions. I'm with Bell right now but I'm thinking of switching from CDMA to GSM. I had a Treo 650 with Bell but wasn't impressed with the call quality on the unit. I'm wondering with all the ads stating Rogers has the best network; how would most of you rate the digital network with Rogers? Is it really that much better than Bell? We travel alot to the US and sometimes to the UK, so I will need an unlocked BB. (GSM) My main thing is call quality and clarity. The earpiece on the Treo was awful. I could hardly hear anybody unless I was in a room alone. Is the earpiece volume on the Pearl really loud? Also, does anyone know if all the functions of the pearl will work with Rogers network if the Pearl was bought unlocked? Is there any difference in terms of BB functionality with unlocked vs locked. Also, if I do go to Rogers on a small business plan with the data plan added, when we travel to the US, can I just put in my Cingular sim card and be good to go for voice service? Any information or opionion(s) would be very helpful. I'm in the Barrie area if that makes a difference for network quality.

Thanks,
Allan

Rogers does indeed have an amazing network - call quality and clarity are excellent. GSM network far superior to CDMA - plus you can use your phone overseas ! Earpiece I find is also excellent - nice and loud in your ear - I just wished the wire was a little longer for one of the ears. All the function will work from an unlocked phone - SIM card pretty much determines what will work and what won't. Locked or unlocked = same functionality with Rogers. Data plan on Rogers is pretty sucky - currently, $60 for 25mb - be careful, you can burn through that pretty quickly if using your Rogers SIM in the US or Europe. The unlocked phone will allow you to insert a local SIM card and save on local calls - however, you will not have the functionality of the data plan - you will only be able to make calls with a Cingy SIM - unless you also get a Cingy data plan for the SIM. Typically, Rogers will charge you $0.05 per KB if using data from US or Europe - ouch ! Hope this answers your questions. I've been on the Rogers GSM network for quite a number of years - no complaints !

I'm not a Rogers customer but from reading these forums the only complaint I know of is the price for the data plans. They don't have an unlimited data plan. Other than that they appear to have a good network.