Foo - Anyone here use a Blackberry?

So I just found out that at my latest hospital where I'll be starting July 1st, ALL commercial e-mail accounts are firewalled off. So no Yahoo, no Hotmail, no AOL, no Gmail. Nothing.

This really, really sucks because my Yahoo account is my lifeline to not just friends and family, but also research collaborators, my bank/insurance/etc., my wife while she's at work, and being away from home with no access to that just sucks.

So I'm looking at some deals I can get on a Blackberry from my wireless provider. Does anyone use a "Crackberry?" I'd like to hear some reviews... I'm looking specifically at the 8700 model.

At least they didn't firewall BF. :)

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=312264&highlight=crackberry

personally i would love to be firewalled from a lot of things. having free and fast internet all day just kills my productivity. i would probably be CEO of this company by now if i didn't have this distraction all day. or maybe just the assistant to the CEO. but, still...

I got an 8700 last year...works great for yahoo. Now that newer one is out, you can get an 8700 for like $200 (instead of $400 it was initially).

Of course, which blackberry model availability depends on your cell phone provider too.

personally i would love to be firewalled from a lot of things. having free and fast internet all day just kills my productivity. i would probably be CEO of this company by now if i didn't have this distraction all day. or maybe just the assistant to the CEO. but, still...

I guess I'm a little different. Doing the resident thing, there's a lot that I'm trying to keep together that's outside the hospital--keeping in touch with the wife, collaborating on research projects, staying current on info from my "home" hospital, etc., and there are just times during the day (between surgeries, waiting for the OR to be ready, etc.) where you can take a few minutes and keep in touch with people, take care of finances, answer some of those research-related e-mails, etc. and I usually do that frequently. And my wife works in a shared office so being on the phone is less than desirable, and her cell doesn't work there. So my Yahoo e-mail is something of a lifeline, weird as it may seem.

I've got a blackberry and love it. Mine's a 7130 but the company I work for plans on getting the 8700 soon. I use it for everything - even access BF during slow meetings. If you plan on sticking to yahoo for email, you'll need to play around so that it works okay. The best bet is use the email that comes from your provider.

I know you're in the DC area and we've tried all the service providers. Getting the right provider is more important than the device itself. I can tell you from our experiences that Nextel is an awful choice. Verizon is clearly the best for coverage and speed.

I got an 8700 last year...works great for yahoo. Now that newer one is out, you can get an 8700 for like $200 (instead of $400 it was initially).

Of course, which blackberry model availability depends on your cell phone provider too.

Yeah, Cingular Premier (I get a corporate deal) has refurbished 8700's for $49.99 right now, so I'm looking pretty seriously at that option.

Note to self: Make sure the surgeon's first name is not Pete.

Note to self: Make sure the surgeon's first name is not Pete.

Not sure what you mean by this.

Not sure what you mean by this.

Surgeon checking his blackkberry during surgery is kinda scary:)

Not sure what you mean by this.
I think he's just making a joke like you would be checking your blackberry email during surgery or something. He's just trying to be funny.

How the heck do you do all that stuff in post #5 and still have time to post on bike forums all day long?

I'd either be worried you'd be in the OR thinking about your next post on bike forums , or comforted that you're a bad@ss multitasker.

Surgeon checking his blackkberry during surgery is kinda scary:)

When did I say anything about during surgery? I usually like a little background music but there's only one thing I'm focused on when I operate. Neither I nor my patient should accept anything else.

How the heck do you do all that stuff in post #5 and still have time to post on bike forums all day long?

I'd either be worried you'd be in the OR thinking about your next post on bike forums , or comforted that you're a bad@ss multitasker.

I've been working in a research lab for the past year, i.e. not in a patient care role and spending lots of time behind a computer. On July 1st I go back to hospital work. Apples and oranges. Rest assured my posts per day are going to drift down substantially.

When did I say anything about during surgery?
Again, back to post #5:

"and there are just times during the day (between surgeries, waiting for the OR to be ready, etc.) "

Sorry I misunderstood this and I am sorry you misunderstood my attempt at humor.

When did I say anything about during surgery? I usually like a little background music but there's only one thing I'm focused on when I operate. Neither I nor my patient should accept anything else.

Nobody doubts it, I am sure.

Sorry I misunderstood this and I am sorry you misunderstood my attempt at humor.

Yeah, depending on the staffing, equipment that needs to be moved in/out of a room, anesthesia, patient prep, etc. there can be gaps between cases where there's a little down time to eat/see patients/communicate/whatever. Just kinda part of the flow of the day.

Sorry to get defensive--I've just done a little too much justifying to total strangers how I spend my time in the past year, because folks don't understand that being a doctor doesn't always mean solely doing patient care.

Forgot to mention how physically durable blackberries are as well. I take mine with me riding. On two occassions I got phone calls and it slipped out of my hand while trying to get in in my jersey pocket. It hit the road doing maybe 18 mph and the cover came off with the battery. I put it all back together and its works perfectly. Our IT guy once asked why the back is all scratched up :)

Forgot to mention how physically durable blackberries are as well. I take mine with me riding. On two occassions I got phone calls and it slipped out of my hand while trying to get in in my jersey pocket. It hit the road doing maybe 18 mph and the cover came off with the battery. I put it all back together and its works perfectly. Our IT guy once asked why the back is all scratched up :)

Good to know--I'm on my 3rd RAZR because of its "extreme durability"--I've never dropped it in a crash, but just inadvertent dropping is enough to kill it if it lands just right.

I have a BlackBerry through work. The upside is I can access my work email at all times. The downside is that the doctors can send me emails at all times. I am able to check my personal email accounts just fine. Although the SmartType keyboard is faster than I expected, it can be tedious to compose long messages or send long replies.

For what it's worth...If I were allowed to have a cell phone with camera, I'd look into the Treos. Blackberries are limited being in an all-Java non-M$ proprietary operating system.

I have been using a Windows Mobile 5 based PDAphone, and if there isn't a dedicated reason you need a Blackberry, you might consider one of these. T-Mobile has two, the Dash and the Wing, and AT&T has few. They do POP, IMAP, and your usual E-mail protocols very well.

I have been using a Windows Mobile 5 based PDAphone, and if there isn't a dedicated reason you need a Blackberry, you might consider one of these. T-Mobile has two, the Dash and the Wing, and AT&T has few. They do POP, IMAP, and your usual E-mail protocols very well.

But no porn!

I have been using a Windows Mobile 5 based PDAphone, and if there isn't a dedicated reason you need a Blackberry, you might consider one of these. T-Mobile has two, the Dash and the Wing, and AT&T has few. They do POP, IMAP, and your usual E-mail protocols very well.

Well, the Blackberry Enterprise option lets me access my Outlook email from my "home" hospital, which is also valuable. As it stands right now, the only way to access it if you're not physically in the building is via Blackberry. So that's a big selling point.

I have been using a Windows Mobile 5 based PDAphone, and if there isn't a dedicated reason you need a Blackberry, you might consider one of these. T-Mobile has two, the Dash and the Wing, and AT&T has few. They do POP, IMAP, and your usual E-mail protocols very well.
My predicament is that they have cameras and I can't have a cell phone with camera where I work.

I don't know these camera specifically, but when I signed up a year or so ago T-Mobile only had 4 non-camera phones. Two cheapos (with no internet stuff) and two blackberries. This is why I ended up getting Blackberry. Otherwise, I'd get a Treo.

Well, the Blackberry Enterprise option lets me access my Outlook email from my "home" hospital, which is also valuable. As it stands right now, the only way to access it if you're not physically in the building is via Blackberry. So that's a big selling point.

If your hospital is running BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server), that is a different story... I'd go for the Blackberry then, just due to the enhanced and more secure connectivity that gives.

I love my Blackberry. I have the Pearl. It's small, fits right in my pocket, and easily concealed from the boss. I get alot of information in and out at my fingertips and no one even realizes it.

I assume that you're going to be under NMCI, which does firewall a lot of stuff (get used to the little red x's here in BF).

Https tunnel?

I've had many a BlackBerry, and they have all been great. I recently got the Curve when my Pearl was stolen. Love it, you'll be able to do im, check yahoo (and others) and have video/music/ect. at your fingertips. It's great!

www.blackberrycurve.com

Well, I went with the 8700 from Cingular (my current carrier). With my corporate deal and all the online discounts, I got it for 25 bucks. I'll give it a shot.

Thanks for all the advice and info!

It's a great phone, I have one of those as well I am about to put on ebay. PM me if you have any questions about it. Also, the forums at www.pinstack.com and www.blackberryforums.com are very helpful with any questions.

So I got my 8700 and didn't think I'd be using it as my primary phone--just a data platform. As soon as I started using it and realized how slick/easy it is to use, I called Cingular and had my primary phone # put on the Blackberry.

One satisfied customer here!

So I got my 8700 and didn't think I'd be using it as my primary phone--just a data platform. As soon as I started using it and realized how slick/easy it is to use, I called Cingular and had my primary phone # put on the Blackberry.

One satisfied customer here!


+1 i've had mine for 3 years with t-mobile. i dig it and use it for everything. it never lets me down like the treo does with some of my friends and colleagues.

I'm sure you will find the blackberry easy to use, and convenient. I like mine, I post here sometimes from it while in the carpool to work.

Ever look up your blackberry's IP#?

Here is what came back on mine:


(Asked whois.arin.net:43 about +xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)

OrgName: DoD Network Information Center
OrgID: DNIC
Address: 3990 E. Broad Street
City: Columbus
StateProv: OH
PostalCode: 43218
Country: US
NetRange: 11.0.0.0 - 11.255.255.255
CIDR: 11.0.0.0/8
NetName: DODIIS
NetHandle: NET-11-0-0-0-1
Parent:
NetType: Direct Allocation
Comment: DoD Intel Information Systems
Comment: Defense Intelligence Agency
Comment: Washington DC 20301 US
RegDate: 1984-01-19
Updated: 1998-09-26
RTechHandle: MIL-HSTMST-ARIN
RTechName: Network DoD
RTechPhone: 1-800-365-3642
RTechEmail: HOSTMASTER@nic.mil

OrgTechHandle: MIL-HSTMST-ARIN
OrgTechName: Network DoD
OrgTechPhone: 1-800-365-3642
OrgTechEmail: HOSTMASTER@nic.mil

I fired up nmap on a remote machine to scan my device out of curiosity, the sysadmin freaked out when he checked up on what I was doing and saw what the address was, had to calm him down and explain it was MY device :lol: