BlackBerry Forums Support Community

NicoleP · 07-26-2010, 07:03 PM

I just recently switched over from an iphone to a blackberry bold 9700 in white and I have a few questions on how to get everything started.
I swapped the phone with one of my family friends who I'm assuming had a data plan..but I do not (I will get one in the near future though) but when I put my SIM card into the phone it said I had 3G, which i don't have..so I was wondering if that means it's charging me for data..so i turned it off and now my phone says GSM which i also don't understand..but now when i try to even use my wifi it won't let me

I'm really new with blackberry's..someone help me out! thanks!

John Clark · 07-26-2010, 07:23 PM

If you don't have a data plan, then likely you aren't being charged for data, even though it says 3G. Did you have an iPhone data plan before?

NicoleP · 07-26-2010, 08:13 PM

nope, I didn't have the data plan on the iphone either.

aiharkness · 07-26-2010, 08:19 PM

Blackberrys are different. First you need a blackberry data plan to use any blackberry/RIM branded data apps. Some carriers require the blackberry data plan to get the service books required to use wifi data. EDIT: Scratch that last sentence. It seems some people are able to use wifi for non-blackberry apps without a blackberry data plan and some cannot. I don't know why.

In your case, it sounds like you turned off data service in options. When that is in effect you will not have data service at all, not even wifi.

You need to see blackberryfaq.com and spend some time reading.

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John Clark · 07-26-2010, 08:22 PM

I am not aware of any service book required for using wifi data. You do need service books (i.e. a data plan) for accessing BB data over wifi, though.

aiharkness · 07-26-2010, 08:27 PM

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm aware from reading that some people can use use wifi data (not blackberry data, of course) without a dataplan and some can't. I thought I've read several times about a service book. But now that you mention it, no data plan then no service books, right? I'm back to being confused why some can use wifi without a data plan and others cannot.
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John Clark · 07-26-2010, 08:29 PM

No data plan, no service book. I know I can connect any TMobile BB to my wifi without a sim card inserted and browse the web and use a few 3rd party apps that use wife data.

NicoleP · 07-26-2010, 08:32 PM

I manually input my internet connection too and it says my internet key at the top on the home screen but it doesn't work...blackberry's are much more confusing than my iphone was :(

John Clark · 07-26-2010, 08:34 PM

What doesn't work? You need a data plan for most everything on the BlackBerry. As I said above, if you have wifi you may be able to use that to browse the web, but that's about it.

Go get a data plan and you will be much happier with your BlackBerry.

aiharkness · 07-26-2010, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Clark

No data plan, no service book. I know I can connect any TMobile BB to my wifi without a sim card inserted and browse the web and use a few 3rd party apps that use wife data.

That's what I would expect. Yet some people on the forum without blackberry data plan have said they can't use wifi period. Maybe they have other problems and wouldn't be able to use their wifi even if they had a blackberry data plan, I don't know. But there have been reponses to the effect that some carriers require a data plan to be able to use the device even with wifi. Is there any way this could make sense? Does the blackberry ultimately have to connect to the carrier's network, or on wifi is it like a computer that just needs a connection to the internet?
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