T-Mobile U.S.A.'s BlackBerry Bold 9900 will ship without UMA Wi-Fi calling. But the wireless carrier says it hopes to have the feature enabled within the coming months. T-Mobile U.S.A today announced that it is now selling Research In Motion’s (RIM) brand new BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone to its business customers. And the wireless carrier plans to offer the device to all of its customers starting August 31, for $299.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a mail-in rebate. This is great news for T-Mobile customers, as RIM’s new Bold is without a doubt one of the most functional and stylish BlackBerrys ever. Being a T-Mobile user myself, I was thrilled when I saw the press release announcing the new device hit my inbox this morning. However, something about the release immediately caught my eye. It included no mention of one of my favorite features found in the majority of T-Mobile’s BlackBerry devices: support for UMA and Wi-Fi calling. T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi calling service lets users place voice calls over the Internet instead of the cellular networks, so calling can be placed in areas with little or no cellular connectivity, as long as there’s an available Wi-Fi network. But users’ handhelds must be UMA enable to take advantage of this service. I’ve been touting the merits of UMA and Wi-Fi calling for years, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the Bold 9900 will apparently launch without UMA support. I wanted to be sure, though, so I reached out to T-Mobile for clarification. Here’s the response I got Lori Richter, a T-Mobile press representative: “At launch, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 will not support Wi-Fi Calling. We are working to enable this functionality in the coming months.” So while the Bold 9900 will ship without Wi-Fi calling enabled, it seems like the device does still support UMA. And baring any major issues with testing and deployment, T-Mobile Bold 9900 users should see Wi-Fi calling enabled at some point in the (hopefully not-too-distant ) future. Read my hands-on first impressions of the Bold 9900 here and check out the following video for a look at the Bold 9900/9930 hardware. AS Hands-on with the BlackBerry Bold 9930 (Verizon) Related content BrandPost The future of trust—no more playing catch up Broadcom: 2023 Tech Trends That Transform IT By Eric Chien, Director of Security Response, Symantec Enterprise Division, Broadcom Mar 31, 2023 5 mins Security BrandPost TCS gives Blackhawk Network an edge with Microsoft Cloud In this case study, Blackhawk Network’s Cara Renfroe joins Tata Consultancy Services’ Rakesh Kumar and Microsoft’s Nilendu Pattanaik to explain how TCS transformed the gift card company’s customer engagement and global operati By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Cloud Computing IT Leadership BrandPost How TCS pioneered the ‘borderless workspace’ with Microsoft 365 Microsoft’s modern workplace solution proved a perfect fit for improving productivity and collaboration, while maintaining security of systems and data. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Microsoft Cloud Computing BrandPost Supply chain decarbonization: The missing link to net zero By improving the quality of global supply chain data, enterprises can better measure their true carbon footprint and make progress toward a net-zero business ecosystem. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 2 mins Retail Industry Supply Chain Green IT Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe