[xxBarneyxx]

Hi,

Been reading these forums for awhile now and have only just signed up to start posting.

I got my 8300 today and so far it is brilliant. I do have one problem however! I cant add an email account, when I go into the email settings I only have the option to connect to a BES or to skip the setup.

Speaking to an O2 rep he says that my account is not set up for Blackberry services and I need to pay an extra £14 a month to get them?!? He said because I don't have the service I wont get the option.

This doesn't seem right to me? I would have thought that if I'm setting it up to connect to a pop 3 account it doesn't matter what services I have as long as I have GPRS to connect with?

[greggebhardt]

Originally Posted by xxBarneyxx

Hi,

Been reading these forums for awhile now and have only just signed up to start posting.

I got my 8300 today and so far it is brilliant. I do have one problem however! I cant add an email account, when I go into the email settings I only have the option to connect to a BES or to skip the setup.

Speaking to an O2 rep he says that my account is not set up for Blackberry services and I need to pay an extra £14 a month to get them?!? He said because I don't have the service I wont get the option.

This doesn't seem right to me? I would have thought that if I'm setting it up to connect to a pop 3 account it doesn't matter what services I have as long as I have GPRS to connect with?

Sorry but you failed to do your homework. To use Blackberry services and have Blackberry data and push email you have GOT to subscribe to a Blackberry Plan. RIM has gone to great lengths to make it quite hard to get around this.

I will buy your 8300 if you are not willing to purchase a plan, but without a plan, the Blackberry is such a waste!

[xxBarneyxx]

ok thanks for the info. Don't mind paying but just didn't trust the O2 rep, especially as this was all discussed with an O2 rep when I ordered it and they didn't mention this at all.

[greggebhardt]

Originally Posted by xxBarneyxx

ok thanks for the info. Don't mind paying but just didn't trust the O2 rep, especially as this was all discussed with an O2 rep when I ordered it and they didn't mention this at all.

they might offer two plans, one might have limited amount of data. If you just do email this might be good but if you do the internet, the device will use huge amount of data and will run thru what they give you quickly. If that is so, go for the unlimited plan.

BB service is not cheap but there is no better for someone who email is MOST important!

[tmag2005]

O2 Offer 2 types of Data Plans.

One come in two options:

1) Tariff Over £30 per month = £14.99 unlimited data

or

2) Tariff Over £35 per month = £10 unlimited data

OR

1) Any Tariff = £2.75 per mb usage.


And this is a regular issue in the UK, the BB knowledge is not upto scratch. Alas we have sites such as there to help us.

[trevolly]

Yeh these Blackberry tariffs are correct.

The reason you are paying this extra charge is because you are paying for the service RIM offer (ie the push email service) Even if you have GPRS you still need this. The good thing is that if you have an email Blackberry handle the checking, delivery etc... If you have a Windows Mobile based system then you can set it up to check your email accounts at a specified time (ie every 5 mins). the prob here is that a small amount of data is transferred every time it checks!

If you dont want to pay either £10 or £15 then you need to get your account activated for Blackberry still. This means you have to ask for the "Blackberry Pay as You Use" option.

This works at the £2.75 per meg of data which Tmag mentioned above.

One thing I will say is about the £10 or £15 "Unlimited data" packages is that they also include free internet browsing through the Blackberries browser system. If you decide to use the Blackberry as a modem (laptop internet connection) then there would be additional data charges for the data transferred, this will NOT be included in you "Unlimited data" package.

If you use the Blackberry abroad the EVEN if you have the Unlimited data package then you will still be charged an extra data rate (£7 per meg).

If you use it abroad alot then the best thing to do is to contact O2 before you go and for £25 a month you can switch on (and off, in other words you dont have to have it for the length of the contract) "Blackberry roaming". This then gives you unlimited data and browsing again.

Sounds alot of money but if you are a heavy emailer then this would work out cheaper than £7 per meg!

So remember that'll be your monthly talk tariff cost + the blackberry plan + the roaming if you want it all.

(Can you tell I work for O2??? )

(Go for the Unlimited data plans - they are good value )

[xxBarneyxx]

Thanks a lot guys for all the information. Should have asked here first

[coolkarim]

Originally Posted by trevolly

Yeh these Blackberry tariffs are correct.

The reason you are paying this extra charge is because you are paying for the service RIM offer (ie the push email service) Even if you have GPRS you still need this. The good thing is that if you have an email Blackberry handle the checking, delivery etc... If you have a Windows Mobile based system then you can set it up to check your email accounts at a specified time (ie every 5 mins). the prob here is that a small amount of data is transferred every time it checks!

If you dont want to pay either £10 or £15 then you need to get your account activated for Blackberry still. This means you have to ask for the "Blackberry Pay as You Use" option.

This works at the £2.75 per meg of data which Tmag mentioned above.

One thing I will say is about the £10 or £15 "Unlimited data" packages is that they also include free internet browsing through the Blackberries browser system. If you decide to use the Blackberry as a modem (laptop internet connection) then there would be additional data charges for the data transferred, this will NOT be included in you "Unlimited data" package.

If you use the Blackberry abroad the EVEN if you have the Unlimited data package then you will still be charged an extra data rate (£7 per meg).

If you use it abroad alot then the best thing to do is to contact O2 before you go and for £25 a month you can switch on (and off, in other words you dont have to have it for the length of the contract) "Blackberry roaming". This then gives you unlimited data and browsing again.

Sounds alot of money but if you are a heavy emailer then this would work out cheaper than £7 per meg!

So remember that'll be your monthly talk tariff cost + the blackberry plan + the roaming if you want it all.

(Can you tell I work for O2??? )

(Go for the Unlimited data plans - they are good value )

Hi

you do know alot! I hope you dont mind me asking

(1) I already have a BB with vodafone and am mid contract, can I get an O2 curve? is there any way of swapping to O2? I guess I cant.

(2) can I buy the SIM free Curve (£300 from fone-shop) and unlock it and use it with my vodafone BB account? or is it specially set up for O2 or vodafone wont allow it on the network etc.

thanks

[takeshi]

Originally Posted by coolkarim

(1) I already have a BB with vodafone and am mid contract, can I get an O2 curve? is there any way of swapping to O2? I guess I cant.

(2) can I buy the SIM free Curve (£300 from fone-shop) and unlock it and use it with my vodafone BB account? or is it specially set up for O2 or vodafone wont allow it on the network etc.

You'd need to check with O2 and Voda on both questions. If you can buy and unlock the O2 Curve you can use it with other GSM carriers (same as any other GSM BB or GSM device for that matter) provided that the proper frequencies are supported. Blackberries are configured by their service books -- not their OS loads so the carrier branding is irrelevant.