[mjk]

So I was in Best Buy wasting time and happened to talk to on of their employees about the Storm. I told him that I was considering upgrading to the Storm when it came out and he asked what I was going to do with my pearl. I joked that my daughter has been asking for it, but she wasn't ready for a phone yet, let alone a Berry.

He then told me that I didn't need to keep it active, but that she could use it to Blackberry Instant Message me, even if I didn't have a plan on that phone. She could also use it for 911 if necessary.

Is that true?? Could we still use it as to BB instant message each other??

[johnmorganjr1]

I think you will need a data plan for bbm. I have heard however that a cell can call 911 without service.

[amazinglygraceless]

To use BBM and almost any other IM program you will definitely
need to have data. That employee steered you wrong, but that's
not a surprise.

[mjk]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I was pretty sure that it would be able to call 911, but I hadn't ever heard of it still being able to use BBM.

As you say, not surprising that a Best Buy guy was wrong... Thanks for the replies.

[ff_emtd]

OK, not to steer this the wrong way but, what about PIN messages (vice BBM)?

[AssortedHippo]

Bbm = pin message

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ff_emtd]

OK, then. So BBM is just an interface for PIN messages? So, no plan, no BBM nor PINs. BTW, where I live, 911 "should" work on a phone without a plan.

[jamieschildroth]

when you send a pin message the BlackBerry Infrastructure checks the provisioning on the phone to see if it has a data plan and is able to send and receive pin msgs. So you have to have a data plan and an active sim card for PIN msgs to work