Help -- looking to get a KEY2

I am enough ignorant on the various carriers that I need a tutorial, please!

I currently have the Priv. It's ear piece no longer works, everything must be done via speaker phone. It's battery life is shot -- 5 hours off charger and it will be at 30% or less with very little usage. I WANT the Blackberry Key2. My problem is, I don't know how to go about it in Wyoming.

I have had a company supplied phone for 12 years -- fortunately they have always allowed me to pick my device (Blackberry Curve, Torch, Z10, Priv over those 12 years). Also over those years I have only been on the company service plan -- Verizon.

I predominately stick with Blackberry because I like the security aspect and "believe" I can limit the amount of data going to Google and Apple by staying on a Blackberry (that was easier to believe when the OS wasn't Android, but I still think it helps). I also like the PKB, but it is kind of secondary to me.

I live in Wyoming so I believe the carrier choice is limited -- Verizon, AT&T, and a local one Union Wireless. But don't understand to concept of share agreements between providers, like StraightTalk, Cricket, or even the likes of T Mobile and how that might work in Wyoming.

I also do emergency medical missions around the world. Verizon pretty much stinks everywhere I go -- international plans they offer are expensive and not in enough countries. Currently I do not plan of my cell phone working when I go, and I carry an inReach device so I can text my family to let them know I'm okay. So I am interested in what options to consider here too.

So how do I get the Key2 -- how do I identify carriers that work in Wyoming and also work well with the Key2?

Originally Posted by randycw

I live in Wyoming so I believe the carrier choice is limited -- Verizon, AT&T, and a local one Union Wireless. But don't understand to concept of share agreements between providers, like StraightTalk, Cricket, or even the likes of T Mobile and how that might work in Wyoming.

Straight Talk - Is a MVNO, they rent 'coverage' from all of the providers. In other words, they're just using T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon coverage and selling it to you for cheaper. Cricket - Owned by AT&T anyway, so they're just selling you AT&T service under a different name.

As for coverage area, they all provide coverage maps. Look them up for your specific area.

- https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map <- T-Mobile
- https://forums.crackberry.com/e?link...token=btR5UuYi <-- AT&T
- https://forums.crackberry.com/e?link...token=t1R3jkqP <-- Verizon, though it's irrelevant. KEY2 won't work on VZW.

As for pricing in different countries, that's going to vary widely on the plans and such you pick. You kind of have to shop around yourself there and determine what you want and what you're looking for and what you want to pay. They all offer sites to review and check or you could do comparsions here - https://www.whistleout.com/

Originally Posted by randycw

So how do I get the Key2 -- how do I identify carriers that work in Wyoming and also work well with the Key2?

StraightTalk (GSM), Cricket, ATT, Union Wireless - KEY2 will work on them. Anything that uses Sprint, Verizon, CDMA is out.

Places to buy KEY2 in the US - https://crackberry.com/where-buy-blackberry-key2

Originally Posted by Bla1ze

Straight Talk - Is a MVNO, they rent 'coverage' from all of the providers. In other words, they're just using T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon coverage and selling it to you for cheaper. Cricket - Owned by AT&T anyway, so they're just selling you AT&T service under a different name.

As for coverage area, they all provide coverage maps. Look them up for your specific area.

- https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map <- T-Mobile
- https://forums.crackberry.com/e?link...token=I6HAWwnt <-- AT&T
- https://forums.crackberry.com/e?link...token=B8WI1Enc <-- Verizon, though it's irrelevant. KEY2 won't work on VZW.

As for pricing in different countries, that's going to vary widely on the plans and such you pick. You kind of have to shop around yourself there and determine what you want and what you're looking for and what you want to pay. They all offer sites to review and check or you could do comparsions here - https://www.whistleout.com/



StraightTalk (GSM), Cricket, ATT, Union Wireless - KEY2 will work on them. Anything that uses Sprint, Verizon, CDMA is out.

Places to buy KEY2 in the US - https://crackberry.com/where-buy-blackberry-key2

Cricket Wireless is an AT&T MVNO. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cric...ss?wprov=sfla1

Originally Posted by Laura Knotek

Cricket Wireless is an AT&T MVNO. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cric...ss?wprov=sfla1

Right, my bad. Got them and MetroPCS confused.

TMo is far superior internationally to AT&T, both in pricing and coverage. Check the WY coverage map, however, to see if it will work for you.

Thank you all.
Verizon has the best coverage of Wyoming, especially in my area. AT&T is close, but not quite. Looks like StraightTalk would work well too.

T Mobile absolutely crushes the others from what I can tell on the International front. Also T Mobile, from reading around on these forums, appears to really mean BYOB is just fine -- the Key2 works just fine on their network (Verizon the Key2 is a no go, and on AT&T some functionality is prevented); I don't know about StraightTalk.

Unfortunately T Mobile does not have any stores in my area which leads me to wonder about their ACTUAL coverage. I also do not know anyone on T Mobile in my area to ask them about the coverage. I called TMo customer support and didn't find the person to be terribly helpful or confidence building. I might make a drive to Cheyenne (nearest store I could find) and see about doing a pre-paid plan for 1 month to test coverage.

Again, thank you for the input.