Blackberry and Motorolla F3 Questions

September 11, 2007 4:42 PM

Should I buy an unlocked blackberry and/or cellphone? And should I wait for the "3G" Blackberry that I am told may come out soon on AT&T? And what about the whole Motorola F3 thing from a while back?

I have two mobile device issues:

(1) I lost my work-issued Blackberry. My employer will replace it, but does not want to buy any new Blackberries right now because, supposedly, a new 3G Blackberry will be coming out soon for AT&T. The thing is, nobody is sure what "soon" means, and some gossip sites are full of posts saying that the 3G Blackberry will be delayed into 2008. If I want a Blackberry without the wait, I need to buy an unlocked one on my own dime -- the Curve looks pretty cool, but would I be an idiot to spend $300-$400 now when the 3G thing might be right around the corner?

(2) Sort of relatedly, I'd like to get a new cell phone. I've decided that I am so tired of two-year contracts and carrier nonsense that I want to go pre-paid and with an unlocked phone. I'm thinking of buying a Motorola Fone F3 off of Ebay and then hooking it to an AT&T pre-paid plan. If I do this, how do I get a SIM card for AT&T? Do I just pick one up somewhere, or do I need to sign up for a prepaid "plan," take the cheapest phone possible, and then switch the SIM into my new cool F3? Is there some obvious pitfall to going this pre-paid/unlocked route that I am missing?

(2)(a) There was a thread earlier this year where a bunch of people were talking about buying F3s for use in the U.S. Did anyone ever do this? How did it work out?

Thanks.

posted by Mid to technology (4 comments total)

Yeah, you'll probably buy a phone to get it, because US cell providers hate handing out SIM chips. but Target's selling one for $15 currently, and it apparently comes with $10 of airtime.

The only pitfall I can see is losing out on carrier-specific functions and OTA programming - No great loss in my opinion.

You do know that AT&T's PAYG data plans are highway robbery, right?
posted by Orb2069 at 5:59 PM on September 11, 2007

I have no answer to 1 or 3, but I'm a pay-as-you-go type of guy, so I can help you with 2.

First, if you're really stuck on the Moto F3, there are tons of prepaid SIMs, just check ebay. The only gotcha with them is some of the SIMs are pre-activated with a particular area code/phone number which you can't change for 90 days, if I recall correctly. If you shop carefully, however, you'll find a SIM that hasn't been activated.

As long as you have an unlocked GSM phone, you can use it on either AT&T or TMobile. I've had both and my preference is TMobile. Their cheapest prepaid rate is .10/minute, with no daily fee for use.

Alternately, if you're not stuck on the F3, you can buy a prepaid phone and SIM directly from the vendor. The downside here is they're locked to the service (AT&T or Tmobile), and recent models are difficult or impossible to unlock easily.

And just so you know, you can get a data plan on prepaid, according to this Howard forum thread.
posted by SteveInMaine at 7:49 AM on September 12, 2007

Don't know if you're still checking for answers, mid, but Tiger Direct is selling an unlocked F3 for $50 as of 9/14/07. Not cheap as dirt, but almost.
posted by SteveInMaine at 10:50 AM on September 14, 2007

Thanks. I just bought one on ebay for about $65. My plan is to hook it up over t-mobile. Will report back with a review.
posted by Mid at 7:14 PM on September 16, 2007