My tryst with the Airtel's Mobile office package and the subsequently the BB plan has been long and arduous.
I had the 140rs per week unlimited plan on my Nokia 9300. When I got my curve (8300). I continued on Mobile office with the Gmail client on the BB for email and Opera mini for internet I was fine.
Downloads were impossible as that needed to use the native BB browser and that works only on the BB plan and not mobile office. One fine day decided to switch to the 449 limited BB plan activated it with a clear instruction to deactivate the mobile office.
Two weeks later I get an SMS confirming the extension of my Mobile Office. Turns out that since I activated Mobile Office vis SMS, even deactication needed an SMS.
One more week passes and I get a bill for 1750 for data usage for the month:
420 - 3 weeks of mobile office
320 - 3 weeks of BB
~1000 for data usage over and above what the BB plan allows me.
I immediately switch to the 899 unlimited BB plan, grit my teeth and pay the bill. Should have kicked up a fuss then. Coz more was in store.
Nex month bill comes - 3300 for data usage.
899 for the BB plan ,
2400 for data usage of 10 days of the previous month - reason given , they got billing data for the last 10 days after the billing happened and hence they added to the next months bill.
At this point I lost it . They already charged be 1750 for data for a month, they want charge another 2400 for the same period.. I complained and complained and complained. Made 11 calls to Airtel, no resolution. Did one smart thing though - refused to pay the bill. Eventually had 3 months outstanding on the bill and ended up talking to a very senior person in Airtel , threatened consumer court and got the "late" billing amount reversed.
While on the BB plan realized that Opera mini would not work with the blackberry.net APN, nor could I tether the curve and use as a wireless modem. Was falling increasingly in love with the Nokia E71 and was trying to justify the purchase by the price differential of 400 bucks a month between the BB plan and the Mobile office plan.
That is when I saw this thread and called Airtel to threaten a BB plan cancellation and switch over to Mobile office. At this time I was told that the Mobile office plan is now bundled with the BB plan (like the rest of the world does). Tried to talk to Airtel BB tech support to see what settings I needed to do. This proved to be a frustrating exercise as the two girls I spoke to flatly refused that Mobile office works on the blackberry. Upon telling them that this is pure bovine excreta and verifying that Mobile Office is indeed active on my account , kept the phone down.
Switched the TCP APN setting to airtelgprs.com, switched off , pulled battery out. Switched it on and lo and behold - Opera mini works now. Yet to test the tethering though.
So - for folks who are on the unlimited plans, try this . It should work
Vijay |