Treo 650 Sprint vs. Cingular (Verizon?)

[Scott Henry]

Does anyone have a opinion on which carrier might be best to go with for the Treo 650 in Los Angeles?

Currently Sprint and Cingular carry the 650.

Verizon carries the 600. Does anyone know if Verizon has plans to upgrade to the 650?

I currently have Sprint and I'm considering switching to another carrier due to coverage problems, mainly when traveling outside large urban areas in California, amoung other things. I would also like to find a carrier with a great data connection to take advantage of the Treo's capabilities.

Thanks,
Scott

[Scott Henry]

Bueller, Bueller.........Bueller....

Seriously though, any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

[Box215]

I say buy it from Cingular, and if its unlocked (which i think it will be), use it with T-Mobile!! You wont regret itm trust me.

[Scott Henry]

Thanks for the suggestion, Box.

I have quite a few friends who have T-Mobile and they all seem to love it. My only problem is that I travel alot around California and T-Mobile doesn't seem to have great coverage outside of the large urban areas. I work in Sales and need to be within reach as much as possible.

[TheZodiac]

Consuieering has the best mobile data plans - I would have to agree.

The thing with Verizon and sprint are - they have have highspeed networks for a while not.. or at least sprint has. I dont you will see a treo soon that will use EDGE, UMTS, or CDMA2000 or whatever..... they just release this one, and its pretty sub-standard network wise. Sure its available in CDMA and GSM, but why build a phone with such a huge screen and excellent browsing capaiblities if you arent going to up the ante with some highspeed 2.75/or 3G tech?

Some people will like it regardless. Which is good for Palm1.. because when they do start to include EDGE or some 3G tech - those who jumped on the T650 will want to upgrade - but be very angry they have to. Perhaps.

[Scott Henry]

So, are you saying that the Treo 650 doesn't have the capability to take advantage of EDGE speeds?

How about EV-DO?

[JimmySchmoe]

I have been talking to Cingular/ATT Wireless, and the GSM version of the Treo 650 *IS* EDGE-enabled. The data service plan for unlimited internet is $39.99, I believe. Voice plan is separate. At the moment, rumors abound that Verizon Wireless has rejected release of the Treo 650 due to it's lack of compatibility with it's EV-DO (or BroadbandAccess) network. I have yet to hear anything completely official, but I also haven't seen anything saying that the CDMA Treo 650 is evdo compatible, especially since it's already been hacked to work on the Verizon network, and only 1xRTT speeds have been achieved. But maybe that's a limitation from the Sprint system (these phones are all Sprint branded phones that have been activated on the Verizon network -- steps to do this have been developed by a gentleman named 'mines'). I was really interested in an ev-do enabled version, but just as Verizon lost me the last time due to their long delay before releasing a Treo 600 (I went with Sprint, which has the fastest network for the T600), it looks like Verizon will yet again lose me to Cingular, who has the fastest network for the T650 with EDGE. It's a shame, since Verizon has such wonderful coverage.

[JimmySchmoe]

...and just in case no one believes me...

http://www.cingular.com/treo650

... and a PC Magazine review, which quotes the 'expensive' data plan as the only drawback, but the article was done before the $39.99 unlimited plan was created. I wonder what they would say now (by the way, I don't work for Cing or own stock -- I just love my T600, and want to get the T650 on the fastest network I can)...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1757446,00.asp

[Scott Henry]

Thanks for the info Joe. The links you provided were pretty informative.

The PC Mag article mentions the "Cingular 650" alot, especially pertaining to certain features. Do you know if the Cingular 650 has the same features as the unlocked version from Palm?

[BMC]

I love my Treo 650 but I hate Sprint and this is why: This is a complaint that I had to send in to the FCC today regarding Sprint.

After hurricane Wilma I purchased a Sprint PCS contract with a Treo 650 phone that I could use to access the internet with my computer. After hurricane Wilma I used the phone to run my business during the 3 weeks where we had no power, after that I did not need to use that particular service. During the month of May 2006 I tried to use this service with a new laptop that I purchased and was unable to connect. After countless times of trial and error, and 2 calls to both sprint and dell, I was still unable to connect using the Treo's modem. In an effort to get the problem resolved I contacted Geek Squad computer services from Best Buy. The technician was out here today and he tried for a good 4 hours to resolve the issue, he finally identified that the Sprint modem on the phone was not connecting, so we called Sprint to find out how to turn on the modem. After about 20 minutes on the phone with the technical support tech I was told that the modem service is an additional 49.95 per month. I explained to the tech that when I took out my new contract back in October of 2005 after the hurricane I was able to do this with my current plan. She then put me on hold and I guess she spoke to her supervisor, their reply was that this was changed effective 2/1/06 and that I no longer have that service. I asked them why I was never notified that there was a change in the service I had contracted and I was told that they sent a text message via all sprint phones regarding this change. As of this date I have never received any such notification. I told her this and she told me there was nothing she could do about it.

I am very disappointed in how a contract such as this can just be changed, and the changes not communicated in a written manner to assure that the customer does receive the change. I just spent $159.00 contracting a tech support specialist because Sprint does not communicate. I believe that they should be responsible for this un-necessary expense that I would not have incurred had they used the proper lines of communication. I also believe that given that I had to sign a contract for this, they should honor that contract until its completion. If I were to break the contract now I would be responsible for charges. They should be responsible for charges any customer incurs due to their lack of communication and their decision to break the contract, i.e.: change the services on my contract. When I purchased this phone I specifically contracted for a phone that was able to do all these things, this is why I purchased a Treo 650. Other than back up during a hurricane, I have no other use for this phone. My lack of used minutes since the onset of this contract is evidence of the purpose of my cell phone. The only time this phone got heavy usage was during the latter part of October, the month of November, and the first half of December 2005. The reason for the usage was the lack of power, phone, and cable services in my neighborhood secondary to the damage caused by hurricane Wilma.

I would like Sprint to make good on this until my contract expires, it's only fair that I get what I contracted this phone to do for me.