[Stoddard]

Can anyone provide some much needed help?

Background:
- I am moving to the US in Sept (from UK).
- I am trying to set up my home business office needs over there in advance of the move.
- I use a Mac at my home office.
- Currently use mac mail (but thinking of getting Outlook).
- As you will guess from my questions below I am not very tech savvy!
- Looking into what devices I can use when travelling

Questions regarding Blackberry and Mac:
1. I will need to be able to access my business e-mails, review them and send them from a device. Also when I get back to my home office I would want my e-mail system to show that the e-mails have been reviewed and sent (so I don't have to do the job twice!). Does the Blackberry provide all this functionality?
2. Noticed something about BIS. Is this what provides the above functionality? Seems that BES is for big companies and would cost a lot?
3. I also will need to be available by phone. Does the Blackberry provide this?
3. What ever device I have needs to work in the US and UK (as I will be working in both countries). Does the Blackberry work in both countries?
4. When travelling I would also want to forward my home business number to the Blackberry so anyone calling me at the home office would be forwarded to me on the road. Does the Blackberry provide this functionality?
5. Will I need to get Outlook for my e-mail rather than the mac mail I use now? Does Outlook work better with the Blackberry?
6. From surfing around it appears there are problems with Blackberry and Mac interface??? What are the main issues and can they be solved? Given I already have a Mac is a Blackberry still the best device for my needs?
7. Is there a particular Blackberry model that best meets my needs?
8. Any advice on price plans to go with as new to all this! Given my profile of what and where will be using the Blackberry what plan would you suggest?

I would really appreciate any help as I need to get all this resolved in a few weeks and buy a device in advance of my move to US.

Thanks

Gary

[oakie]

1. I will need to be able to access my business e-mails, review them and send them from a device. Also when I get back to my home office I would want my e-mail system to show that the e-mails have been reviewed and sent (so I don't have to do the job twice!). Does the Blackberry provide all this functionality?
2. Noticed something about BIS. Is this what provides the above functionality? Seems that BES is for big companies and would cost a lot?
3. I also will need to be available by phone. Does the Blackberry provide this?
3. What ever device I have needs to work in the US and UK (as I will be working in both countries). Does the Blackberry work in both countries?
4. When travelling I would also want to forward my home business number to the Blackberry so anyone calling me at the home office would be forwarded to me on the road. Does the Blackberry provide this functionality?
5. Will I need to get Outlook for my e-mail rather than the mac mail I use now? Does Outlook work better with the Blackberry?
6. From surfing around it appears there are problems with Blackberry and Mac interface??? What are the main issues and can they be solved? Given I already have a Mac is a Blackberry still the best device for my needs?
7. Is there a particular Blackberry model that best meets my needs?
8. Any advice on price plans to go with as new to all this! Given my profile of what and where will be using the Blackberry what plan would you suggest?

I would really appreciate any help as I need to get all this resolved in a few weeks and buy a device in advance of my move to US.

Thanks

Gary

1. only for an enterprise exchange solution. you can get an exchange solution from many providers. just google "hosted exchange blackberry".

2. BIS is for non-corporate. BES is for corporate or users looking for the type of options you expect from your first question.

3. the berry has a world band GSM radio, some also include wifi calling, and yet others have CDMA for those regions that use it.

4. that depends on your service provider. but your berry will receive calls from anyone, forwarded or direct.

5. you'll need any kind of hosted email solution. whomever is your current email provider (not the program you use to download your email) will usually have the option to forward email to your device, or you can set it up with your BIS or BES account to scour whatever email inboxes you add.

6. it's better than a windows mobile device, IMO. apple iphone, i guess?

7. that's up to you. go finger the lineup at your service provider's retail front and choose the one that fits you best.

8. lemme look into my crystal ball and estimate your gross annual salary, expenditures, and debt to income ratio. nope... my crystal ball is busted. guess you'll have to judge that on your own.

[Stoddard]

Thanks for the quick response.

So without the BES would I just be able to receive and send e-mails but any actions I do on the Blackberry wont sync with my home computer?

Thanks for your help

[Stoddard]

Thanks for the quick response.

Just so I understand then:
Using the BIS I would be able to receive and send e-mails on the Blackberry. But I would need the BES for any actions I take on the Blackberry to sync to my home computer? Hence without a BES the messages I reviewed would be still unread there and there would be no record that I sent a message?

Thanks for your help

[CrackBlack]

Sound like a good candidate for the up coming Bold.
Welcome to the Crack!
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[MJThib]

Correct BIS will allow you to send and receive email, but will not update status, etc. on your server. A BES Hosted Exchange server might be a good option especially if your relying on it for a business.

For use in the US & UK, you will probably want to look at AT&T or T-Mobile (both GMS carriers). Verizon & Sprint (both CDMA carriers) will have a limited selection of devices that will work in the UK.

As for the plan it really depends on how many minutes you use a month?

[Stoddard]

Thank you for your message.
It has helped me get things clearer on what I will need to do (BES hosted exchange server seems the option I need to look into). Otherwise I will have to review messages already reviewed and have no sent record on my server.

Also the advice on the service provider helps me focus on where to get it from so that I can also use in UK.

Are the BES Hosted Exchange servers expensive?
Is that something AT&T/T-mobile also do?

Also, do you know if I will I have any issues using the Blackberry with my Mac? There seems to be a lot of discussion on that topic

Thank you very much for your time and help

[Arninetyes]

Actually, BIS will update email status on the server. It will mark 'read' 'deleted' etc. I switched to Blackerry a few months ago and the BIS email works great. It doesn't have a lot of other features BES has, though.

For my Mac, I use Missing Synch, and it synchs up with iCal and other Mac programs pretty well. Blackberrys DO work better with Windows computers, but they can work fine with Mac as well.

[arcin220]

Sprint does have a CDMA/GSM world phone as well. Even though AT&T and T-mobile are GSM they run on different frequencies than the services in th UK so they would have to provide a special world GSM Blackberry as well. Sprint has the least expensive Everything plan which would probably work the best for your business. Just my two cents.

[Stoddard]

Thanks for the info.

Bit confused now as thought BIS did not sync with server!
Sounds like it does a mini version and just tells you what you deleted/read etc? Presume it does put a copy on server of any e-mails you sent from BB?

If I intend to rely solely on Outlook for e-mail/calendar/contacts and not use iCal will I need to get the Missing Sync?
(not got Outlook on my Mac yet but was going too).

Again thanks for your time and help

[Stoddard]

Thanks for that. I will have a look at Sprint.

All this is new and a bit complicated for someone like me who is not good with the IT stuff!