[nb_mitch]

Btw, how big is this bill??? My charges were $25 and $40 for 2 months, I have heard of $1000 bills before, you size does matter

[lgreenberg]

Originally Posted by nb_mitch

If your apps work and you don't see the "Wireless Internet Express Pay Per Use" line on your bill, you should be ok. For me it worked great for 4 months, then in November when I switched BBs, I started getting billed for wap. The last 2 months, I would call when I get my bill, they would apologize for the issue, remore the charges and "fix it" and we would go again. This last time after allot of pain, I finally got it changed so the per per use line doesn't show up, and my apps work, so we will see what my bill looks like in about 10 days

Here is what my Cingular online features that look like they pertain to the BB:

BLACKBERRYCONNECTUNL $44.99
/BLACKBERRY CONNECT WAP $0.00
BLACKBERRYCONNECTUNL $0.00

Based on my conversation with Cingular today you may be fine now but could have your account "audited" at any time. This would result in the charges for using the wap.cingular APN to begin showing up on your bill again. It sounds like that may have already happened to you once or twice and they changed it only to have someone else catch it again.

For me it's just not worth the hassle of dealing with customer service every month and is worth the peace of mind knowing my bill will be exactly the same every month, to simply pay the $20 and go with BES hosting.

Edit - my wireless internet pay per use charges were only $6.36 this month but I hardly used any third party apps. I wanted to see what happend on my first bill first. I imagine if I stayed logged into Verichat all day (which is what I like to do) it would have been a lot more. Now I needn't worry about it.

[nb_mitch]

I had no charges at all for the first 4 months, and my account looked totally different and had the "pay per use" lines listed as features. When I changed devices(no plan change, just replacement device), is when everything changed and started charging me. After the first charges is when I first started calling and having changes made. I have called on average 5 times each month to get it "right". it just shouldn't be that hard, maybe someday Cingular will get their act together, it is so frustrating to call 10 times and get 10 different answers.

[JesterDog]

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

Based on my conversation with Cingular today you may be fine now but could have your account "audited" at any time. This would result in the charges for using the wap.cingular APN to begin showing up on your bill again. It sounds like that may have already happened to you once or twice and they changed it only to have someone else catch it again.

For me it's just not worth the hassle of dealing with customer service every month and is worth the peace of mind knowing my bill will be exactly the same every month, to simply pay the $20 and go with BES hosting.

Edit - my wireless internet pay per use charges were only $6.36 this month but I hardly used any third party apps. I wanted to see what happend on my first bill first. I imagine if I stayed logged into Verichat all day (which is what I like to do) it would have been a lot more. Now I needn't worry about it.

So from the sounds of it I am good to go. Thanks for all of the input.

[PingGuy]

Coverage really depends on your area. In the Metro-Detroit area Cingular is worthless, period. However TMobile, Verizon and Nextel all shine in this area with Verizon being the best. If you go North a couple hours Verizon gets weak and Nextel beats em. It's pretty crazy.

[Soapm]

Originally Posted by mezorn26

Bingo!!!!! What I have found is that Tmobiles covereage (on voice) is horrible. I don't know if that coverage would be different for strictly BBerry????

So I have this strait, Cingular offers you crippled service and they are your carrier of choice? It's because you accept crippled service that Cingular gets away with this. For all you know, they could be the money behind exchange my mail.

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

P.S. Do the T-Mobile Blackberry plans come with wireless synchroniztion of calendar, tasks, notes and contacts for non BES users?

Sure, same as Cingular. $45 vs $20, now who should be giving you more not less?

[mobilehavoc]

I've had Cingular for 2 years and never been charged for WAP or even ISP APN access. Then this past December I cancelled my BB plan and added BB to my main voice line (consolidated from 2 lines to 1).

Now with the new Internet Browser service, I have started being charged for TCP/IP traffic over the WAP or ISP APNs.

It's annoying yes - definitely. But the way I see it, if it's 20 mins or less a month of my time to get it reversed, I'll keep doing it.

Last month I had a $40 data charge (left Verichat running) and it took 10 mins to reverse it. Even the Rep was like "hmmm this is strange, let me reverse it"

Until my contract is up and then I can reconsider my options

[coreyg510]

While I have had a blackberry for sometime, I have never experienced any of the issues that some of the other members on here have. Never billed for any additional charges. In addition, I work for a Premier Agent of Cingular and I have not had any issues with any of my customers experiencing extra charges. I honestly dont know what to say about it, sorry guys

[dulcamara]

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

It really is a joke.

It's totally soured me on the entire Blackberry experience with Cingular.

I'm not sure that's completey fair .

My experinence with Cingular CS was the same as yours, with the additional fun of having them figure out how international data support worked. I'm not soured on Cingular, it's thier poorly trained people that I can do without. For a while they had me convinced that I could enable the apn for free, then not, then yes, then no, .... All the while these morons were getting my bill wrong.

See http://www.blackberryforums.com/showthread.php?t=7645
for my tale of woe, which is very similar to yours.



Everything I've done with Cingular that did not involve one of their humans went perfectly. Call a person, and you're doomed.

The hosted BES people (at least most of them) are great, very helpful, and well worth what they cost. Thanks to link2exchange, I get real-time US sports updates from Pocketday sports on my morning commute (in Hong Kong this month) at a predictable incremental cost of zero!

You'll never call Cingular again. Be happy, be very happy,

[lgreenberg]

Don't get me wrong I don't really have a problem with Cingular's customer service and their lack of knowledge on the situation. Every carrier is the same way.

My problem is simply the fact that they don't include use of the wap.cingular APN in the unlimited Blackberry plan. To already pay $45 for data and then be expected to pay an additional amount for kb used makes no sense.

[lgreenberg]

Originally Posted by Soapm

Sure, same as Cingular. $45 vs $20, now who should be giving you more not less?

You don't seem to get it so I'll say it again in a way I hope you'll understand.

I wouldn't care if T-Mobile offered me 10,000 minutes a month for FREE!. Since their coverage is so poor in my area I wouldn't be able to use the phone anyway so what good would it be?

[JesterDog]

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

I wouldn't care if T-Mobile offered me 10,000 minutes a month for FREE!. Since their coverage is so poor in my area I wouldn't be able to use the phone anyway so what good would it be?

I totally agree regarding T-Mobile. In Houston I have T-Mobile for two months and moved back to Cingular. It was the worst service (coverage) I had ever experienced.

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

My problem is simply the fact that they don't include use of the wap.cingular APN in the unlimited Blackberry plan. To already pay $45 for data and then be expected to pay an additional amount for kb used makes no sense.

So what exactly does the wap.cingular APN provide you in terms of access?

[lgreenberg]

Originally Posted by JesterDog

So what exactly does the wap.cingular APN provide you in terms of access?

I'm no technical expert but from what I've seen most, if not all, third party applications which require data access (these include instant messaging type applications, weather, information, etc.) require the use of either the wap APN or the MDS proxy. You can only use the MDS proxy if you're on BES. So for people on BIS it's the wap APN or nothing. Without the use of the wap APN these applications are rendered useless since they can not connect to the internet to access data (i.e. for example, update the weather forecast.)

[mezorn26]

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

You don't seem to get it so I'll say it again in a way I hope you'll understand.

I wouldn't care if T-Mobile offered me 10,000 minutes a month for FREE!. Since their coverage is so poor in my area I wouldn't be able to use the phone anyway so what good would it be?

AGAIN BINGO!!!!!!!

Who cares if they offer more for less....They CAN'T PROVIDE IT, due to their horrible coverage...And you people that say TMOBILE is great and their coverage is great, well, that's great for you, but you just don't know any better

[JesterDog]

Originally Posted by lgreenberg

I'm no technical expert but from what I've seen most, if not all, third party applications which require data access (these include instant messaging type applications, weather, information, etc.) require the use of either the wap APN or the MDS proxy. You can only use the MDS proxy if you're on BES. So for people on BIS it's the wap APN or nothing. Without the use of the wap APN these applications are rendered useless since they can not connect to the internet to access data (i.e. for example, update the weather forecast.)

Thank you for providing that info.

[Stinsonddog]

I never realized how much I appreciate the corporate BES until the 8700 came out. With respect to T mobile, aren't they also missing the 850 gsm spectrum in the US so their in building coverage anywhere is less than ideal? I thought that in the US there is 1900 and 850. They lack 850. In other parts of the works its 900 and 1800.

Originally Posted by dulcamara

I'm not sure that's completey fair .

The hosted BES people (at least most of them) are great, very helpful, and well worth what they cost. Thanks to link2exchange, I get real-time US sports updates from Pocketday sports on my morning commute (in Hong Kong this month) at a predictable incremental cost of zero!

You'll never call Cingular again. Be happy, be very happy,

[lgreenberg]

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

I never realized how much I appreciate the corporate BES until the 8700 came out. With respect to T mobile, aren't they also missing the 850 gsm spectrum in the US so their in building coverage anywhere is less than ideal? I thought that in the US there is 1900 and 850. They lack 850. In other parts of the works its 900 and 1800.

T-Mobile does have roaming agreements in certain place to allow their users access to the 850 band network when their own network in not available.

[Soapm]

Originally Posted by mezorn26

...And you people that say TMOBILE is great and their coverage is great, well, that's great for you, but you just don't know any better

Your'e right, I check the weather, receive my ramble IM's, emails, rss feeds, sports scores, surf net and make nice clear calls so I probably don't need to know ANY BETTER. I might get charged more to get less. </slaps forehead>

Also, I'm not pushing TMO, there are other carriers. I'm pushing the concept of not paying a company that won't give you what you want.

[ladyhollman]

I think paying a company $45 for something which doesn't do as it should for your service is insane! Pretty irrelevant which company it happens to be.

I wouldn't pay T-mo if the service did not work for me properly and I certainly would not pay Cell One, er Cingular if it operated in the same manner...or any other company for that matter.

I think all Cingular customers should get together and lodge a complaint in this area.

As for service area issues, I think its not only the provider but also the actual phone.

Ex. I kept that cheap (free) Nokia phone which comes when you sign up for Tmo. Its my hiking phone. Why? Because that sucker is the only voice phone I know of which works in the middle of the woods. The rest of my phones and friend's phones do not work in heavily wooded areas.

One wonders is it the service or is it the particular brand of phone?

Anyhow, whatever service people choose is up to them. I don't see why anyone should care as long as each is happy with what they have.

As for the Cingular BBers, if you folks don't take action, it will not get better and it certainly will not change....don't let a company which depends on you for its survival take a dump on you. You don't deserve that.

Good luck to you.

[bsic]

just got my first bill. On Dec 31st i activated my blackberry and added the wap.cingular APN.

No big charges, no surprises. So far so good.