I placed a call to Att customer service and they had no clue what I was talking about when I asked about the 9700. So I called my usual Att store about when the 9700 is coming out. The rep said he didn't know but it should be soon. He said he was waiting for it so that he could upgrade and then put me on hold. He apparently talked to the manager there and said there was no info on the 9700 release date but the manager did say that there would be a touchscreen Blackberry coming to them soon.
Looks like I am switching to TMO tomorrow. Checked out there prices and it will save me $20 a month and the wifi enabled calling and texting might be even cheaper for me now. I text a lot to int'l numbers (Canada) and the store rep told me that technically since we are texting through the WI-FI, the service doesn't know the location and won't charge it as int'l. Going to test it out a few times and see if it actually is true.