Tethered Modem via BB 9630 and Verizon

[Mc2guy]

Well, I finally took the plunge and switched from my long held and loved HTC Wing Smartphone to the new Blackberry Tour 9630 Smartphone.  I need exchange e-maill for work and often tether my phone to act as a modem while I am in airports and traveling in general to avoid the wifi fees that seem to be everywhere.

The Wing, a windows mobile 5.1 based smartphone through t-mobile, worked well and required no additional fee to tether as a modem.  It also required no software and was truly "plug and play" so my decision to move to a BB was not an easy one.  Further, the full services plan for voice and data on T-mobile is about $15 cheaper per month so I haven't been jumping to make the switch.  The Wing was falling apart after three years of heavy use and it was time to give it a long over due retirement.  I was a Verizon customer 5 years ago when I moved into my current home and ended up dropping them because I could not get signal in my house.  The way they handled my departure was less than stellar, and I have been reluctant to go back to them based on that experience.  They recently installed a new tower closer to my house, so I have been considering going back to them given their "best in class" coverage in some of the remote areas I travel to.

Anyway, on to the new phone.

I have now completed my first week with the BB 9630 Tour, and I have just about cleared the learning curve necessary when converting from a Windows based platform to a RIM based operating system.  Aside from a few quirks, I have been very impressed with the reliability, speed, and capabilities of the BB.  Initially I was put off by the requirement to use a third-part application when using the BB as a tethered modem (not to mention the $15/month Verizon wants to charge for that privilege).  However, after completing the set-up, I have to admit...IT WAS WORTH IT!

I am simply astounded by the broadband network speed I can achieve through this system.  I was accustomed to 75-150 kps through t-mobile.  Not too slow if you are just browsing, but really not fast enough to run media web sites or to download large e-mail files.  Well boy has that changed!  Verizon's network was able to deliver me a minimum of 2.2Mps at my home office and nearly 4Mps when I have 5 bars connectivity.  I can quite literally stream HD video and music with no buffering issues.

In my opinion, anyone looking for a mobile data solution who is also looking for a new phone, you may be able to solve both problems without paying for a separate air card.

Time will tell if this will be a long love-affair or a short fling, but thus far I have been very happy and (perhaps naively) impressed with the Verizon coverage and network speed.

(I am in no way affiliated with Verizon or BB, just a "power user" of mobile devices)

[RV Roamer]

If you stream much data, you will run afoul of the 5 GB/month limit on the standard Verizon account.

And don't expect 2-4 mbps everywhere you go - it is more typically under 1 mbps. Still great speed, though.

[Mc2guy]

After a week of "typical usage" for me, which included two road trips (Atlanta and Pensacola) I have used about 280MB.  I do download a lot of work e-mails and files, but I don't stream music or video much.  Speeds at my home and office were good, and my two other data points were both airports and both were good, although I didn't speed test while I was there.

I am not sure if it is different with an enterprise account, but my contract says 15GB/month tethered, unlimited on the handset.  I take it that is not standard?  I will admit to finding it annoying that I can have unlimited data on the phone, yet I am capped when using it as a modem to look at the same websites?  Doesn't make sense to me.

[FrontrangeRVer]

I use the "Dare" phone (Verizon) to tether, and it works good.  

I am waiting for the Blackberry "Essex" to come out very soon, as that will replace the Tour.    The Essex will have Wifi, a new trackpad (replaces the troublesome trackball), and a much improved camera.

You can also download Crackberry (crackberry.com) for a one time fee of $50, and have no monthly payment to Verizon for internet tethering....it uses your data plan you already have on your Blackberry.

[Mc2guy]

FrontRange,

Thanks for the crackberry tip.  I assume this is a downloaded app?  Does it run afoul of the Verizon contract (am I going to get busted for using it and have to pay an exorbitant breach of contract fee).

T-mobile has the new trackpad version of the Curve 8900 and I was really unimpressed.  The precision of the track pad was significantly less than the ball, and the tactile feel to the pad was IMO unpleasant.  I tend to run at very high resolution and small font, so I need a very precise pointer.  The newer trackball mechanism in the Tour and Bold seems to have solved some of the clunkiness and reliability issues of previous versions in the curve and previous models.   If reliability becomes an issue, well, I insure my devices for just that reason, so if it does become a problem...a new unit is 24 hours away (this also helps if you drop your phone in the Thames River...don't ask how I know).

As for WiFi, I have had it on my previous two smartphones and I found that it was never convenient to use.  First, wifi in most locations like airports and the like are pay for service, which negates the point.  Second, if I have free wifi at a location like a campground or hotel, generally I'll prefer to just use the laptop and not use the phone since the laptop is what I want to work on anyway.  In 4 years of wifi enabled phone ownership, I might have used it 10-15 times...usually because my crummy network was lacking service and I didn't have my laptop.  Wifi enabled calling seems like a nice feature, but again, I use Skype for that on my laptop.