[tilda123]

I have had an interesting Sunday with a BB Bold (9000) that I got as a gift from Asia. This is an unlocked quad bacd phone that can operate in HSDPA 850, 1900 and 2100 bands. I have some basic questions.

My plan is T-mobile 'myfaves 300' ($39.99) + total internet add-on ($29.99). Total internet add-on included hotspot access - very useful to me. I was using the HTC dash & Android G1 with this plan.

When I got the BB Bold, I simply inserted the SIM and it showed GSM-EDGE instead of 3G. After some digging around I figured the issue with T-mobile's 1700 frequency band. I guess I can live with EDGE now.

The problem is this. I read my work & personal emails using browser (i.e., webmail), so data connection is important to me. But with the BBBold I couldn't browse internet unless I turned wifi on.

Using Wifi I installed the "gmail application" that makes a direct connection to google to get emails. This application count not connect to the outside world either.

I did some google and came across the Advanced Settings -> TCP/IP -> APN thingy, so I added epc.tmobile.com here. Once I did this, the google application started to work. I could read my gmail emails using this app. But I still could not browse the web.

Then I spoke to a friend who has BB given to him by his IT dept. He asked me to call t-mobile and ask tmo to register my phone, and once they do this i could use the data plan.

I called tmobile when i was driving .. and the rep said she could give me "blackberry internet email" with "400 text messages" for $24.99. I was excited because this is $5 less than what I pay. I asked her if the "blackberry internet email" includes hotspot access.. and she said yes. Since I was driving, I could not give her all my information to do the upgrade.. so i asked her to make a not of our conversation and the price quote so that i could call tmo later.

When i got home, I did a little browsing and found that "blackberry internet email" from tmobile does not include hotspot access. I called tmobile again, and asked about my upgrade.. and this time the person said my services is already upgraded to "blackberry internet email" from "total internet add-on". I was kinda pissed because i did not confirm this.

At this point, I checked my device and there is an SMS from tmobile saying i am registered to the wireless network. But i still could not browse. And the google mail application could not connect to the internet either. The rep took my IMEI number, PIN, etc., and did something and asked me to try again. He asked me to change the TCP/IP APN to [email protected]. At some point we were able to get the internet connection to work.

Then I asked him about hotspot. he confirmed that i dont have hotspot access now and i need to pay another $9.99 to get it. This was not ok with me .. so i asked him if he could put me back in the .. "total internet add-on", and he said yes, and put me back in the "total internet add-on"($29.99) plan. I was hoping to use Opera-Mini or something to access the web at this point.

But now the google email application is not able to connect to the outside world. I changed the TCP/IP PIN to epc.tmobile.com and things still not work.

At this point, I am not sure if this gift is worth for me because I don't know how to use the "total internet add-on" plan with the blackberry bold. Is it usable in the first place? I work for a small company that doesn't even have an exchange server .. let alone blackberry enterprice support. i read all my emails off the web, and i browse for news and sports while i take the BART in san francisco. I think going for any advanced blackberry services will be an overkill (what is BIS anyways? how is it different from "blackberry internet email" plan?) I don't want to change my voice plan, and I hate moving to another provider and get locked in for a 2 yr period.

What options do I have now?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for useful suggestions!

[Heresy]

BIS is a blackberry data plan in short. The blackberry internet email plan your referring to is a data plan that allows unlimited email and BBM use. No internet browser. You can use gmail directly on your device this way without using the gmail app. Or you can call tmo back and ask them for the unlimited blackberry data plan that is 24.99 0r something like that. It comes with 400 text messages too. Thats the plan you want. The total internet plan that you used with your dash and G1 will not work but are the same price. The APN settings are epc.tmobile.com for newer devices and
wap.voicestream.com for older devices like the curve.
Bottom line tell them to add back the 29.99 unlimited BIS and your good to go.

[tilda123]

Thanks rpl32 .. your post makes a lot of things things clearer.

I'll call tmo and ask them to add the "unlimited blackberry data plan". I am not sure if you meant this plan would have hotspot access though.