[Talion]

Greetings all,

I have never used a pda in my life, but I'm a fast learner. I'll be going to Germany in November and am looking for a GPS-enabled pda/phone to use during the trip and at home.

I live in rural Montana and the only phone plan that works well here, in my experience, is tracfone, but I understand that Alltel offers similar coverage, and they have a store a mere 50 miles away. Sprint here is abysmal, Cingular/ATT effectively non-existant, and I don't care for Verizon whose Montana coverage is mainly the (few) larger cities and along the major roads.

I am looking at the 8830 World Edition from Alltel. Based on my research, I will have the same coverage here in Montana as with tracfone--possibly better--but I am unsure of usability in Germany. I will need phone, email, web access and GPS, predominately in Berlin, also in Frankfurt and possibly Munich and Vienna, Austria.

Does anyone have experience using the 8830 in Berlin or elsewhere in Germany? Are there any difficulties in using the Blackberry there? Are there additional fees for roaming in Europe, and does the GPS mapping work well in Germany? Also does anyone have any experience with 8830 through Alltel, particularly with Alltel in Montana? Perhaps most importantly, is the 8830 the one that best suits my needs--web or wifi, email, phone and GPS?

My apologies for the plethora of questions, but my alternative to buying an Alltel 8830 seems to be getting a GPS and lugging it, a laptop and a rented or disposable phone through Germany.

Any information will be warmly appreciated and verbosity is welcome, as I have zero experience with anything but cheap cellphones.

Thanks in advance.

Talion

[yikes]

One catch with the GPS is that it will only work when in CDMA coverage. I don't know the logic behind it, but I was told this has to do with Qualcomm licensing. I don't have first had experience with it, and I would love to be pleasantly surprised when going to Europe later this year... Even with the GPS, the device needs to download maps over the air as you move. I'd pick up a cheap Nuvi or TomTom when in Europe, much, much, more useful.

Sprint has EV-DO roaming with Alltell, and a fairly friendly international data plan which you can activate before you leave for Europe and downgrade back to domestic when you get back. Sprint, however, will cancel you if you roam onto other US carriers for over half your minutes...

[Talion]

One catch with the GPS is that it will only work when in CDMA coverage. I don't know the logic behind it, but I was told this has to do with Qualcomm licensing.

Yikes, thank you very much for that vital piece of info. I did a google search and came up with verification from: evdoinfo.com/content/view/2051/64/ and last updated 15 August 2007.

Quoting: "Q – Does GPS work internationally?
A – No, the GPS chipset on the 8830 is disabled when the device is in GSM/GPRS mode due to Qualcomm requirement."

The only mention of a tie between GPS and CDMA in Blackberry's own user manual is:

Quoting: "About assisted GPS support
Your BlackBerry� device is designed to support assisted GPS when your device is connected to a CDMA network. If you make an emergency call or your device is in Emergency Callback Mode, an emergency operator might be able to use assisted GPS technology to estimate your location."

I have been unable to find any info on Blackberry's website or their user manual that the 8830's GPS will not work in Europe. In point of fact, in a phone conversation with a local Alltel/Blackberry salesperson he indicated that he too believed that the 8830 GPS would work in Europe. Seems like a deceptive business practise on Blackberry's part to me.

And since a primary need for looking at the 8830 is GPS capability in Europe, I'm afraid Blackberry has lost a potential customer.

Thanks for saving me grief and money.

[Talion]

I contacted Alltel Corporate HQ by phone and they confirmed the 8830 GPS will not work in Europe.

[crackR]

Talion-

Greetings from Bozeman...I'm in the exact same position - heading to EU and want GPS nav on my BB. In addition to my Verizon 8130, I bought an unlocked 8800 (with GPS). Now looking for affordable EU SIM's with unltd data and GPS nav software for EU. Any suggestions?

[Hazysky]

Crack R, welcome to CB!

How long will you be in the EU for? The reason I ask is because if you get a prepaid sim to use in the EU your BB features will not work as they are not available on prepaid. You get calls and texts only, you can add a general data plan to a prepaid sim but not a BB data plan. (whether or not you will be able to get internet access on the BB via prepaid another matter)

[jc34]

If I was you I'd go out to Alltel's web site a look at the coverage maps for the smart choice plans which is what you are required to get if you get a BB. You'll need to get a bluetooth GPS receiver, I use a Holux 240, but I do not remember if BB maps are available for Germany. You'll need to go out to blackberry's web site site and look at blackberry maps to see what areas that it covers. Blackberry maps are available for the Alltel BB 8830 and I use it.

You pretty much had the same questions I had regarding international stuff as well as coverage in the USA. Alltel's web site pretty much has all that information as well as using the phone outside of the USA and how to get a SIM card. But there are a lot of forum threads regarding the troubles folks have had at getting things to work in Europe and Asia.

Good Luck

[Berryman]

[QUOTE=Talion;34870]Greetings all,

I am looking at the 8830 World Edition from Alltel. Based on my research, I will have the same coverage here in Montana as with tracfone--possibly better--but I am unsure of usability in Germany. I will need phone, email, web access and GPS, predominately in Berlin, also in Frankfurt and possibly Munich and Vienna, Austria.

Does anyone have experience using the 8830 in Berlin or elsewhere in Germany? Are there any difficulties in using the Blackberry there? Are there additional fees for roaming in Europe, and does the GPS mapping work well in Germany? Also does anyone have any experience with 8830 through Alltel, particularly with Alltel in Montana? Perhaps most importantly, is the 8830 the one that best suits my needs--web or wifi, email, phone and GPS?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings,
Unless you wish to use the GPS capabilities of any PDA, or Blackberry for very occasional use on the road, I would purchase a basic, low cost standalone GPS system with European map coverage for the car.

Blackberry data and GSM voice coverage is excellent throughout Europe, far better than in the USA. Obtaining a reliable, strong data/voice signal in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich is not an issue. And unless you intend to climb the highest mountains in Austria, it's no an issue worth considering there either.

If you insert a SIM card into the dual-band 8830, you can use it to connect to the GSM based phone and data networks in Europe - the 8830 supports the GSM 900/1800Mhz frequencies. See this link for more info about obtaining the SIM card, roaming costs, list of countries where Alltel has international roaming agreements etc.

Make Calls from international locations with a SIM card

I did not know that the GPS functionality of the 8830 was crippled to only work via CDMA - that's dumb. Blackberry maps, Nav4All, Google Maps etc all would have all worked over GSM in Austria and Germany.

All;
If you intend to be in Europe for a while, and wish to obtain a Blackberry activated SIM card that could be used for just for the period you are in Europe, and with reduced data and phone costs, check-out this thread:http://forums.crackberry.com/f2/trav...lutions-26285/

[davis1900]

Hi all I am new to this forum.

The more commonly known smartphone BlackBerry, which supports push e-mail.

BlackBerry is primarily known for its ability to send and receive e-mail.

It has a built-in keyboard, optimized for "thumbing".

RIM provides a proprietary multi-tasking operating system (OS) for the BlackBerry.

Early BlackBerry devices used Intel-80386-based processors.

Data extracted from a BlackBerry to a host computer is stored in a single file in IPD format.

Many users also refer to BlackBerrys in general simply as "berries".

The current generation of BlackBerry smartphones do not have a touch screen.

The original BlackBerry device had a monochrome display, but all current models have color displays.

I have a blackberry phone. I have taken an airtel connection. Now a days i am facing a problem in taking internet in my laptop via phone. Is there any problem with my phone. Can anybody reply?

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davis
Montana Treatment Centers

[synjones]

This is the forum were we can have the open discussion on them.The black Berry 8830WE is good,but it would required more features it would be better.t Many users also refer to Blackberry in general simply as "berries".I would request to have some more information on this.
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Synjones
<a href="http://www.alcoholaddiction.org/montana">Montana Alcohol Addiction Treatment </a>