Bluetooth Phone Reportedly Available From Sprint PCS [Archive]

Janak Parekh

12-23-2003, 03:00 AM

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.sprintpcsinfo.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=304' target='_blank'>http://www.sprintpcsinfo.com/module...article&sid=304</a><br /><br /></div>Yes, you heard me right -- a CDMA carrier has actually made a BT phone available, due to tremendous pressure from the community. Sprint PCS Info (linked above) has the full information: it's the <a href="http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?id=228">Sony Ericsson T608</a>. Apparently, it's only a limited release and can only be ordered over-the-phone from Sprint. I don't know anyone who has it (availability started today), so I don't know how well the Bluetooth works -- I'm sure we'll hear about it here and other places as well in the next few days. I'm also not 100% sure how the 1xRTT plan pricing will work -- apparently, the service will be free for the first three months and then 3MB for $15/month.<br /><br />Once again, kudos to you guys who kept on pressuring Sprint to release this device. :way to go: I don't know if that's what ultimately made up their mind, but it certainly couldn't have hurt it. Let's hope Sprint notices the demand for the device and encourages more BT phones for their network. If anyone gets the device, let us know how it works.

darrylb

12-23-2003, 03:20 AM

I thought Sony Ericsson pulled out of the CDMA market... :?

Janak Parekh

12-23-2003, 03:24 AM

12-23-2003, 03:28 AM

I ordered my today. They said I should have it by tomorrow or Wednesday at the lates. Will keep you posted.

darrylb

12-23-2003, 03:29 AM

I thought Sony Ericsson pulled out of the CDMA market... :?
This was their last device, apparently. That's why it's "limited release". Not the best of circumstances, but if you want a BT SPCS phone, there's not much choice.

--janak

Where does that leave you for support. If the phone breaks in six months, will it be able to be replaced?

Pity these are not available in New Zealand :lol:

Janak Parekh

12-23-2003, 03:32 AM

Where does that leave you for support. If the phone breaks in six months, will it be able to be replaced?
I'd have to imagine there will be a standard support policy with these.

Pity these are not available in New Zealand :lol:
Even Verizon in the US doesn't offer them. :( Doesn't NZ have good GSM coverage? You can certainly get a BT phone with that...

--janak

CTSLICK

12-23-2003, 03:43 AM

donkthemagicllama

12-23-2003, 04:56 AM

3MB/month?! They've got to be kidding!

dhpss

12-23-2003, 05:08 AM

Mine is on order, Sprint said 2-3 days so its likely I'll get it after Christmas. No biggie, I've waited this long. I 'll report back with my experiences after I've had some play time. Hope its all good!

Might I ask how much it costs? :oops:

bibap

12-23-2003, 05:19 AM

About $200. I was going to order one to use with my PPC, but not after they announced the 3MB limit. I will stay with my Palm/Samsung 330 which gives me unlimited data. I guess I can't move completely into the PPC camp, at least with Sprint as my carrier. If I upgrade the phone it will probably be to a Treo 600.

that_kid

12-23-2003, 06:39 AM

I ordered mine as well and I asked about the 3mb limit and they said there wasn't one. I'm not sure if it's because of the old plan that I have or what. If there is a 3 mb limit then they can come get the phone cause I use more than 3mb a day and i'll go back to using my sprint cf card. I hope it's not true though cause while I love my sprint cf card, the sleeve adds bulk to my 5555 and battery life with that card isn't the greatest. Guess I'll have to wait and see, but t-mobile is looking better and better.

Lday

12-23-2003, 07:11 AM

" The T608 is not available with Sprint service plans providing Unlimited PCS Vision access."

This is a deal-breaker for me. I'd love to upgrade my old Sanyo 4500 to BT, but not with a 3MB/Month limit. My employer provided us with Sanyo 4900 phones w. unlimited Vision access, but there is no way to hook it up to my Toshiba E755 because there are no drivers for it. I can use it on my laptop though, it is a sweet deal.

rpommier

12-23-2003, 01:49 PM

I carriers would just man up like T-Mobile and do data as value added instead of trying to rape us with exhorbitant fees! I just moved from Sprint to Cingular, because they had no Bluetooth phones. Anyway, Cingular wants $74 for unlimited GPRS :evil: and $6.99 for 1mb :evil:

With this price structure I can't see anyone but business users pining to use it. Currently I'm under the pay as you go GPRS with Cingular $.005 a kb :roll:

They're dolling this stuff out like it's freakin' platinum! I want cheap data :bad-words:

starbot

12-23-2003, 03:26 PM

i really wanted the speed of sprint's CDMA network, but combined with the price and lack of bluetooth i went with tmobile, got a free T610 BT(and camera) phone from amazon, and free unlimited internet- works great, i pay 20$ a month for 60anytime minutes and 300 weekend with free internet and 300 text messages

data wise i'd say tmobile is the way to go

CTSLICK

12-23-2003, 04:31 PM

Janak Parekh

12-23-2003, 04:33 PM

data wise i'd say tmobile is the way to go
The problem is twofold: T-Mobile has lousy coverage in some places, and GPRS is slower than 1xRTT. The coverage problem is the main one, though. Overall I'd say Sprint's network is growing more rapidly than T-Mobile's. If T-Mobile works for you, that's indeed the nicest solution right now...

--janak

Raphael Salgado

12-23-2003, 05:04 PM

What do you think the chances of getting this phone "unlocked" so that it can run on a more reliable CDMA network, such as Verizon Wireless? I've had friends who were trying and crying to get out of their Sprint contracts because they couldn't stand the horrendous signal and customer service issues. I know the feeling when I became a "paying beta-tester" for the first generation T-Mobile Sidekick device.

Janak Parekh

12-23-2003, 05:14 PM

What do you think the chances of getting this phone "unlocked" so that it can run on a more reliable CDMA network, such as Verizon Wireless?
Slim, but not impossible. I've not kept track of Sprint unlocking, though. The alt.cellular.sprintpcs and alt.cellular.verizon newsgroups might be better sources of information on this.

I've had friends who were trying and crying to get out of their Sprint contracts because they couldn't stand the horrendous signal and customer service issues. I know the feeling when I became a "paying beta-tester" for the first generation T-Mobile Sidekick device.
But the original Sidekick was much more beta than SPCS's network. At least Vision is supposed to be stable now. hiptop.com is still rife with complaints about reception and stability...

--janak

12-23-2003, 05:27 PM

What do you think the chances of getting this phone "unlocked" so that it can run on a more reliable CDMA network, such as Verizon Wireless?
Slim, but not impossible. I've not kept track of Sprint unlocking, though. The alt.cellular.sprintpcs and alt.cellular.verizon newsgroups might be better sources of information on this.
I would think that there is a chance of this. When the Smartphone 7135 came on the market, a lot of people bought them from Alltel (the first carrier to have them) and were able to easily get them activated on Verizon. Now, whether the BT feature causes a problem is an unknown at the moment.

These CDMA providers sure don't seem to like BT devices. I would have liked to get a T608 on Sprint, mainly for the unlimited Vision. Without that, they can forget about it.

Looks like I'll be waiting some more........ :(

PetiteFlower

12-23-2003, 06:48 PM

pr0vider

12-23-2003, 07:28 PM

that_kid

12-23-2003, 07:39 PM

Vincent M Ferrari

12-23-2003, 09:02 PM

Well i just verified that once you add this phone to your plan you only get 3 Mb a month.

This is why I left Sprint (that and it didn't look so great for a T-Mobile dealer to walk around with a Sprint phone, but I swear that was secondary).

Sprint's rules about data seem vague and arbitrary, not to mention on my first Vision phone it just flat out worked like crap. I loved the voice, but the data? Ugh.

Anyway, I'm happily subscribed to Tm with an unlimited data plan and can sit online all freakin' day if I want. As much as Sprint tries to talk about how advanced their services are, they always seem to forget those who want data for more than e-mailing pictures to friends and family. 3 megs for a phone? Please. I was blowing through 6 a month when I was on a metered plan. Tethered to a PPC, 3 megs ain't much.

They interpret a niche as their entire market and it's going to cost them. In fact, it cost them my wife as a customer (if they ever port her number).

Just another nail in the coffin, if you ask me.

ikesler

12-23-2003, 09:04 PM

Or go with the A600, an Ipaq 4155 and a SupplyNet connection Cable. works like a charm for me and it's unlimited.
Don't get me wrong I would LOVE to connect wirelessly 'for real'..... but with the options that sprint offers I think this is the best way!

Vincent M Ferrari

12-23-2003, 09:05 PM

I'm a long time user with Sprint but don't know doodly squat about what 3MB is in reference to airtime on the internet. Stupid question probably, but can anyone give me an idea of how many minutes/hours of internet time I could get out of 3MB/month?

Unfortunately, you can't turn it into hours or minutes because if you load up a page and leave it up all day, you may only use 1k.

If you're only talking about wap data on the screen of your phone, you should be fine. When you start really burning through data is when you tether to a PPC, and then you'll eat up 3 megs quick.

If the average e-mail without an attachment is 3k (not unreasonable), you'd have to get 1000 e-mails to hit 3 megs. For some people that's done in a matter of minutes. For others, it's a years worth of usage.

Hope that helped somewhat.

jngold_me

12-24-2003, 04:14 AM

I wish Verizon would get off thier #1 carrier butts and get a BT phone!

DesignFlaw

12-24-2003, 10:03 AM

Well i just verified that once you add this phone to your plan you only get 3 Mb a month. :devilboy: so as soon as i get mine, it's going back. I have a sprint cf card on an unlimited vision/voice an so i guess i'll have to keep using it. The only problem with my cfvcard is it draws a crazy amount of current. Not to mention the size of my 5555 with a pcmcia plus pack so i don't have to carry that hinged battery crap. So now my options are 1. get the slim battery for the sprint card and use this with my whitney case or 2. move to T-mobile and a T608. Damn you Sprint

It's been reported that people who had unlimited vision before they ordered the T608 had no problem keeping it once they activated the phone. Some other people have been able to get unlimited without having it before hand too... It's just a matter of talking to the right CSR, which is often the case with Sprint. There is also this interesting post at sprintusers.com. http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?s=7555e40846835033f0be5900f4f9f1be&threadid=32036

Reports of non 3MB limits have come from both sprintusers.com and sprintpcsinfo.com.

I had a non-vision phone before I ordered my T608 and was able to add vision to it because they saw that I had ordered a vision phone. I'm hoping that once I get it I'll be able to swap it with my old phone and not run into any problems.. we'll see I guess.

My uncle is using the 5555 and the T610 from Tmobile, slightly different form factor than the T608 and it has a camera instead of a speakerphone. Except for the very slow transfer, which I believe was due to reception, it worked quite well.

dma1965

12-25-2003, 03:26 AM

Surely Ed must have something profound to say about how this just proves something or other about bluetooth sucking wind! :D :mrgreen:

disconnected

12-26-2003, 01:50 AM

My husband called and ordered it yesterday for my Christmas present. :)
I have unlimited Vision now, so I'm hoping I get to keep it (otherwise the phone will be returned).

Would someone who gets one please post detailed instructions for setup and use with a Pocket PC? (Idiots guide sort of thing). I'm currently using a Supplynet cable and LG350 with my iPAQ.

I've been waiting for this for so long that I know there must be a catch somewhere.

aristoBrat

12-26-2003, 04:30 PM

That's my main reason for being wary of switching to Tmobile....my coverage with Sprint is solid, once in a while I find a dead spot and lose a call, but I'd say 90% of the time, my service is reliable, plus I know for sure that I have coverage in all the important areas(my house, mom's house, my office). Switching would pretty much be a crapshoot at this point :(
T-Mo takes most of the crap outta the shoot. They give you 14 days to try out the phone and service. If you cancel within that period, the only thing you pay for is the days that you used -- no activation, etc.

GPRS is a LOT slower than 1xRTT (20-30kbps vs 70-90+kbps), but it does at least let you get incoming voice calls while connected. 1xRTT sends voice calls straight to voicemail, which is something to consider if you plan on being online a lot.

FWIW, T-Mo's giving away unlimited usage 'limited' Internet access now. For $0.00, you get all you can use of SMTP, HTML, IMAP and POP3. Unlimited usage 'full' Internet is still $19.99.

Beprahst

12-27-2003, 03:21 AM

:devilboy:
I just got off the phone with the Sprint PCS sales rep and we talk through the whole thing (because I'm giving my wife my current Sprint phone)and then right at the end, she slaps on the "but the unlimited isn't available with the T608". It's unlimited for 3 months then $.002 per MB over 3MB. Confirmed. I told them I'll be leaving them shortly.

that_kid

12-27-2003, 03:50 AM

It's been reported that people who had unlimited vision before they ordered the T608 had no problem keeping it once they activated the phone. Some other people have been able to get unlimited without having it before hand too... It's just a matter of talking to the right CSR, which is often the case with Sprint. There is also this interesting post at sprintusers.com. http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?s=7555e40846835033f0be5900f4f9f1be&threadid=32036

Reports of non 3MB limits have come from both sprintusers.com and sprintpcsinfo.com.

I had a non-vision phone before I ordered my T608 and was able to add vision to it because they saw that I had ordered a vision phone. I'm hoping that once I get it I'll be able to swap it with my old phone and not run into any problems.. we'll see I guess.

My uncle is using the 5555 and the T610 from Tmobile, slightly different form factor than the T608 and it has a camera instead of a speakerphone. Except for the very slow transfer, which I believe was due to reception, it worked quite well.

Well I got my T608 today and swaped the esn for my old touchpoint phone and I still have my unlimited vision. I'm soo happy it's not even funny.

daS

12-28-2003, 06:18 PM

What do you think the chances of getting this phone "unlocked" so that it can run on a more reliable CDMA network, such as Verizon Wireless?
Don't count on it. You would also need Verizon to agree to put the phone on their network, which I doubt they would do.

OTOH: The difference in coverage for Verizon vs. Sprint is often due to the fact the Verizon dumps you off to their old analog system whenever you can't get a digital signal. Since the T608 doens't support analog, you may find that Verizon has just as bad of service as Sprint.

In fact, a recent survey done by a cellular industry newspaper found more dead spots in Verizon's digital network in New York than for Sprint, at&T or Cingular/T-Mobile (shared network there.) They said that Verizon seems to have done an excellent marketing job of convincing the public that they have the best service, but that actual tests seem to show otherwise.

Of course, as long as you can still fall back to analog, then Verizon still wins - and after all, at the end of the day, all that really counts is that your calls go through. Just don't assume that you can get a data connection or that your battery will last any reasonable time if you end up using analog a lot.

Janak Parekh

12-28-2003, 09:51 PM

Don't count on it. You would also need Verizon to agree to put the phone on their network, which I doubt they would do.
They have been known to do this in the past, actually. Verizon doesn't have the strict policies that Sprint does (Sprint has an ESN list and will absolutely refuse to active any phone that didn't come through them), although telling the reps how to activate a non-Verizon phone is often tricky.

OTOH: The difference in coverage for Verizon vs. Sprint is often due to the fact the Verizon dumps you off to their old analog system whenever you can't get a digital signal. Since the T608 doens't support analog, you may find that Verizon has just as bad of service as Sprint.
Not in the Northeast. Verizon's digital footprint is larger than Sprint's, simply put. My i700 doesn't have analog, and doesn't need it -- I haven't lost a signal in quite some time (except in the subway). It may be true in other parts of the country, though.

In fact, a recent survey done by a cellular industry newspaper found more dead spots in Verizon's digital network in New York than for Sprint, at&T or Cingular/T-Mobile (shared network there.) They said that Verizon seems to have done an excellent marketing job of convincing the public that they have the best service, but that actual tests seem to show otherwise.
Honestly, I don't buy this. :) I've used all four networks all over the tri-state metro area heavily over the last few years, and Verizon's network beats the others hands down. They even have coverage under the East and Hudson rivers, in both the car and train tunnels! Mind you, Manhattan is a bit special: all of the providers are quite good in the city, and due to the tall buildings there are always spots where one provider will be slightly better than the other. But Verizon's 800MHz signal helps in-building penetration, and out in the suburbs the difference is noticeable.

Mind you, Sprint deserves some kudos in that they have been building out very fast in the last few years -- my dad has Sprint now, and a lot of the dead spots he suffered got filled out. Still, I get 4 bars at home, and he gets about 1. In any case, the chances of one getting the T608 unlocked in the first place are minimal, so it's a moot point... ;)

--janak

daS

12-28-2003, 10:19 PM

Verizon doesn't have the strict policies that Sprint does (Sprint has an ESN list and will absolutely refuse to active any phone that didn't come through them), although telling the reps how to activate a non-Verizon phone is often tricky.
I'm assuming that since Verizon currently refuses to support Bluetooth, they would not activate a phone that includes it.

Mind you, Manhattan is a bit special: all of the providers are quite good in the city, and due to the tall buildings there are always spots where one provider will be slightly better than the other. But Verizon's 800MHz signal helps in-building penetration, and out in the suburbs the difference is noticeable.
The article in RCR Wireless News was specific to Manhattan. They compaired people's general perception of good coverage (Verizon scored very high) with the number of dead spots actually reported by users (Verizon scored lower.) I agree that Manhattan may not be representative of other locations, but I thought the differences between people's feeling about coverage vs. their reality was interesting.

Now here in the West where things are much more spread out than in the Northeast, we do see many more coverage problems. Some are quite funny: On Hwy 15 between LA and Las Vegas you get good coverage with just about everyone all across the desert. But leave the highway to get gas or something, and you might find that the coverage is lost just a few yards from the freeway! The signals seem to be laser focused down the road. :lol:

Janak Parekh

12-28-2003, 10:25 PM

I'm assuming that since Verizon currently refuses to support Bluetooth, they would not activate a phone that includes it.
The question is if the reps would know, right? :razzing:

The article in RCR Wireless News was specific to Manhattan. They compaired people's general perception of good coverage (Verizon scored very high) with the number of dead spots actually reported by users (Verizon scored lower.)
Interesting. In Manhattan, virtually all dead spots are in-building, so it's extraordinarily important to get good data over all of the island. I can tell you that in my office building, Sprint is barely useable, Verizon is good in most of it, and the best is... T-Mobile. 8O My empirical study (which is by no means complete) is that Verizon has generally worked slightly better than Sprint in the buildings I've been in.

I agree that Manhattan may not be representative of other locations, but I thought the differences between people's feeling about coverage vs. their reality was interesting.
The other question mark is if they were looking at people's homes, workplaces, or both.

The signals seem to be laser focused down the road. :lol:
Actually... yes. :) This is a very deliberate decision on the part of wireless carriers. Whenever they move into a space, highways are covered first. All of the big five (six?) carriers have near-perfect coverage on I-95 between Washington and Boston, for example.

--janak

Beprahst

12-28-2003, 10:59 PM

So I dumped Sprint and went with TMobile. I got their S/E T610. 400 anytime minutes for $39 plus unlimited data for another $19. I've got my laptop Bluetoothing to the internet through the phone as well as synchronizing contacts. I've also got my iPAQ luetooth through the phone to the internet as well. Next challenge...iPAQ VPN to my workplace.

Given, the Sprint network is rated a bit fast than TMobile's, but hey...unlimited data!
And, I even get signal at my house which Sprint had been promising to fix for 3 years now.

TMobile rocks.

aristoBrat

12-29-2003, 02:37 AM

Given, the Sprint network is rated a bit fast than TMobile's, but hey...unlimited data!
Bit faster? It's like 4x faster. But then again, I'm on T-Mo for the great voice plans and data rates too. ;)

Scott R

12-29-2003, 08:59 PM

I bought two T608's (one for my wife, though she's unimpressed). I activated one and had a horrible time getting Vision working. Spent an entire day, mostly on hold, but finally got it working. Getting it setup to browse on my PPC was much more difficult than it should have been as well. I found that in PPC 2003's Bluetooth Manager, you need to choose "Explore a Bluetooth device" as "Connect to Internet via phone" ends up giving you an error after it successfully pairs with the phone.

No rep I ever spoke with mentioned a 3MB limit, so if they try to enforce that, I'll just ask them for my money back and move off of Sprint for good. My big concern today is battery life. It's awful, but the consensus at sprintpcsinfo.com seems to be that the batteries are "stale" from these phones sitting in a warehouse forever. Some are reporting getting better results after draining and charging multiple times. Others are buying new batteries and getting good results. I need to track down a cheap car adaptor quick.

I wish I could comment on speed comparisons to the T610/T616. I discovered there's a Connection setting in the phone for modem speed. Set that to the max value (the default is 19.2K). Of course, you'll also want to set the modem speed to max on the PPC side. Prior to doing that it felt slower than my Treo 300 (and that's old tech). After increasing the modem speed in the phone settings, speeds were much nicer. Still no cable modem, but noticeably faster than my Treo 300 so I may be happy. I'd like to try something a bit more intensive (uploading/downloading files, etc.).

There's a lot of little things I could pick apart (and have over at sprintpcsinfo.com), but the bottom line is that this is the only BT phone going with (hopefully) affordable unlimited data with decent coverage in my area. On that note, I'm sorry to say that despite reports of it having very good reception, it seems to be no better than my Treo 300's inside my house (which is to say that I can't reliably get a signal). The good news is that this phone supports digital and analog roaming on Verizon's network. Sprint has a "Free & Clear America" plan for an extra $5/month which lets you roam on Verizon. The only catch is that you can't use more than 50% of your minutes roaming. I'm about to add that to my contract. Inside my house, I can pick up three bars of Verizon digital. Yummy. I can't use data services, but I don't need to use data services when I'm inside my house, so no biggie.

Will I keep it? Not 100% certain, but probably. Kinda OT...I bought the snap-on thumbboard for my iPaq h4155 yesterday, hoping that it would be good enough for remote email and commenting on forums, but I think it's still too small (I wasn't happy with the Treo 300's thumbboard, either, in case you're wondering). I'm now thinking about going with a foldable QWERTY keyboard. Any suggestions?

Scott

that_kid

12-30-2003, 02:45 AM

Comparing the T608 to the T610 there are a few things I really like about the 610 over the 608. the biggest thing being battery life, the 608's battery life is horrible compared to the 610 but then again that's really comaring the two types of technology used. I can get about 2.5hrs talk/data time on my 608 where I was getting over 5 hrs on my 610. The other thing I noticed was the menu layout on the 608 is different from the 610, these are simple things like bluetooth, keylock and the like. The biggest thing that I don't like about the 608 is I can't get it to dial after pushing a number from my ipaq 5555. This worked flawless on my 610 but on my 608 the ipaq says it sent the number to the phone and the phone shows an active bluetooth connection but that's all. Both the phone and ppc site there looking dumb. I saw a few reports of this with various bluetooth ppc's and the 608. For the good news.....vision is Da Bomb, the speed is just as good as my sprint cf2031 card so I'm very happy about that. The other thing is I didn't have to program my phone with my 400 contacts, installed the sync software and let the pc and phone do their thing. I can't complain too much as I have my 608 on an unlimted vision plan. I think that eventhough gprs is slower than vision the gsm networks have better battery life, features and plans at the moment. If I didn't have the nice old plan I have with sprint I would go with T-mobile just because "everything" works. Sending sms on sprints network is very very painfull.

Scott R

12-30-2003, 03:44 AM

The biggest thing that I don't like about the 608 is I can't get it to dial after pushing a number from my ipaq 5555. This worked flawless on my 610 but on my 608 the ipaq says it sent the number to the phone and the phone shows an active bluetooth connection but that's all. Both the phone and ppc site there looking dumb.Yes, I ran into that today. Please let me know if you come across a fix to this. :(

One thing about battery life...Many are reporting much better battery life after buying a fresh new battery. I'm sure the T610 will still have better battery life since GSM consumes less battery power than CDMA, but I wouldn't think the T610's should be twice that of the T608's.

Scott

Collin

01-23-2004, 11:13 PM

Scott,
I have a new T608. I can't figure out how to use the vision on my iPAQ. I know you said to "explore devise" but what after that? Please help. It is eating me up inside.
[email protected]

Scott R

01-24-2004, 12:53 AM

Collin, it was a while ago that I did this and I don't want to try doing it again for fear of screwing up what currently works. I did a quick search in the forums at www.sprintpcsinfo.com (this is where several of us exchanged notes a while ago) and came across these simple instructions. If this doesn't work for you, do a search of your own there. If you still come up with nothing, let me know and I'll see if I can track down the best instructions. Here goes...
1. Pair the devices using BT
2. Explore the T608 BT services from the iPAQ and select Dialup Networking
3. When prompted, create a new dialup connection on the iPAQ
4. Use #777 as the phone number
5. Double click on the shortcut created on the iPAQ BT Manager to connect.

Scott