Does a Blackberry make a good pager?
FYI: If you run Lotus Domino for your mail, you can get a free copy of Blackberry server with 10 client licenses from Blackberry. It’s the full server, but you only get support for 1 month. This is also true if you have Microsoft Exchange. I was a bit flabbergasted (having purchased BES in the last few years for my office) at this, and I had to call RIM to make sure. Sure enough, that’s the offer. To the point of the question: Yes, you have to depend on coverage, but the latest and greatest phones operate on all available cell frequencies, so you’ll be hard pressed to find an area without coverage. The only times I really have trouble are when I’m deep in the bowels of a large building (like my son’s school, for example). Even there, I can still pick up a GSM signal by standing in the right spot. Additionally, the new phone I’m getting from T-Mobile has enough configuration options for notification that I’ll be able to download all of my favorite nerd-porn mp3s as ring-tones (Homer Sim
If you can’t use SMS to your phone because of coverage issues, you won’t be able to use SMS to your BlackBerry any better since the BlackBerry is a phone. Stick with your pager. Make your company pick up your cell phone costs on top of it. I’m sure your pager is probably $10/mo. Don’t worry about it.
Hmm, taking a second look, it seems like you don’t have a Blackberry server in your environment. If this is the case, you’ll be running off of your cell phone companies servers. They’ll give you an email address to use, and generally you can also configure their system to check external mail account via POP3. In this scenario, losing a server or network at your own company won’t affect mail delivery. This would make it a much better fit. FYI: If you run Lotus Domino for your mail, you can get a free copy of Blackberry server with 10 client licenses from Blackberry. It’s the full server, but you only get support for 1 month.
