Expert: DebiN - 1/29/2011

Question
Hello, I had gotten a blackberry curve 8310 red from AT&T in June of 2010. I didn't have any problems until this Oct past. It started to randomly/sporadically not complete the connection on my calls. Both sides would hear the ringing but when picked up, no matter if it was me or whoever I was calling, we would not be able to hear each other. My phone would say connected but we wouldn't get the audio. After 3 months of arguing with AT&T and going through all their problem fixes, they finally replaced it under warranty. That same day I got my replacement, it started doing the same thing. They had me replace my SIM card, and I had it just under a week of good service. Now, it's even worse! I am missing calls (rings on their end but not mine), the phone is slow to open any and all apps, not getting notice of voice mails until almost an hour later, not to mention when it does actually ring on my end, they can't hear me. If I call out the same thing. Again the call problems are random/sporadic. To top it all off I can't use the BB desktop, because the download keeps freezing while it's being downloaded. If you have any suggestions on how I can fix this, please let me know. AT&T is offering to send me another replacement, but I don't want to go through this again! Thank you for your time and any suggestions!

Answer
You didn't say where you lived and that is likely the key here. In some areas of the country, there can be issues with devices that don't work on the 3G network. The 8310 is a 2G device. Did you have any conversations with AT&T about that? Based on what you are telling me, I feel about 99% confident the issue is the 2G network, not the device. It's very rare to get a bad Blackerry. These issues are not SIM related or phone related, they are network related. Go into an AT&T store in your area, and talk to them and ask them if they can replace your phone with 9300 Curve (3G) if possible because you are not able to use the 2G device. Also, write back and tell me the city and state where you live. Thanks.