[aiharkness]

Does the "sim only" deal mean you are not buying a device on contract (you use a device you already have) and you are simply paying for the mobile service? And, I assume you are paying a base service cost and then additional add-ons (like BlackBerry data). Correct?

My advice is whatever you do, make sure you are buying what you want and all of what you want. For example, I gather some providers are selling "social plans" etc. that do not include the full use of BlackBerry data services. Figure out what you want, talk to your service provider, and make sure they understand what you want, and sell you what you want.

You may be presented with different options depending on data cap, or unlimited, and the cap may be a hard cap or a soft cap. Hard cap would be you exceed the limit, you pay; soft cap would be you have so much at high speed, but when you exceed the cap, your data speed is throttled down low (for example from 3 or 4G to EDGE speeds) but you don't pay extra.

Again, decide what you need and then buy according to your budge.