Ok here's the situation. My wife and I both have Nextel phones which are out of contract. She has an i830 which is on it's death bed so we are looking at options to replace it.

We considered converting to the Sprint side which would up our corporate discount from 10% to 18%. The problem there is that even with the upgraded discount we would be paying more per month than we are now for her phone. Sprint has higher costs for phone internet and such. My wife did like the Samsung A900 but after reading some reviews it's limited memory kind of ruins the MP3 functionality. Even if this wasn't already a poor option you can add the fact that I still don't know what Sprint has in mind for the 8700 so my upgrade path isn't clear. I wouldn't mind a Sprint 8700 on CDMA with EV-DO, but if it ends up being a Nextel version then the antenna will continue to drive me crazy.

So we ended up looking into T-Mobile due to their low prices. We're now leaning toward doing this and getting my wife a Samsung T609. That would leave me with the 8700g and both of our phones would be cheaper on a monthly basis. T-Mobile's $20 BB Unlimited plan is a huge savings over the $45 Nextel plan. In fact using this scenario we would make up for the cost of the new phones after one year of cheaper monthly bills.

What I really want to know from you 8700 users is what to expect in the change. This much I know so far

Pro's:
No more antenna!
EDGE is faster than iDEN
Dedicated Send/End buttons
Cheaper Monthly!
Cool Factor (it's new so it's automatically cool)

Con's:
No built in GPS :(
No PTT (not an issue for me anymore)

So what else can you tell me?
Does T-Mobile do live IP's like Nextel or will I have crazy WAP issues where I have to set a server in every app?
How does the toughness compare to the 7520, from a repeated drop standpoint?
Do non-BES users still get a full HTML web browser like Nextel does?
What is this problem with messages stopping until you reboot or turn wireless off/on?

Finally I'd also like to know if anybody has used the Plantronics Discovery 640 with an 8700g and how well it worked. I just got this headset and I'd hate to have it work poorly if I upgrade my phone.

Thanks in advance!

i converted from the 7520 to the 8700g about two months heres the feedback ic an offer you.
1. and foremost i pay about half on a monthly basis then i did with nextel which is a big friggin deal
2. it is nowhere near as tuff as my old 7520. i would brag all the time while flipping it in the air about how tuff it was it would fall int he train, down steps, on the escalatar. except for a few minor scratchs which werent noticable ont he black housing it was still in perfect condition. I WOULD NEVER THINK ABOUT FLIPPING MY 8700 LIKE THAT.
3.ptt much like me u aint use it much anyhow
4. this one a big factor for me. im really into new technology and i cant imagine evr having another phone then a bb so being with tmobile gives me an advantage since rimm usually releases gsm phones first.
5. i was concerend with reception compared to my nextel but its actually the same in fact it hnk i have fewer dropped calls.
6 as far as the ip address its siple and u only have to set it up once then ur good to go.
7. as far as gps goes there are progams that can do that for you
8. full html is good to go
9. i have to imagine if the 8700 u get is upgraded to the latest os then it will work as well if not better then the 7520 with the discovery. which by the way i thinking of purchasing any thoughts?
hope that helped and good look

Thanks for your comments. As for the 640, it's a great headset overall but it is light on range. Also if you want to use the pencap cradle thing you might have to get creative with your wardrobe to find a place to clip it to. I have more comments about it in the Bluetooth forum under the big headset reviews thread.