[shajufx]

Yes, after a waiting of 24 hours, I got no response neither from BB support nor from Mobile Office (gprs support).

I made around 3 calls to 7070 each one lasting over 20 minutes and above 4 calls to 121 (15 minutes each) and another one to 12118 (20 minutes). So thats a decent waste of 2 hours 20 minutes. I could have better watched a Hindi movie instead of heating my brain on the phone

End result: Few myths got cleared !

Mobile Office can not work as a stand alone GPRS service on a Blackberry handset, no matter what you try. Simpler explanation; blackberry handset will work on any dataplan only if BB service is active. Mobile Office is active by default on a Blackberry Unlimited plan without any request or demand.

Now my situation:

Mobile Office is not active by default. Blackberry unlimited plan is active but with few limitations on certain software programmes. I requested for the Mobile Office to be activated by the usual SMS. Waited 24 hours, nothing happend. Called up the tech support, they said MO is showing active on my number (activated after SMS request) in their system and they claim there is no Mobile Office settings available with them for a blackberry handset !! Now MO is active on my number and they dont have a setting to give me. What the hell !! I just went crazy and started pulling my hair. (mods please permit more icons here).

I fear I will get a seperate bill for MO and fixed bill for BB services (that is 1300 + taxes). Immediate action: I sent a BB deactivation mail to the bb.support and at the same time send a MO cancellation SMS to 222. I just want to cool my brain for few days before thinking about the next plan of action.

Airtel should provide a health insurance plan free of cost to all the MO and BB customers. You never know when you can get a cardiac arrest or a crazily High BP !!

[quadra]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

Yes you are right. They seem tobe playing the Nokia game here. Launch models in close succession and add/remove 1 feature to create new demand. I guess it is now your choice and usage which will determine what model to buy.

Personally I would assume you could skip WiFi as you are anyways on EDGE (High speed GPRS) network via BB data service. And on an unlimited data plan, browsing costs are not an issue anymore.

Hence, 8310 or 8330 would be the best choices.

And its not always required to buy from Service Provider. You could buy in grey (unlocked) which would be cheaper. Or as many people suggested, buy from Airtel/Vodafone as locked and ask them to unlock on the pretext of travelling abroad. Will that work successfully, is something that I cannot say as I have not come across any real life success cases for that.

I think you are right. Wi-fi can be skipped. We do have GPRS.
I have activiated MO on my xpressmusic 5310 and it works at ok speed.
Anyone knows the speed differenece - MO vs Wi-fi ?

And how is BB plan related to MO ? i am unable to understand that. I think i need some googling.

[Jaggu]

@shaju: I have a feeling that, festival and holidays, that will be the excuse you will be getting from AirTel!

Do you have a web access to your AirTel account? its easy to set up, you can check the status of complaints, plans etc inside it.

Originally Posted by quadra

Anyone knows the speed differenece - MO vs Wi-fi ?

And how is BB plan related to MO ? i am unable to understand that. I think i need some googling.

GPRS speed will be between 40 to 120 kbps and wifi will depend on the speed of the internet connection, that wifi is connected but surely faster than GPRS/EDGE.

BB Plan is for Blackberry's services and MO for internet access for any mobile phone that supports EDGE/GPRS

[quadra]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

GPRS speed will be between 40 to 120 kbps and wifi will depend on the speed of the internet connection, that wifi is connected but surely faster than GPRS/EDGE.

BB Plan is for Blackberry's services and MO for internet access for any mobile phone that supports EDGE/GPRS

Thanks man. I think i will skip wi-fi and go for GPS phone.

[anilkalvani]

End result: Few myths got cleared !

Mobile Office can not work as a stand alone GPRS service on a Blackberry handset, no matter what you try. Simpler explanation; blackberry handset will work on any dataplan only if BB service is active. Mobile Office is active by default on a Blackberry Unlimited plan without any request or demand.

@shajufx
After reading all the 'wonderful' experiences with Airtel helplines and experiencing a fair bit with billing issues myself, i have now finally decided to go in for Reliance Prepaid BB BIS @ Rs. 1,099/- incl. service tax with Blackberry Curve 8330 CDMA with GPS (i have a prepaid reliance mobile which i use as a backup) and not mess up with my old Unlimited GPRS @ Monthly Rs. 200/- on my Airtel Corporate Plan. Just dreading the mess that will be created once i go to Airtel & tell them that i want both Mobile Office as well as BB, then they'll say sorry now unlimited 200 plan is no longer valid & all bs. I think i'll be better off using Reliance Blackberry in India & my Airtel during roaming abroad. Also as mentioned by you earlier, since Blackberry has nothing to do with Airtel or a service provider as it works as a separate service, i think i can take better help from fellow bhpians & also various other blackberry forums.

@nishant
i have contacted the mahim/dadar guy again for the Curve 8330, if any of you have a source kindly lemme know as Reliance has listed MRP for the 8330 @ Rs. 25,990/- & am trying to find a cheaper but reliable alternative.

Thanx,
Anil

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Mobile Office is active by default on a Blackberry Unlimited plan without any request or demand.

No it is not. Believe me I can confirm that it is not.

After using BB services for 3 years (unlimited plan), I got an iPhone. I removed my SIM card and inserted it in the iPhone and nothing worked. Put the same SIM back in my BB and I could surf and chat and receive mails.

I tried calling and explaining to the airtel guys who insisted that my GPRS was on and everything should work. Finally I realised that nobody understands what is going on.
I called 121 and requested that my MO be switched on. I was informed of a fixed monthly charge plus x amount per MB etc.
The next day everything worked on the iPhone. I then called 7070 and requested to disconnect my BB services. They did not do it and I got charged for both BB and MO. later they disconnected my BB services.

After I lost my iPhone I went through the same rigmarole in reverse. Please do not confuse MO with BB. Using a connection with BB, you can surf the internet, only using BB handsets. Use the same SIM with a BB connection in a regular GPRS handset and you canot surf, send or recieve emails. For that you need MO.
With MO you can send recieve data, surf the internet and use the phone as a modem.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

... With MO you can send recieve data, surf the internet and use the phone as a modem.

True. There is a very small difference technically in the 'profiles' as set by the Airtel tech guys.

* If you are on a BB plan, your mail and Internet packets get routed through either the BB server(s)/routers or through your company's BB Enterprise Server installation to the Internet cloud
* If you are on an MO plan, your packets go through Airtel servers / routers to the Internet cloud. Yes, this also has the 'modem' functionality enabled (if you have a BB handset, you are limited to Windoze as client OS, since the BB 'modem over USB' emulator does not work on any other OS)
* Between these, there is NO ADDITIONAL HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE usage on the part of the Airtel that merits additional charges of MO over BB profile (packet routing configuration settings only)

The Airtel commercial guys (the ones that you would usually talk to) don't understand all this - or at least pretend not to. Quite likely their KRA is to maximize revenues by insisting on selling the MO plan. If one can induce 'withdrawal symptoms' in them (collective bargaining helps), they quietly get the MO profile enabled on top of the BB profile.

As with Airtel, one would expect the same with the other Service Providers.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

* If you are on a BB plan, your mail and Internet packets get routed through either the BB server(s)/routers or through your company's BB Enterprise Server installation to the Internet cloud

The corporate BB Enterprise Server Installation will still connect to the BB servers in different parts of the world - the fact that you have an Enteprise Server installation does not mean that your mails are all locally managed. The ES only does compression/encryption to speed up emails, manages Policy implementation across corporate BB terminals (i.e., your handsets) and other stuff.

By the way, the Blackberry Storm has been launched and it looks yummy!

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

No it is not. Believe me I can confirm that it is not.

Yes, its not, we all know that, but you put a gun on the airtel support guys, they will not agree to this fact ! May be they are supposed to mislead customers and drain out the extra money from their pockets.

They did not do it and I got charged for both BB and MO. later they disconnected my BB services.

This is what I am trying to avoid. I have send deactivation request to bb.support and MO CNCL to 222, both are not responded as of now (already 15 hours) !

I just want to cancel all the mess altogether and free my brain from the existing confusions for few days. Anyway I have no choice other than continuing with my BB unlimited plan as long as I use a BB handset. I take it as a test to see how fast they deactivate the BB plan.

Another tip on unlocking a BB handset: I spoke to the 7070 support about the unlocking. They suggested the same as mentioned in the previous posts; write an email to the bb.support to unlock the handset mentioning that you are travelling out of country and you need to use a different SIM while being overseas. But it might take a week or more to get the unlocking PIN from airtel. It is still worth than paying $30 to $50 dollars for the online unlocking softwares (just an example Blackberry Unlocking - Blackberry unlock service and Blackberry unlock codes delivered completely online) widely sold on net (they too claim 15 days for getting it done).

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by shajufx

I have send deactivation request to bb.support and MO CNCL to 222, both are not responded as of now (already 15 hours)

Now the bad part: Cancellation of Mobile office request and deactivation request of BB services are crossing 38 hours ! So far no response nor acknowledgement from the service provider. Means customer is supposed to pay for the sweet time they are taking to deactivate the services. Promised time is within 24 hours. Each day will cost Rs.44 + tax (taking the MO 399 and BB 899 plan into consideration).

Now the good part: All whatever I wanted to use on my BB handset is working fine now. Trading platform and Opera Mini were things that never worked before. They are installed and runs well. After I get my BB and MO deactivated, in few days time I have to activate BB again. So, its a wait and watch situation to know if all these will function in the next activation.

[Jaggu]

congratulations finally its working !! A

Anyways if you are planning to retain both, call up 121 talk sweet but firm, then ask for escalation since you will not get any resolution, you should reach the unit manager, be polite and firm and say that you are going to be traveling and need immediate help, since they will say all are on festival vacation

Things will work out in under 12 hours if that person agrees , and even if you dont receive an sms, dont bother check the handset for actual result. Meanwhile activate the online thing in airtel site, you can get amused reading the nature of complaints registered and status from airtel.

[shajufx]

After a good long wait of 42 hours my Mobile Office and BB services are deactivated. I can see the 'EDGE' word replaced by just 'GSM' on my handset. I wanted to know how much time is normally taken for deactivation. So, got an idea now; 24 to 48 hours !

I dont want to pay for both MO and BB, which in effect doesnt make much sense. MO is using GPRS and BB is using EDGE. As the BB unlimited plan means unlimited GPRS too, most things should work on a BB unlimited plan. So, I am just hoping things will be fine when I activate the BB services again, mostly from Monday. Its another wait to see how things will turn up. Will update again.

[Jaggu]

Yes activation and deactivation usually happen within 24-48 working hours at AirTel.

Going with what Sam says, you wont be able to get, rather AirTel wont give, MO with BB, then you will have again problem with your trading App and Opera. I think get this clarified with AirTel and then activate BB if you are particular of using the trading app.

ps: MO also works with EDGE wherever the EDGE network is available, same as BB. Only in towers where EDGE is unavailable it will fall back to GPRS, that will be the same with BB also.

GPRS < EDGE < 3G ie 2G < 2.5G < 3G wrt speed and data carrying capability thats the only difference.

[shajufx]

After the deactivation of BB, I find myself as a 'fish out of water'. In other words, I got used to the BB service in such a way, every now and then I keep getting 'beeps' for new mails delivered or someone asking something on the messenger etc. Infact, once you get used to it, its tough to live without it. But I want to wait for few days and see how I can manage without any of these !

Activating BB again, I only hope that the trading platform will work just like that. Afterall its just another attempt. But I feel the settings got cleared on the handset and it might work (APN remains as airtelgprs.com, username and password empty). Opera is not a big thing to miss at all. BB browser is not bad by any means. So, the trial & error phase is continuing ! I find that is the only way to get things sorted out with airtel, may be also with any other BB service provider in India.

[filcord]

I'm confused about costs.What does it cost to run a BB, I would be browsing little, mainly reading mails, and is telephone calls separately billed?