Is there any way to get email/calendar sync without paying AT&T for enterprise data?

I have been a die hard blackberry user for years. I have fought tooth and nail to stay on blackberry, but I have ran into a serious problem: cost for calendar sync/enterprise data plan.

I just set up office 365 at my office, and I am trying to get my calendar to sync with my phone. My IT guys (the mircosoft 365 guys), tell me that I have to have the enterprise data plan in order to get my calendar to sync on my phone, and for the emails to populate correctly. Those blood-sucking, floor-flushing parasites at AT&T to charge me an additional $30/month to have enterprise data-- just so I can get my calendar, etc., to sync. Now, I love my blackberry, but, I love money more. Is there a way to avoid paying att any more money, but get my email/calendar to sync?

I have a Torch 9800, and I am waiting for 10 to drop at the end of the month (been waiting to upgrade for 2 and a half years), but I need my calendar/email up and running ASAP. Any ideas/tips/tricks/help is VERY much appreciated.

THANK YOU.

The phone (blackberry/iphone/android/windows) doesn't make a difference. Nor does the carrier. Granted all the carriers do this kind of ripping-off of the customer. The enterprise data plan is what tells office 365 that you have the service plan credentials to access the email/calendar functions. It's necessary to access a virtual private network.

I know that doesn't help much, but hope it sheds some light. I too have run into the same thing in the past.

Office 365 does NOT require a full BES plan, just a BIS dataplan.

From the Blackberry Cloud Services console generate an activation password for your account then install Enterprise Activation from App World. You can enter you email and activation password there and it will activate your phone with full email/calendar/contacts/notes sync OTA.

Sorry, one last thing to add..... you need to be on one of the E plans from Office 365 and not a P plan in order to have access to Blackberry Business Cloud Services.

I thought I remember reading that you could use BESX, which is free to BIS users on 365. I use BESX for work email and it works great. For the user it feels like full BES.
Good luck

I'm not sure if this will work for you but it's worth looking into...

If you don't already have a Gmail account set one up. Load your contacts and calendar. Depending on how many contacts you have you might want to spend the time cleaning them up to the Gmail format. Also, if you have reoccurring appointments you will want to fix them in Google calendar.

Then install the Gmail account on your BB and configure it to wireless sync calendar and contacts.

Next look at Sync2 which will allow you to sync your contacts and calendar between Gmail and Outlook.

Pricing of Sync2