Comments on: Wherein we speculate why the BlackBerry Storm doesn’t have Wi-Fi

By: tommy

tommy — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:07:26 +0000

I like this one. I buy it for my cousin and he’ll be very happy. This thing worth your money.

By: blicket

blicket — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:59:27 +0000

The model numbering seem to match their previous numbering convention: the Curve 8300(gsm)/8320(gsm+wifi)/8330(cdma) and 8800(gsm)/8820(gsm+wifi)/8830(cdma). Count on a GSM+Wifi model (9520?) to be released in a couple of months.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:29:26 +0000

The CDMA Blackberry Curve was release first on Sprint, and neither one of them has Wifi. Most of the GSM Curves don’t have it either.

You can’t cripple what’s not there to begin with.

Now, if you want to talk GPS, I’m with you. They lock it down on every phone they release. Wifi’s a different story, though.

By: weatherman

weatherman — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:10:24 +0000

Blackberry Curve.

Also, Verizon has a much longer history of disabling Bluetooth for anything but headset use (e.g. DUN, file transfers, etc).

By: pji

pji — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:49:09 +0000

I second Nate’s demand. I’ve have 3 wifi capable phones and none have been crippled. The closest they have come was with the XV6700 (HTC Apache) by making you choose between wifi or evdo. Even then , that was fixed by a WinMo update.

By: JD

JD — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:21:19 +0000

I just assumed Verizon wanted to be able to sell overseas plans to business travelers which are RIM’s bread and butter. Not having gotten my hands on a smartphone yet as I’m waiting for this phone or else the nerve to leave verizon for the iPhone, but having gone on a recent trip abroad, it appears business travelers might have tried using just wifi abroad to skip the add’l cost. As long as verizon’s 3G can handle it here though, I’m leaning to the Storm.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Name one device with crippled wifi.

By: Jameson

Jameson — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:19:24 +0000

I thought for sure you were going to blame it on McCain.

By: weatherman

weatherman — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:57:35 +0000

Having been a Verizon customer for a long time, and haveing had a number of different handsets on Verizon, I can say that without a doubt Verizon has a long history of intentionally crippling devices made for their network. They wield a lot of power with their handset makers, and have consistently disabled both GPS and WiFi so that folks have to use their services. Keep in mind, a data plan may be required for certain phones purchased directly from them (with their “discount”) but if you’re getting your phone from eBay or if you’re off contract you might not have to use their data, and that’s something Verizon definitely doesn’t want. Even if it’s a longshot that someone would bother getting a blackberry without data services, it’s just too easy and too profitable for Verizon to cripple it. They can’t pass it up, no matter how “open” they claim to be.