[surfsquish]

I have been a customer with T-Mobile for a while and I recently moved to an area where the service is not so great. I get excellent service everywhere except in my house. I currently have the 8800 and I tried the 8820 with WI FI and it worked OK. Lots of dropped calls and noise in the background in my house.

I ordered the Curve 8900 from T-Mobile and I should get it sometimes next week. Considering its a newer phone, would it help improve the service or am I basically beating a dead horse.

My wife has Verizon and she gets perfect service everywhere. I want to switch to Verizon and get the blackberry Tour but its a more expensive service.

Would the Curve 8900 with T-Mobile improve the phone service?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[david9962000]

Try UMA at your house, it works great for me. If not return it.

[surfsquish]

Try UMA at your house, it works great for me. If not return it.

I tried the UMA but it didn't work effectively with the Blackberry 8820.
The signal would come and go.

[Reed McLay]

It is strange, but for reasons known only to T-Mobile, they did not provision the 8820 for UMA.

The 8900 is correctly provisioned. When you are in a Wifi hotspot, your voice and data use the internet instead of your carrier.

I have similar situation, very limited signal from my carrier. UMA allows me full service at my home.

[dragonsamus]

UMA works great for me whenever I'm at my buddies house where there is no service for tmobile. He has a G1 and was floored when I explained how UMA worked.

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[vietalogy#CB]

Not sure how much verizons bis plan is but you will get faster data speeds compared to tmobile.

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[Nikon777]

I have a crappy signal in my apartment. It's great everywhere else. Bought a wireless router, linked up my 8900 via wifi, and I've been living in bliss ever since UMA for the win!!

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[Heresy]

Not sure how much verizons bis plan is but you will get faster data speeds compared to tmobile.

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Partly incorrect. I left Verizon after 12 years. Yes using the mobile network VZW is fast as compared to Tmo, but only on that level. WiFi with Tmo is hands down faster. Bottom line. Comparing two different connections is not plausible here. I have the same situation as you and Reed. My signal is ok outside but non-existant inside. 8320's running a seriously older router I connect just fine. No drops.

[surfsquish]

If I switch to Verizon Wireless with Blackberry tour, WI FI is not an option.
The phone coverage is simply outstanding and I probably wont need WI FI.

I guess it will boil down to if the 8900 will work great with T-MOBILE using UMA.
the 8820 was very lousy with UMA.

[Heresy]

Me personally, Id weigh my options using cost and coverage as the determining factor. Yes verizon has more coverage but costs more. The 8900 will work better than the 8820 using UMA. There were problems with this for the curves. OS updates corrected this issue. Mostly is was from leaving a wifi spot while on UMA then handover to edge/gprs.

[Nikon777]

If I switch to Verizon Wireless with Blackberry tour, WI FI is not an option.
The phone coverage is simply outstanding and I probably wont need WI FI.

I guess it will boil down to if the 8900 will work great with T-MOBILE using UMA.
the 8820 was very lousy with UMA.

As good as their network is, having wifi is simply awesome.

I took a client to the hospital Tuesday. Inside the waiting area on the 2nd floor my phone was in SOS mode. I simply turned on wifi, did a scan, found the open guest network, and viola. My emails started dumping to the device, and I received a phone call from my boss. UMA is the cats meow.

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[blkbryadict]

I'm in the same boat. My Storms work everywhere but at my house. 7 months ago I was getting usable service and after an outage 5 months ago it has never been the same. T-mo's answer was to use the UMA. I didn't have to 7 months ago and I feel I shouldn't have to now. I returned my 8900 and had my contract expunged after 3 times having techs look at everything. I will be leaving t-mo as soon as I can come up with a $450 deposit with AT&T.

[Nikon777]

Why not just use the UMA and have a perfect signal, and the fastest data rate of any carrier?

I'm in the same boat. My Storms work everywhere but at my house. 7 months ago I was getting usable service and after an outage 5 months ago it has never been the same. T-mo's answer was to use the UMA. I didn't have to 7 months ago and I feel I shouldn't have to now. I returned my 8900 and had my contract expunged after 3 times having techs look at everything. I will be leaving t-mo as soon as I can come up with a $450 deposit with AT&T.

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[surfsquish]

Why not just use the UMA and have a perfect signal, and the fastest data rate of any carrier?



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Now that I'm thinking about it. Using UMA to solve the issue of cell phone coverage defies the purpose of a Cell Phone.

A cellular phone by definition is a phone that supposed to work everywhere.

If I switch to Verizon, I would have to pay 60 Dollars more per month.

I should get my 8900 in a couple of days and I'm very curious how it is going to perform. This is the last shot I give to T-Mobile. Otherwise, I'm signing up with Verizon.

[Nikon777]

No carrier gurantees service everywhere all the time. That being said I do understand ur irritation.

Now that I'm thinking about it. Using UMA to solve the issue of cell phone coverage defies the purpose of a Cell Phone.

A cellular phone by definition is a phone that supposed to work everywhere.

If I switch to Verizon, I would have to pay 60 Dollars more per month.

I should get my 8900 in a couple of days and I'm very curious how it is going to perform. This is the last shot I give to T-Mobile. Otherwise, I'm signing up with Verizon.

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[tlo07]

I didn't even know there was such a thing as UMA. Is this only available with GSM carriers? Just curious...

[Nikon777]

I didn't even know there was such a thing as UMA. Is this only available with GSM carriers? Just curious...

Yes I believe only the GSM BBs have wifi.

[blkbryadict]

[QUOTE=Zaakir Abdullah;3162480]Why not just use the UMA and have a perfect signal, and the fastest data rate of any carrier?

I have an unlocked Storm. UMA isn't even an option as it doesn't have Wi-fi. I shouldn't have to constantly use UMA. If I walk down the street to the fitness center, which has no wi-fi, I'm screwed. I worked for AT&T for 4 years and I, of all people, know that no network is perfect nor do they gaurentee 100% coverage all the time. But when you go from having usable service to not having usable service and all you get from the carrier that everything is green across the board, there is something going on. The service that I was getting 7-8 months ago isn't even close to what i'm getting now. Something failed and was not restored. Yes, it my choice to have a phone that isn't gaurenteed supported by t-mo, but I spent enough time in the industry to know what I can and can't do.

[blkbryadict]

I didn't even know there was such a thing as UMA. Is this only available with GSM carriers? Just curious...

In the USA, to date, T-Mobile is the only carrier that offers UMA.