[mcleanap]

I am looking into buying a blackberry, but have questions about the rate plans. I am in Ottawa, Ontario, so the choice is really Rogers, Bell or Telus I guess.

1. What service provider is offering the best bang for your buck? I plan on really only using it for email...maybe some light web browsing. I may be sending and receiving about 100 emails a day.
2. When it says : Data Included, 500 MB (BIS Only), what does this mean exactly? Is this considered data transferred, or data residing on your blackberry at a specific time? Bandwidth or space?
3. Some carriers say unlimited email. Does this only mean that you can send and receive unlimited amount of emails, or does this refer to the data transferred?
4. If there are limits on data transfer, are there ways to disable attachments from emails?
5. When you retrieve emails from pop accounts, is it possible to leave them on the server so you can retrieve via outlook or other mail software?
6. Do you need to use the blackberry data plan, or could you use a generic plan? Or is there a difference?

Thanks for any information. If this has been discussed in another thread, I apologize, but if you could direct me to the thread it would be appreciated.

Thanks again.


Thanks for any info?

[T-bred]

I am looking into buying a blackberry, but have questions about the rate plans. I am in Ottawa, Ontario, so the choice is really Rogers, Bell or Telus I guess.

1. What service provider is offering the best bang for your buck? I plan on really only using it for email...maybe some light web browsing. I may be sending and receiving about 100 emails a day.
2. When it says : Data Included, 500 MB (BIS Only), what does this mean exactly? Is this considered data transferred, or data residing on your blackberry at a specific time? Bandwidth or space?
3. Some carriers say unlimited email. Does this only mean that you can send and receive unlimited amount of emails, or does this refer to the data transferred?
4. If there are limits on data transfer, are there ways to disable attachments from emails?
5. When you retrieve emails from pop accounts, is it possible to leave them on the server so you can retrieve via outlook or other mail software?
6. Do you need to use the blackberry data plan, or could you use a generic plan? Or is there a difference?

Thanks for any information. If this has been discussed in another thread, I apologize, but if you could direct me to the thread it would be appreciated.

Thanks again.


Thanks for any info?

Welcome to Crackberry!

I can't answer all your questions as I'm in the states & am not familiar with Canadian carriers. However, some BB things apply anywhere:

Question 2: 500 mb means data used over blackberry internet service (BIS), ie, what you download, and usually but not always, what you upload via your bb. 500 mb is roughly 45-50 minute of video.

#3: You'll have to check the fine print on this. Unlimited email should be mean no limits on email, but check what is says about attachments. Unlimited data is different: it includes both email and internet. Some carriers place a limit on their so-called "unlimited" plans, anywhere from 2 to 5 gb. Doesn't sound like you're planning to be downloading movies weelky though.

#4: If you have 500 mb of usage, I don't think you'll need to worry about typical attachments eating up your allowance. My bb has the third-party app BBsmart email viewer which allows me to choose whether to download and view attachments on my CDMA curve. I don't if bb's natively have that option.

5. I'm not sure how bb's exact process works, but with my POP accounts, I can view emails and leave them on the server to read later on my desktop. They appear as read though.

#6: All carriers I know of require a BB plan. The bb plan connects to bb servers that push email to the accounts you create or register. This is blackberry is known for and the email setup wizard makes this about as simple as can be.

A good to place to learn more is to click on the newbies tab. If you look around in the drop down menu, you'll find answers to your questions in greater detail. For info about specific carriers, scroll down the main forum page until you see the section on carriers.

If, after searching the threads and you still can't find the answer to question or problem, go ahead and post away!

Let us know what you end up choosing.

[avgas]

Hi and welcome. First up, if you can handle a pearl (8130) I have to insist that you look at virgin mobile. I'm in Kingston, and was fed up with the alternatives. Pearl is curently the only BB on offer. As far as rate plans go, I can do nearly anything I want for about 120 a month, it sounds like you don't need that much. Do your homework online, then check the forums under various carriers and plans. As for question #5, yes. You have the option to delete it from the handheld, or the site itself, or both. Hope that helps a bit, this is by far the best resource I have found.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Anastasia Beaverhousen]

I'm with Telus and I have unlimited data, messaging and a pretty decent voice plan that includes caller ID, voicemail and North American long distance for about $65 per month, taxes included.

I've heard horror stories of deplorable customer service with them but personally, Telus has been very, very good to me. Any reps I've talked to have been ridiculously helpful and I had free stuff being thrown at me left and right from L&R. I lost my phone recently and when I called to buy out my contract, they gave me another free berry and a MUCH better plan. And jeez, I'm charming but not that charming. That said, maybe I'm just saying that to make me feel better about selling my soul to Telus, haha.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com