Blackberries and other winter fruit
Jan. 31st, 2007 12:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bohemiancoastAbout two weeks before Christmas my office finally issued me with a BlackBerry -- I'd first asked about them, oh, years ago. In the interim I've had various other mechanisms for accessing my email outside the office, of which the best was probably the carrier pigeons. But BlackBerry is now officially sanctioned for restricted mail, so I have one. And how much do I like it?
Today I bought a second BlackBerry, a BlackBerry Pearl this time, so that I have my home email on push too. It's that good.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coth will understand that I've been faunching after a Pearl since about two days after I got the office BB, but I had to narrow down providers. That went as follows:
What push email services are there? OK, what push email services are there that aren't Windows?
Which providers offer BlackBerry?
Of those, which providers deliver mobile phone service to my desk in the dungeons beneath a large off-Whitehall building?
Of O2 and Vodafone, which had a salesman who said 'oh, of course, I can offer you a much better deal than that, but only if you sign up right now, it won't be available tomorrow', causing me to leave the shop so fast I produced red shift?
And a nod here to John Cavalier of the O2 shop on the Strand, who:
- helped me understand the tariffs
- when I dithered about the expense, suggested I try the website or phone O2 service because they had different tariffs (true but not better ones)
- set up my phone to the point where my emails were coming in from gMail
- was thoroughly helpful throughout.
I am fairly sure I am paying significantly more than the offer I could have screwed out of Vodafone, and you know? I don't care. I'd rather have excellent customer service and pay a few quid more a month. 12 month tariff though. My last one was 18 months and, well. Never again.
Today I bought a second BlackBerry, a BlackBerry Pearl this time, so that I have my home email on push too. It's that good.
coth will understand that I've been faunching after a Pearl since about two days after I got the office BB, but I had to narrow down providers. That went as follows:What push email services are there? OK, what push email services are there that aren't Windows?
Which providers offer BlackBerry?
Of those, which providers deliver mobile phone service to my desk in the dungeons beneath a large off-Whitehall building?
Of O2 and Vodafone, which had a salesman who said 'oh, of course, I can offer you a much better deal than that, but only if you sign up right now, it won't be available tomorrow', causing me to leave the shop so fast I produced red shift?
And a nod here to John Cavalier of the O2 shop on the Strand, who:
- helped me understand the tariffs
- when I dithered about the expense, suggested I try the website or phone O2 service because they had different tariffs (true but not better ones)
- set up my phone to the point where my emails were coming in from gMail
- was thoroughly helpful throughout.
I am fairly sure I am paying significantly more than the offer I could have screwed out of Vodafone, and you know? I don't care. I'd rather have excellent customer service and pay a few quid more a month. 12 month tariff though. My last one was 18 months and, well. Never again.
