[fisher-man]

Just bought my son a Blackberry, while having a little play with it I realised I could use one of these myself so I am thinking of getting a Blackberry 8520 but I'm a little confused about email.

I have seen that to get emails forwarded to the phone you need to have the Blackberry BIS service enabled - is this free, ie, included in the monthly cost, or does it cost extra? I only use gmail. My son doesn't know as he just connects to the router at home with his - I would need it for emails when I am out and about.

Virgin have a plan that would most likely cover my requirements which for �20 per month offers the phone for free, 200 minutes and unlimited texts - it also states;

'Unltd BlackBerry data service + Unltd mobile internet' on the Virgin web site - does this mean that the email service is included? and does unlimited mobile internet mean you can go online at no extra charge?

[dictoresno]

most of the time, carriers offer unlimited data and email for a set monthly price. here in the states, its usually an extra $20-$30 a month. some carriers offer unlimited email and Blackberry messenger for a discounted cost. this wont include data use beyond that.

you will need to contact your carrier and decide which plan suites you best, their prices, and have them assign those changes to your monthly account. and yes, unlimited blackberry internet, usually includes all web browsing, blackberry specific data uses like BBM and push email.

once its all set up on your account, you will be able to set up your gmail email address to be linked to your specific device and will have all emails delivered to your phone.

[fisher-man]

Thanks for the quick reply.

If there is an extra charge for BIS (and I don't take it) can I still get gmail sent to the phone or would I have to go online to view mail?

[dictoresno]

there is a gmail app i think, but its not push. you will manually have to log in and view new messages.

[jmurra]

Verizon tech just sent me to Blackberry tech support who confirmed that their server is set up to "search" for emails and push them every 20 minutes, and that any delay up to that point was perfectly normal. WOW!

A 20 minute delay in getting an email from when it comes to your computers' in-box doesn't seem right when IPhone, Palm, Droids are all close to "real time".

[Reed McLay]

There are couple thing to consider.

Currently, Research in Motion has nearly 40 Million subscribers. Each of those account require some processing time, it adds up really fast.

There is another factor the Tech didn't mention. If there is mail when the account is checked, the timer is reset to 1 min for the next several checks, then fall back to 15 Min intervals.

Most email accounts will also support forwarding. The message can be forwarded to the @carrier.BlackBerry.net account for instant delivery.

[danimal1968]

3mobile in the uk has a 10 second blackberry push. I hear ppl say verizon is no good.

I'm on verzion and I typically get my Yahoo email before it showns up in my inbox on my PC.