T-Mobile: UMA on BlackBerry BOLD 9900

Originally Posted by GizmoGirl

I'm holding out for UMA to upgrade from my 9700. I was super disappointed as many others were regarding the lack of UMA when I walked in to T-mobile to purchase the 9900 on 8/31. Thankfully, the subject came up and the rep was kind enough to disclose this missing feature.

I live in an area where my cell service drops anywhere from 1/2 mile to within 5 feet of my home. I've had engineering surveys done and no plans to install a tower in the area. I rely on UMA and like one gentleman pointed out, use it like home phone, end the call before jumping in the car. So handoff isn't as important to me as it may be to others.

My 9700 is having lots of locking up issues, especially when I use my camera and send an MMS. I'm an IT professional so a T-mobile rep suggested I re-load the firmware. Ugh...like that's a project I want to do in my spare time.

Long story to get to this question... what are the odds that I, like many, hold out until Nov only to find out that it's pushed to a Q2 or Q3 release?

I'm wondering if I should just upgrade to 9780 and be done with it. Touchscreen is nice but I have the PlayBook so when it comes to email and other apps, I can use that.

Thanks so much for all the information you've shared!!!

I feel as though I am in the same boat as you. In parts of my house UMA is essential and also when abroad (and I'm about to go to the Far East for a month of business travel) UMA is a great cost saver and gives better calls for the receiving party thinks it is from the USA and many auto features work that fail to work when using roaming. I am tempted to get the 9900 now and just switch the SIM back to my 9700 when I want to make a call. (Never hurts to carry two blackberries when in China and Thailand.)

Reloading your OS is not that bad, my IT guys do it for me about once every two months! It does help quite a lot on my 9700, a really fine product.

Thanks again to iwork4RIM, I just hope we really do see that add-on.

Originally Posted by GizmoGirl

I'm holding out for UMA to upgrade from my 9700. I was super disappointed as many others were regarding the lack of UMA when I walked in to T-mobile to purchase the 9900 on 8/31. Thankfully, the subject came up and the rep was kind enough to disclose this missing feature.
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I went to B@stard hybrid for my OS on my 9700 shortly before I upgraded to the 9900 and was very happy with what it did for my phone. Fast boot times, good battery life, browser was better overall, Playbook had great bridging speed, etc. If UMA is that important to you, I would give that OS a shot and see if the 9700 can't hold you over for a few more months when UMA is available on the 9900 and hopefully the price will have dropped.

I passed the 9700 on to the wife and she's been quite happy with it, it felt much quicker after the wipe and is still very responsive after she loaded her stuff on it. Still think this was one of the more versatile BBs to hit the market, was a great phone for me for nearly 2 years.

Originally Posted by HaTaX

I went to B@stard hybrid for my OS on my 9700 shortly before I upgraded to the 9900 and was very happy with what it did for my phone. Fast boot times, good battery life, browser was better overall, Playbook had great bridging speed, etc. If UMA is that important to you, I would give that OS a shot and see if the 9700 can't hold you over for a few more months when UMA is available on the 9900 and hopefully the price will have dropped.

I passed the 9700 on to the wife and she's been quite happy with it, it felt much quicker after the wipe and is still very responsive after she loaded her stuff on it. Still think this was one of the more versatile BBs to hit the market, was a great phone for me for nearly 2 years.

I agree. I had the 9700 from launch until last week when I bought my 9900. It is a great device and if the hybrid is a fix, I think UMA on the 9900 is worth waiting for. The 9900 is fantastic.

Thanks for great information everyone!

I did a quick search for B@stard Hybrid on crackberry and it looks like a bit of an undertaking as well... Definitely need to read his installation guide. I like the bridging speed feature, sometimes my Playbook does take a while to load email. Since I have to reload OS, I may as well get a better fix.

I'm also liking the switch out SIM idea too...could do that next month and make it seem as though my wait is less cuz I actually have the phone. :-)

I really hope I'm not disappointed that I waited 2 more months for nothing!

I think you'll be happy with the boost you get from a clean wipe and a nice hybrid. It really isn't too bad to install one, just need to copy some files over the top. And it is quite hard to truly brick a Blackberry, almost always a complete wipe and reload of a proper OS will bring it right back to life.

Honestly after I cleaned my 9700 up a week or two before handing it to the wife, I was thinking about waiting for UMA to launch. Was too late at that point though, she had been using it a bit here and there and wanted it asap. Felt like a new device and my bridging speeds were night and day different speed wise, might not work for everyone but it made a huge difference on the 3 9700s & 1 9780 I installed it on. Wui-we built a nice hybrid there, seemed to be a great mix of files to me at least!

Does anybody have any update on UMA (or WIfi calls) for the T-Mobile 9900?

Thank you all for your time.

gb

Originally Posted by gbany

Does anybody have any update on UMA (or WIfi calls) for the T-Mobile 9900?

Thank you all for your time.

gb

It was working on mine with the 7.1 leak and then stopped working, but I can't remember if it stopped before or after I had mine debranded. Nothing official has been released yet, if that's what you're asking.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Originally Posted by 312

It was working on mine with the 7.1 leak and then stopped working, but I can't remember if it stopped before or after I had mine debranded. Nothing official has been released yet, if that's what you're asking.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I was thinking about loading the leaked 7.1 OS, so this is not good news. Anybody else had the same issue?

Nothing official yet. I guess we just have to wait and see.

Thank you very much,

gb

I wouldn't say it's not good news. It could totally not be working because of the debranding I did. At the very minimum, you'll at least get the Mobile Hotspot working if you load 7.1, so my recommendation is to load it and try for yourself. It's been working pretty decent for me, WiFi calling aside.

I will say this; I wasn't very impressed with WiFi calling. It seemed a lot of people couldn't really hear me. But, that's why it is a leak and not official.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com