New Blackberry guy, need some help

[Riddleofsteel]

My US Cellular plan just expired, the phone I had was a motorola "dumb" phone with very little functionality.

I live in Maine and I do photographic work. Some of the locations I need to transmit from have no wireless or just have dial up. To this end I wanted to get a phone that would let me transmit/tether from my laptop, provided I can find a nearby place with a signal.

Enter the 8700g Blackberry. It's not new, but I knew someone who had one here in Maine and they loved it and I was highly impressed with it.

My questions are these:

If I take the 8700g to my local Tmobile office, do I absolutely HAVE to get a BB plan or can I get a flexpay plan with just data functionality and drop voice?

Provided I can get a flexpay data plan, will I be able to tether the 8700g to my laptop for data transmitting?

Last question for now, can I not use the GSM functions and just use RF towers and get by in a state like Maine?

I apologize in advance if I sound ignorant. I've been using simple phones for a long time and am not familiar at all with Blackberry devices. Thank you.

[rippedvanwinkle]

I, too, was wondering if there is some kind of 'data only' prepaid arrangement (prepaid SIM card?) for my 8700c ATT phone?

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