am new to BB and this forum...both very nice. have powerbook G4, 10.3.9. am retired, and my only real need is the internet/email capability. done much research and i seem to think the 8320 Curve is the best for me; more consumer, less bus. professional. have original Airport wireless card on my mac, so wi-fi on the 8320 i could use as modem and would use the international capability. t-mobile seems best (for me) with $30 calling plan w/ $20 unlim. internet. don't need the other things with this BB, but like idea that i could use if i wanted to. t-mobile also has the 8120 and 8700..better or not for what i want? BTW, these offers are through wirefly.com. they seem good, any other suggestions? i AM also concerned with the connection issues regarding tethering to my mac, as i've been reading on the forum. is that a major problem? thanks for all help.

If you are looking to tether to your G4 by Bluetooth with the TMO curve 8320 please do not purchase the phone if these are your intentions.

I have a TMO 8320 and a MacBook running 10.4 and I am not able to connect using the Curve and my Macbook. If you are looking for a phone that will allow you to tether your G4 and use the data plan try looking at the 8700g or the 8800, I have both and they work with the modem scripts provided by GGoodall. Both of these phones will allow you to use the BT tether option.

If you run Boot Camp or VMFuzion or some other application that will let you run windows on a different partition you can still connect to the internet by Desktop Manager. I hope this helps you with your decision but please dont buy the TMO Curve as this does not work via Bluetooth.

thanks....am i to assume that the USB cable WILL NOT work for the tethering either?

USB cable is the only way to tether for data transfers of any significance (photos, address book, iCal, etc.)

There is a post here about using pearls as modems for BT-enabled powerbooks. Check it out before buying. I haven't tried it with my 8120, but I do think the bluetooth is less than half-baked by RIM. Utterly useless for my needs (more professional perhaps than your stated needs) -- I can't even imagine why RIM bothered -- I'm sure they point fingers at Apple, but I never had issues with my Nokias and this quite old Powerbook G4 I drive.

BTW -- why are you using Panther and not Tiger? You might find some of the features in Tiger worthwhile. I wouldn't recommend Leopard unless you have a qualified machine (>860 MHz CPU and more than 1 Gb RAM installed).