[daaberean]

I have a BB 8120 Pearl through AT&T. Loved it until last week. We moved to a heavily wooded area with trees 12 stories high and we are living (forever) in a concrete & steel building. I have no reception with the BB. My vzw mobile phones get a signal half way into the apt.. The BB gets 1 bar, maybe 2 on the track of the window and nowhere else.

I'm thinking of moving to a vzw (for the reception in the general area) Curve. The regular Curve vzw offers is CDMA only. They have an international or global one that is GSM too. Will the GSM feature of the latter help my reception? Can I use my AT&T sim card in the international vzw BB?

We're thinking of getting a combo signal booster and repeater for the apt so we don't have to remain near the windows. Are they any good? The set up we're considering is a little less than $400. Do they work? Will we be able to use my BB and our other mobiles in the apt without having to walk around with Bluetooths (Blueteeth??) on all the time?

What chance do I have of AT&T letting me out of my contract if I can't use the phone where I moved? (Data, yes, but phone, no and we don't use a hard line phone, just mobiles.) I just began with them in May.

Please help. I love my BB but I can't talk on it!

Anyone have better ideas? I need to resolve this ASAP.

Thank you for reading & I hope offering any ideas you have.

Denise

[asianinvasioniv]

you cannot put a domestic sim card in an 8830 WE

[JRSCCivic98]

Welcome to the world of CDMA vs GSM. CDMA beats at signal penetration.

[jenaywins]

That's correct. The WE from vzw is not compatible with domesitc SIMs; it is meant for gsm bands out of the country. As for att letting you out of your contract, I would say you have a good shot, seeing as you have no signal at your primary residence. Good luck.

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[userdd6767]

We have a place in VT wwaaaaayyyyyyy out in the middle of nowhere, and have the same signal problems. We both have berries, but used to have to forward our calls to a Unicel flip phone with an antenna connection when we got here so that our calls could get through - no data service, of course.

And without assistance, our berries got either NO signal, or occasionally just that tower icon with no bars.

Here's the scoop with our first setup (just this week we improved it, see below for that description):

1. You need a phone with an antenna port
2. You need a booster (we used a Wilson)
3. You need some sort of cell antenna to pick up the fringe signal (ours was suction cupped to a window)

However, that wasn't really a great solution, since it meant you were tethered to the setup for your phone to work. We then added a Dock-N-Talk to the setup, and we could then use ordinary cordless house phones to talk over our cell phone! The other down side to this setup was that the signal was only marginally boosted, and sometimes we were still without signal.

But NOW, we have an even better setup:

1. We installed a Yagi antenna on our roof
2. Ran an antenna cable to a compatible booster (different from our first one)
3. And on the antenna OUT port, we put a dome antenna (strategically positioned) designed to spread the signal our wirelessly in the house!!!!!

We now can use our BlackBerries (mine is an 8830, and his is a Pearl - both Verizon) and get three to four bars all over the house. We added a Bluetooth module to that Dock-N-Talk, by the way, and connect it to the Pearl, and those cordless house phones work TOO. Way cool.

Let me know if you want specifics on the models and stuff. Good luck!

[maz94protege]

Even if the 8830 was unlocked verizon still has it programmed to only allow the phone to operate on GSM outside the U.S.

So that won't help ya. I have yet to try it, still searching for a vzw sim online for cheap so I can unlock my 8830 (need verizon sim to unlock)

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[jidx]

I have a chainsaw you can borrow.

[JRSCCivic98]

I have yet to try it, still searching for a vzw sim online for cheap so I can unlock my 8830 (need verizon sim to unlock)

You can unlock it with any kind of SIM. Another user just the other day did it with a T-Mobile SIM.

[daaberean]

We can't put anything on the roof of this building - it's in the building bylaws etc. But we were thinking of a signal booster on the window and a repeater. Our Verizon phones get more than sufficient bars when we're withing 7 feet of the window. My bb is on AT&T - from whom I'm going to try to escape my contract. My bb has only been used for data since I moved 10 days ago. I have to get a vzw one.

[daaberean]

I'll call them Monday. Don't want to talk to the B team about this. I have to say I loved AT&T until I moved. The network was perfect and I never had dropped calls or bad reception. I've already decided if they won't be reasonable, I'll push it to arbitration. I'll let them have the Pearl back, if that satisfies them. I just need out ASAP.

[uncheels23]

You could switch to t mobile and use the wi fi hot spot at home

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[mike54]

Try home depot z boost kit come with antennae to mount in or outside window. Set it up temp to see how it works. If you thing it will not help you can pack it up and take it back. Verizon tech said they broadcast on both 800 and the higher freq. 1800 whatever. It worked so good for my 8830 that I bought a yagi antenna. Should have done it 2 years ago. No more dropped calls and hanging out the window.

[mike54]

You might have to go to the home depot website. You then could probably return to the store. I bought mine through an online dealer. Worked good for me. Most places have a return policy.

[daaberean]

You could switch to t mobile and use the wi fi hot spot at home

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For phone calls? I get my data just fine.

[daaberean]

Try home depot z boost kit come with antennae to mount in or outside window. Set it up temp to see how it works. If you thing it will not help you can pack it up and take it back. Verizon tech said they broadcast on both 800 and the higher freq. 1800 whatever. It worked so good for my 8830 that I bought a yagi antenna. Should have done it 2 years ago. No more dropped calls and hanging out the window.

This is very good info. I can't go to the Yagi but I will see if the zboost works etc.

Thank you thank you thank you.