@OrangeBDS: Thanks for being classy in your retraction. In addition to jsconyers' good points, I would note that many of us like the ability to turn off providers' "mobile broadband" options in favor of local wifi access points. If you live in an area with a ton of access points, have a bluetooth- or usb-linked computer and are willing to download (or write) a couple of simple apps, you can easily get most of the functionality of mobile broadband (calendar and RSS updates via the computer; usually-on e-mail and usually-on web via area wifi) without paying an extra $200-$400 per year. That said ...
@aznjoel94: Which carrier do you use, and when did you get your phone? My wife and I went to replace our legacy device (running Windows Mobile, sadly) with a Blackberry, only to be told that all major U.S. carriers now require ALL new "smart phones" to have data plans. As in "because some people were idiots and complained about per-use charges after not getting data plans, you now MUST pay an extra >$20 per month if you wish to have a phone that supports a non-carrier-proprietary OS." Talking to folks at other carriers, this appears to be the case (including Blackberry models). So we left the Verizon store and asked the Best Buy fella about simply "upgrading" our existing Verizon acxxxx to a crappy newish dumb phone and then switching the SIMM into a separately purchased Blackberry or Android device, and he said that most carriers will actively recognize the new device signature and tack on a monthly data plan (and accompanying charge). This is a very frustrating case of clearly choreographed greed on the part of the carriers, and quite possibly an antitrust case waiting to happen. Any information on how to circumvent this situation is immensely appreciated.
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