I have had my 8700 on T-Mobile for one week. The only mod I have done is install the ZEN theme.

I live in an area that is in EDGE coverage and I work in an area that is on the fringe.

Previously I have used both a 7290 and 7100t on this service and in this area and not experienced any problems.

There are times when the readout on my 8700 says gprs (lower case) and I'm in a the known EDGE coverage. I've had to shut the unit off for a few minutes, then turn it back on. It seems to reset itself and messages begin arriving to my hand set again.

I have not called T Mobile with this issue, figured on asking here first.

Has anyone experienced similar problems?

I have users on 8700g complaining of similar symptons but they are not on T-Mobile of course. Personally I have not encountered it.

I have an 8700g and live in a area that has "excellent" coverage. At home I have 2 bars of EDGE signal. If I turn off the wireless or shut the device off it goes to no signal and then can't acquire a lock on the signal until I go out to my car. But once it locks on the 8700 never loses the signal.

This is from two T-Mobile technical support responses:


If your handset displays upper case EDGE it means that you are connected
to the data and you will be able to browse the internet and access
emails. If you have a lower case edge, you only have the default
t-zones.

The Blackberry may lose signal when traveling from a T-Mobile coverage
area to an area where there is no coverage (eg. tunnels, parking
garages, and buildings/houses). The issue often happens when the signal
drops suddently. It occurs only rarely when a you leave a T-Mobile
coverage area and the signal degrades slowly.

This is due to the devices built in battery saving function that slows
down the network scan frequency when the phone is out of signal. You
may visit www.blackberry.com for more information on the Blackberry
device.

I would just elaborate on the
reason why you sometimes need to Power Cycle the handset when you
re-enter a T-Mobile coverage area. What takes place is, a suspension of
active signal connection with the handset. This is relative to the
length of time you were out of the coverage area. The longer, then the
more likely you will need to re-start the handset. Along with this there
is a known issue where, if you had at one time chosen Manual mode in
order to pick up a network connection. The device does not automatically
go back to pick up our network.

That is what is preventing me from jumping to Tmo for their 8700 and their great priced plan.

anyone in the San Francisco area with the 8700g on Tmo? private me your opinion of reliability of reception and EDGE availability please

I have cingular at the moment and if I go out of a service area (subway, tunnel under the Bay) I immediately jump back into EDGE once back in the service area.

I am not sure that what "those technicians" say is necessarily true. I have been in and out of a service area (when I ride the subway) and immediately the device connects. Anyway, I don't live in CA, though my brother does and he confirms all my assumptions about T-Mobile. I do know that Cingular sold their former 1900MHz-only network in CA to T-Mobile. It was arguably one of the best networks in CA. Cingular now uses the former ATTW network, and while it has the luxury of both the 850MHz and 1900MHz bands/frequencies, the network is not well built (yet).

In any case, the problem the OP is experiencing could be device related, because according to the OP, s/he has never had those problems with T-Mo before. I have T-Mobile (8700g) and have never experienced the problem; in fact, the 8700g has been my best device. Moreover, like tankee531 said others have had the problem and they are not T-Mo customers. Besides, every network has their hiccups. T-Mo does have a trial period, so you could surely test it out and make sure it works for you before you commit. I don't know anyone in CA, including my brother, who complains about T-Mobile's service.

I have the 8700g w/ T-mo. I live On Long Island, NY and frequently travel to the Poconos in Pennsylvania and I experience the same problem quite often. MY previous device was the 7290 and the coverage was excellent. Now I have to powercycle and sometimes I still don't get a signal.

Is there any way to override the power-saving feature or get a better signal?

-Edmund

Here in Miami this happens, especially on Miami Beach. I have found that disable and re-enable wireless works about 95% of the time. I can always tell when one of my execs has been to South Beach because his email starts backing up on the BES. His 8700 will undoubtedly show lowercase edge.
-James

I have the 8700G with T-Mobile, and I live in Southern Cali, and I am always in the LA County. Everywhere from Calabasas, West Lake, Thousand Oaks, Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Encino, Northridge, Porter Ranch, West LA, Hollywood, N Hollywood, Glendale, etc.... Like I said, I'm all over, and I have never had any problems, if I ever lose service, as soon as I regain reception i get EDGE in caps. It might have to do with the Zen Theme, or something might have gone wrong with your software. I have Orig software from T-Mobile, and I installed, Google Talk and Ramble IM.

Interesting I've experienced this same problem. I live in NYC and work in subway. When i come to the surface it sometimes doesn't immediately connect back to EDGE network. I called Tmobile to complain about problem and thier fix was try reseting device then as next option reload os and next option exchange for new phone. So it seems it's a known issue. I think its a 8700g thing as I never had this problem with my 7100t or any other tmobile phone.

I have several 8700g's (T-Mobile) that experience data loss availability (edge\gprs in lower case) when switching between networks. Typically, the phone moves seamlessly from network to network. But occasionally, it will lose it data ability and the only way to get it back is to turn wireless off and then on again. It seems to do this more often when on the line of a GPRS and EDGE network. Ironically, if either goes into lower case, it will switch between networks but still be in lower case. I have calls in to both RIM and TMO on this.

I have not had any problems with my device and I have had it for going on 2wks now...I am currently a Tmobile customer using the 8700g device.

I am not sure of any technical difficulties or defaults yet..( HINT: YET)
but I am sure there will be some because no device is perfect, they just tend to work exceptionally well.

JB

I've had the 8700f with TM for almost a month now and no major problems. Once I saw that I wasn't getting email (but I was in an area with low edge coverage) so I rebooted the device and then it was back to normal again. Another time the service went to gsm but I called TM and it was a problem with the local tower which they fixed and it's OK now. One other time it happened, I was on the phone with RIM and they said it was a problem the software was having as they received calls where people were getting delayed emails. Never had any problems with phone reception though, unless been in a known area with no signal...but that's extremely rare in my area.

yea..i had that problem last week @VickyPaz with the tower thing..and the delayed emails and whats a good thing i was actually standing in the t-mobile store talkin to a sales rep and i as assured that they were being fixed because i was lookin at the same screen they were lookin at. and sure enough they were fixed within the hour and my emails were coming in

but besides that, neither have i, had any problems with my reception or any other things as i stated before.

FYI: current user of the BB 8700g from T-mobile