$99 Virgin Mobile 8530 at Walmart. Any Good?

philbert81 · Thread Author #1 08-05-2011, 12:17 AM

Walmart has Virgin Mobile 8530 BB's for only $99. I miss my BB ever since I got my iPhone and am looking for a fix. I want to use it just in WiFi for email and BBM. Let me know if you think it is a good idea.

SCrid2000 · #2 08-05-2011, 12:59 AM

Spend the extra $50 and pick up a used bold. You'll get os6 and a fast better phone.
Oh, and remember that you'll need a bis plan for bbm.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

ta2hallm · #3 08-05-2011, 06:24 PM

You need some sort of data plan from a CDMA carrier to use BIS with this phone right? Is this supposed to be a pre-paid plan with Virgin? They are nice little phones for what it sounds like you want to use it for. Small, great for typing on.

philbert81 · Thread Author #4 08-05-2011, 07:24 PM

Yes. It is a pre paid phone. I am just getting tired of trying to typ out long emails on my iPhone. So are you saying that I can't just use it in wifi, that I have to activate it?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

ta2hallm · #5 08-05-2011, 08:56 PM

I'm not an expert with how it all works, but I believe that the RIM BIS server, which your device has to register with to use BBM and Blackberry Email, checks if the phone IMEI has a BIS data plan subscription associated with it. So I am pretty sure you will have to activate it with Virgin to get that established.

MisterObvious · #6 08-06-2011, 01:44 PM

That is correct. You will need to have it activated to even dream about having it send e-mails.

lak611 · #7 08-06-2011, 05:00 PM

Another thing to consider is how good Sprint's coverage is where you live, work and travel. Virgin uses Sprint's towers but has no roaming capability. If you don't get Sprint's signal, you don't get coverage at all.

SincE I saw from your profile that you have VZW, I thought I'd mention that.