Oops..sorry, will try to figure out how to get rid of this dup...

My son has had three BB's. First one up and died, phone company said too bad so sad.

A year ago he went with a new carrier. Bought a brand spanking new BB. Three months later he was at work and noticed on the screen, an hour glass doing its thing. He assumed it was just doing fine, or lagging or something and kept working on the car he was working on. A little while later, he picks up his phone and it's dead. So he figured the hour glass was it's way of shutting down because the battery died. He brought it home and plugged it in. It wouldn't take a charge. He took the phone to his phone carrier and they used a brand new charger and tried to charge his phone. Nothing. They took a brand new battery and put it in his phone and used the same new charger. Nothing. The salesman used both the battery and charger in his personal phone and it worked for him. He told my son to call the carrier and they would replace his phone. And they did. BUT: they gave him a refurbished phone. His was 3 months old and brand new when he bought it. Not used. A week later that phone died. They refuse to replace it for him and still want payments every month. He refuses to pay the bill until they replace his phone with a new phone.

I get constant phone calls for him from the phone company. Last week, they called twice in 20 minutes. I told them he had talked to someone the day before and this was MY private line and to stop calling him on my phone. The lady said, "Do you have a phone number I can reach him at?" uhm........... I said, "YOU have his phone number and you could reach him on his phone if you guys would REPLACE his phone like he's been asking you to for the past year!" They stopped phoning....

He has in iPhone now. Different carrier....

I'm on my second Blackberry Curve with Verizon. I've had a number of issues like freezing, not being able to pick up some emails, not being able to unlock or turn off unless I remove the battery but, the most annoying is that it wouldn't ring in my office or at home. Only outside where there was the strongest signal.

The IT guy at work told me to *228 where it was giving me the most trouble and that should fix it. *228 goes searching for the strongest tower signals and hauls them in for your use. It worked great at home but I still can't get my phone to ring when I'm sitting in my office. I'll be getting an iPhone with AT&T later this week as a replacement...but the *228 might help you with your problem.

Jodi-

Hubs has the BlackBerry Torch, and I have a BlackBerry Bold 9700 (both with AT&T), and we've never had problems like you all have described. Hubs hasn't had any issues at all, and the only issue I've had is that every once in a while the "Voice Notes" won't stop recording when I push the button to stop. I can live with that, though, because I can get by without using the Voice Notes.

PammieSue, in your other BB post, you wrote:
"I ordered these last two from ebay. My contract had been open for renewal since Jan. I guess I could go get another one, but I don't want to learn a new one...Hubby is attached to Razors and doesn't want anything different...we are a sad bunch...lol"

I think the problem is because you bought the phones on eBay. Although there ARE some reputable sellers who will sell made-for-use-in-the-USA (or made-for-use-in-Canada) brand new cell phones, there are many, many more sellers who sell phones that are made for use in China. These phones simply do not work the same in North America. It can be something "simple" like the voice mail indicator won't be there to show that you have new voice mail messages, etc.

Since you're not on contract, your carrier should offer you a phone "upgrade" at pretty much no cost, as long as you agree to a new contract. You can choose the BlackBerry model that you want, and it should work properly. If it doesn't, the carrier will take care of it.