boober

hi all...

I realise that there are previous Blackberry threads, but they are a couple years old now, and the technology has changed quite a bit...

We're just initiating a Blackberry and BES trial at work. The trial is with Bell Canada, and they're providing a BES eval and a couple CDMA Blackberry units (7750's).

We also have a rental GSM unit from Roadpost.ca (quite a nifty service) that we're trialing on a trip to Russia.

Has anyone implemented a solution with Bell, or with any of the other Canadian providers (Telus, Rogers, other?). Am I correct in the assumption that the BES software, and connection to the SRP site, is the same? Appears that all BES traffic goes to a blackberry.net site, which is wireless vendor independent.

So, the real question is whether we go with CDMA, or with GSM...Since Bell and Telus share CDMA networks, and Fido/Rogers share GSM. And of course, cost and support.

So far, for pure functionality, GSM seems to be a better choice, since the devices themselves offer more variety in features and price. And if you get the tri or quad band phones, travelling the world is far easier, since practically everyone outside of NA is GSM.

So, I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on Roger's capabilities (NA coverage, as well as roaming capabilities with other countries...how about China?)

Also, has anyone had success 'unlocking' their GSM Blackberry and getting another SIM card that's part of another GSM provider for countries where Rogers doesn't have roaming agreements (ie. China)?

Finally, does anyone have an enterprise contact with Rogers? Sales rep, etc? I've only done a little looking so far, since we're trialling with Bell...but so far I can't find any contact info other than their regular 'consumer' level stuff. And we all know how useful those people are...

Thanks all!!