[Blazinmixtapes]

Hello all. I'm new to the board FIRST POST!!!

I wanted to get an idea of how many people that have AT&T or T-Mobile got duped into paying for a "Blackberry Internet Plan" so they can receive their emails?

I'm asking this because I have been using a Blackberry for 5+ years now and I've never had to pay for my emails or for a "Blackberry Internet Plan". I have however gotten hit with minor "extra fees" (never in excess of $5.00 US) and this only happened twice when I was overdoing it downloading ringtones, (that I created myself), to my Blackberry.

At first I figured I was "getting over" but the more I researched the device, the more I came to realize that the Cell Carriers were just tricking/forcing Blackberry users to send extra money for no reason.

For any of you that may be skeptics I'll give you a little breakdown and a story to back it up.

One of the features of the Blacberry device is the well known PIN which I liken to Nextels Chirp feature. all Blackberry owners know what the PIN is. the PIN is a FREE feature of Blackberry. What I've discovered is the Cell Carriers are unable to block the email feature (which they try to force you into paying a plan fee for) WITHOUT blocking the PIN feature which is a FREE FEATURE.

Here's a story to back up my "theory":

My wife had a T-Mobile Dash and they were robbing her for the email feature so I kept insisting she switch to the BB because it's free. She finally switched and of course they blocked her email because she didn't want to pay for a plan. We tried the PIN feature and it did not work either. She called up and spoke with Tech Support several times and they kept giving her the run around. After giving a Supervisor or two the business they finally bowed down and unblocked the PIN feature which they HAD TO because it a free device feature. Guess what happened next? Suddenly she was able to log on to the T-Mobile Blackberry site and set up her emails as well. To make a long story short, she has since set up 3 different email accounts on her BB and has yet to pay for a "Blackberry Plan."

I'm guessing some of you old school BB users may know this already but maybe some didn't.

If you try to get the free service that you are entitled to they are gona' give you a hard time but If you peu it into perspective it could save you in upwards of $300 a year. Why give the Carrier $300 they don't even deserve?

[brothamoveson]

Hmmm very interesting. Anyone else in Crackberry hear kknow of this. By the way welcome to CB.

[smaug]

How does e-mail work if you don't have BIS to push it to you?

[Blazinmixtapes]

True Story!

I have AT&T and my monthly bill is $60 INCLUDING ALL THE BS TAXES and FEES. 1000 Minutes w/Rollover, Internet and Email. ***As I stated before if If I Over Do it with Downloading heavy files I'll get charged basically in a "pay as you go manner" but that has only happened twice and I get well over a thousand Emails per month.

Another way I keep my bill down is I called AT&T and had them disable the Text Messaging on my account. I have email so I don't need it. Not to mention, I think it's foolish to have to pay 20 Cents because some bored friend of mine wants to hit me with a Text that says "wassup" or something. LOL

[Reed McLay]

Welcome to CrackBerry.

If I understood correctly, your wife initially was not able to use any of the BlackBerry communications becasue of the plan configuration.

After spending some time with technical support, it suddenly began working and now she has access to the server account.

The simplest way to explain that, the tech added the BIS account while troubleshooting the device. Once it was installed and working, he cleared the call.

Watch your next bill. It is likely to reflect the changes.

BIS is a service hosted by BlackBerry through the individual carriers. Each subscription pay roughtly $9.00 a month to BlackBerry. Your carrier has to pay, odds are good you will too.

[ADberry]

Hmm sounds interesting...anyone else on CB who knows about this??

[Blazinmixtapes]

How does e-mail work if you don't have BIS to push it to you?

When T-Mobile blocked the PIN on my wifes BB she was unable to set up an account on the T-Mobile BB site.

Once they bowed down and opened her account/activated the FREE PIN feature she was able to set up her BIS account.

[Blazinmixtapes]

Welcome to CrackBerry.

If I understood correctly, your wife initially was not able to use any of the BlackBerry communications becasue of the plan configuration.

After spending some time with technical support, it suddenly began working and now she has access to the server account.

The simplest way to explain that, the tech added the BIS account while troubleshooting the device. Once it was installed and working, he cleared the call.

Watch your next bill. It is likely to reflect the changes.

BIS is a service hosted by BlackBerry through the individual carriers. Each subscription pay roughtly $9.00 a month to BlackBerry. Your carrier has to pay, odds are good you will too.

I'ts been slightly over a year for her and fro me it's been over 5 years an 3 different BB devices all of which were purchased DIRECTLY through the carrier so they know what I'm working with so It's a safe bet I'm right. Cingular charges 20 plus bucks a month for the service and I haven't paid it once.

[Blazinmixtapes]

What i forgot to mention is approx 3 years ago Cingular tried to force me to pay for INTERNET service claiming that my email would be disconnected if I didn't choose a plan. I ignored it and what happend was one day the internet Icon dissappeared from my device and I thought the jig was up until I sent a test email to myself and had no problems sending or receiving emails. My Blacberry Email service was NEVER interrupted so I din't give a rats *** about having no Internet service. about a month and a half after the Internet Icon re-appeared. i guess they figured they stood a better chance of getting a few cents from me if the Internet was available and I used it and again, i got caught for almost $10 downloading ringtones I created.

[Blazinmixtapes]

Don't Sleep on this one people!