Hi, since the past couple weeks, my BlackBerry 8830 loses wireless signal every few minutes, and the status almost constantly shows "searching for network".

This happens more often than not.

VZW claims they've never heard of this problem, and say the handset may be defective.

I don't neccessarily want to get a new handset as my old handset's PIN is known to a lot of my friends...

I've done all the usual battery removals, reboots, wipe handheld, reload OS, register handheld, send service books,updated PRL, etc. etc. at least a couple times each.

Any thoughts? Thx.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8700g: BlackBerry8100/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Sounds like you have covered everything you can. If the unit is defective there is not much you can do.

Wonder if it's a network problem or a hardware problem...

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8700g: BlackBerry8100/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Does it seem to happen everywhere you go?

Don't rightly know; I've been in an extended network (Montreal, Canada) these past few, but it's always worked with zero problems until it started with these "searching for network" messages...I just checked the SID, it's 17500, that's a Telus SID, and as of a few minutes back, a co-worker's identical Telus 8830 with the same SID has no problems with the network at the exact same location.
So it seems more likely that it's a hardware issue rather than a network issue I guess...

I've heard the term "bad radio"...what exactly does this entail?

new device

A bad radio refers to a defective transmitter.

I'd wait until you're back in Verizon coverage before deciding to replace. Telus and Bell (the CDMA carriers in Canada) have somewhat spotty coverage sometimes. Could just be they don't want to play with anyone from south of the border.

The funny thing is that it had perfect reception at the same spot these past few months...and since the SID is the same, it should get as good reception as the Telus BB unit...maybe the transmitter went bad...but in any case, Verizon's decided to overnight me a replacement 8830 to Canada, as I'll be here for another few weeks...easy enough for me to drive a half hour to upstate NY and program the device in VZW's home coverage area after activating it online...

If anything fails, I'll be back home for Thanksgiving...that'd be South of the border Thanksgiving since y'all already had the early one...

No such luck; replacement device from Verizon does the exact same thing.

The roaming triangle disappears frequently, and when it reappears, its after several seconds of "searching for network"...

Sounds like the device does not know whether it's in a home area or in an extended network when I'm across the Canadian border - opened up a trouble ticket re. the roaming problem, but no idea if that's going to resolve issues...keeping my fingers crossed!

Anyone else having this issue with a Verizon device in Montreal, Canada? Thx.

Can you ask them to swap your SIM card? It may not help but it can't hurt. I would have to stuck in your situation with no coverage all of the time.

It's a CDMA device within North America - the SIM card's got nothing to do with it, half the time I use the device without the SIM card anyways...

VZW has been working with me on this, and after two trouble tickets, and the Telus Roaming Support calling me several times this past week at Verizon's request, all parties managed to solve the issue.
I reverted back to the previous Device OS software version 4.2.2.66 & it fixed this problem; the Device OS 4.2.2.148 seems to have a problem deciding between the 17500 & 16420 SIDs - most definitely a Verizon issue.
Hopefully this issue is fixed in the upcoming 4.2.2.176 device OS software release.