A beauty that is waiting for its time

Author's Rating:

Pros: "Always on" data, pda and phone built into one tight little package!

Cons: A product that functions on an untested inferior network introduced long before full deployment

The Bottom Line: 
Avoid this unit if you work in mission critical environment where you cannot miss a phone call or an email.

Author's Review
For the past two years I have enjoyed using a blackberry 957 receiving mission critical notifications that helped me run a business successfully.

So naturally when I received a little brochure from the Rogers AT&T saying that there is a new version Blackberry 6710 which incorporates a phone, SMS and emails I was thrilled beyond my wildest imagination. Even when I heard about Handspring Treo I had waited for this moment, because I like the "always on" technology where your emails gets delivered right to your PDA instantly.

So I called AT&T and found out that there is just one unit available for sale in my city, Calgary Alberta. I put a hold on the unit, fought a snow storm and picked up my unit. I subscribed for the most expensive data package that allows me 5Mb of data a month and a phone package that allows be 250 mins plus unlimited evenings and weekends.

The coverage maps showed excellent coverage in my area. Downtown Calgary Alberta. http://www.shoprogers.com/images/coverage_gsm_alb.gif

Ever since that day the unit has never worked as reliable as my Blackberry 957 for data or as reliable as my cell phone for phone calls. It is a unit that touts both data and voice but because of lack of signal they both do not work.

I have been using this unit for 2 months now. For causal email users the coverage the way it exists is fine. For a mission critical user this unit is not reliable. for eg. if you are a doctor who is going to be paged on an emergency this is just not for you.

The unit works this way. On power on unit will switch from GSM to gprs to GPRS. It needs to be on GPRS with a good quality signal for the data to work. If it ever slips out of GPRS, say in an elevator, it will never go back into that mode until you turn the unit off and back on again. So there goes RIMs much touted "always on".

Now for the phone part. I am using this unit for just making phone calls. Out of every 10 calls I receive, I connect 1 or 2!! When people dial my phone most of the time they get a busy signal.

AT&T in their bid to start making money on an untested network introduced a service much too early into the market. I guess everyone selling a service has to offer a basic SLA (service level agreement). In this case AT&T's SLA will be "Buy it at your own risk. The unit will work 1 out of 10 times!"

The numeric pager functionality of the Blackberry 957 is not available on the 6710.

My advice to those who use their current blackberry 957 for mission critical applications like medical, law enforcement, data center monitoring etc. is to hold off until AT&T fixes their network. Also consult with someone who owns a 6710 in your normal operating premises to make sure the service is satisfactory before you acquire this unit.