Do I need BIS if I have BES?

I've done a little reading and haven't seen a clear answer to this question. I have read some posts that talk about using both, but I can't understand why one would do that.

I purchased a bb for my private use and I also purchased the $15 BIS plan from At&t and all was well. Then I figured out that to get my work email, I had to have a BES account. I work for a university which provides that service for employees and students. I now have both working and wonder if I still need the BIS account for the personal email accounts and data. I use minimal data. I sync with two personal accounts and my university/work account. Can I successfully terminate the BIS account and save the $15/mo without consequences?

Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

from what i thought, its one or the other. if they are providing you with BES access, you dont need BIS. however, they may limit your BES usage by locking out certain features and dont forget, with BES, network admins are watching you!!

My main concern would be loosing functionality I have now. I have my three email accounts, one university, one yahoo and one google. They all update perfectly and my contacts info updates w/o syncing anything.

I had an iPhone before which i dropped for many reasons. I'm absolutely thrilled with the way bb manages my email, and contacts. The difference is night and day, I don't want to mess that up just by dropping the BIS plan.

You can't have both, it's only one or the other. If you have already switched to the BES plan, the BIS plan has already dropped off the account. The BES Admin can disable the ability to setup your Yahoo and Google accounts, but if they've been working so far without issue I wouldn't worry about it.

I am currently on BES through my company. I also run my mobile me and yahoo email accounts on my BB Bold 9900 and everything runs just fine. I don't believe you require the BIS service to run your other accounts.

Picture BES as a BIS plan with the increased capability to connect with your companies BB Enterprise Server. If offers all the features of a BIS plan, unless the IT Administrator chooses to disable those options, which they have the ability to do at any time.

With BES, your device is at the mercy of the BES Administrator. They can set the IT policy to disable any features on your device that they want, and they can also monitor any communications done over the device. While I assume that your University's IT policies are lax, it doesn't mean that they could do something at some time to disable features of your device.

All good points. Thanks. I knew about BES IT policies issues and I don't believe we have any. At least, I've noticed no restrictions on my device. The "University" IT policies here are VERY lax. Internet isn't even filtered, but I'm sure it's monitored. ;) I guess I could remove BIS and add it back if needed.