I just want everyones opinion or what they do. I bought a 7100t back in October. I love the fact that I can somewhat browse the web and get email on the go.... but as far as the phone function it's rotten. So here's my dilema.

1. Get a cell phone and use the blackberry as a data plan only

2. Go with the Samsung sgh-t509 that has the edge service and the phone quality from what I have heard is better than the blackberry.

Anyone have any other ideas..... both options are pretty cheap (less and $100). I know someone is gonna say upgrade to the 8700g but that's more of price wise.

Any help is appreciated.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7520/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

Have you considered trying another carrier?

That's what I am doing now. I am getting a TracFone prepaid phone and use that for my minutes. That way I eliminate the hassle of jacking my bill by not using minutes added onto my plan like I did with my sidekick.

True! Or your device for that matter? My wife had a 7100r, don't get me started but it was right up there with my old cheap 8700r (at least the voice quality was excellent) on the 8700. The 7100r just plain poor. Her company issued here a 7290 and she hasn't put it down since.

What's your gripe with the phone function?

What OS version are you running? I've heard a lot of people complaining about the phone quality of the 7100. I upgraded mine to 4.0 and never had a single person complain about the sound quality.

the jury has spoken.

When I got my 7100g is had 4.0 installed and the speaker sounded like a tin can. I upgraded it to 4.1 and it still sounds like a tin can. So then before 4.0 it would have sounded even worse?

I had OS 4.0 to start with... then I updgraded hoping the CL 4.1 would help which didn't... so then I thought maybe the TMO 4.1 would be better which also didn't help

Yesterday I tested the phone audio quality of my 7100g using a wired headset that I've had for some time. Nothing fancy, just one that hangs on the ear and has a short mic boom with a foam windscreen on it. The audio fidelity was MUCH better. So, it's not that the device is incapable of sending good audio to the speaker, it's more like the built-in speaker is incapable of reproducing it.

This was over the Cingular network, BTW.

Maybe it would not be a bad idea to get a good-sounding Bluetooth headset and use that for the time being. At least until we find out how good the audio from the built-in speaker is in the upcoming 7130 GSM models.

It's not only the speaker that is a POS. The microphone on the 7100 series sucks as well.

I plan on switching to another mfr when my contract is up, unless 7130 users report that voice quality has been substantially improved.

Voice quality is great on my 7130e verizon BB!

My 7130e has been great on VZW. I have used all the high end phones from VZW and this is on the same quality as those phones (about 3000/min a month). I am very picky on my phone (voice) quality.

I've heard that. FWIW, I was testing the phone on my co-workers 8700c. The report I got from the other end was that it sounded like I was on a landline.

Reports I've read and gathered from 7130e users report good audio both in and out as well.

I'm another happy VZW 7130e phone user. Every bit as good as the LG VX6100 I had prior to this.

Glad to hear that 7130 users are reporting good phone quality. I was afraid the 7130 would also be a mediocre phone, given the phone quality assessment of the 8700 by PC Mag (my understanding is that much of the guts of the 7130 and 8700 are very similar or identical, though not sure this applies to speakerphone and mic).

From pcmag.com review of 8700c:
"We were glad to see that the phone is quad-band, which gives the best possible international roaming experience. But BlackBerrys have generally been mediocre phones, and the 8700c is no exception. Its earpiece is loud and the speakerphone very loud, but the built-in microphone is poor at canceling background noise and we experienced several audio dropouts and fluctuations during test calls despite the BlackBerry's interface reporting full signal strength."