[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by shajufx

So, you are using a prepaid airtel to use MO and GPRS ? What are the latest plans buddy ? I dont trust their website to have latest updates, cant even trust the support guys, they keep changing their word every day !

Shaju,

Well the rates haven't changed. It is 20 bucks per day or 99 bucks per week. I haven't enquired about the monthly charges. You are right, the support guy didn't have a clue. He told me that I would be able to use MO for free for one week and then I would be charged 50 ps/30kb. I asked him, what if I renew this 99 offer and he said no you cannot do it, you will have to pay 50 ps after the first week is over. I was like whatever and hung up, and after the first week I get a message that the week plan is over, however I can always renew it by sending a message again. So did that and I am back on unlimited plan for a week.

Quickdraw,
Agreed that they indicate the number of links, but the more links your phone supports, the more simulatenous connections and hence faster rate? I might be wrong here, but wouldn't that be the logical conclusion?

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by luvjascha

Let me understand this correctly.
I am looking to get a BB handset that has a built-in WiFi. I need this feature, primarlily to be able to check email, and occasional browsing. That said, do I still need to sign up for the service plan from my service provider?

Originally Posted by luvjascha

All I need to know is whether or not the BB handset will function without signing up for the BB plan, i.e. will I be able to get online from airports, coffee shops, etc. that have WiFi.

Originally Posted by luvjascha

I like BB phones for the way they look - classy. Quite honestly, I am not interested in the features they offer or their plans; just so long as I'm able to get online from WiFi-enabled places.

Originally Posted by luvjascha

I just don't see any sense in signing up for a BB plan from any of the service providers, especially when all I am utilizing the phone for, is to occasionally check email and web browsing.
But it's a shame that IMs don't work with BB phones over WiFi. Wonder why. Other phones allow you this.

Just to rephrase luvjascha's questions, in my own words -
**********************************
Assuming budget is not a constraint, is it OK to go for a BB 83xx vis-a-vis Nokia E71, if my usage is the following:
1. Occasional mail checking through GPRS 1-2 times in a day
2. Intermittent browsing, Facebook and Googling
3. Using other GPRS based application (which I use currently on my Nokia E51) i.e. ngpay, movie tickets booking (PVR/Cinemax/BookMyShow/Adlabs etc), Air tickets booking, bill pay etc.
4. GPS
5. Gmail's mobile application, Yahoo Go etc.
***********************************
Please also enlighten me on the following:
1. Does 8320 use GPRS for accessing GPS satellite, or is it cell tower based assisted GPS?
2. Does it have turn-by-turn voice/non-voice guided navigation facility?
3. Are the above mentioned GPRS based applications available easily for a BB as they are for Symbian based Nokia E series? (this is VERY IMPORTANT for me!)
**********************************
So in a nutshell, when I am out of home, I would be using the BB on a plain vanilla GPRS data plan (NOT A BB PLAN).

As soon as I enter my house (or any other WiFi enabled hotspot), I would be using WiFi for the above mentioned functions.
************************************
Hope I have been able to put across my requirements clearly.

[shajufx]

As far as I understand, BB handset will not function on GPRS or EDGE if atleast one of the BB plans are not activated. Means, BB handset is a life-less brick without any of the BB plan, it wont support gprs or MO. If BB plan is active, any other service can be individually activated, but one does not require anything extra once BB plan is running.

Quickdraw, please come out, you will be able to explain better about the particular BB handset doubt. I have not used anything other than 8120. I stand corrected if anyone has activated a gprs plan on a BB handset without having basic BB plan running. Heavy users and long time users, please clarify. There are many doubts that can not be resolved by BB support teams ! They are a bunch of useless, good-for-nothing fellas, who can only confuse a customer !

[Jaggu]

@nishanth: you are better off with Nokia, atleast your usage doesnt warrant BB in any way

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by shajufx

As far as I understand, BB handset will not function on GPRS or EDGE if atleast one of the BB plans are not activated. Means, BB handset is a life-less brick without any of the BB plan, it wont support gprs or MO

This is the most surprising and unbelievable statement. Isnt BB supposed to be a phone first, and then an wireless email device? If answer to this is yes, then it should atleast support basic data protocols right?

If its supposed to be a phone having the requisite hardware for a BB plan, why should it not work on GPRS platform?

Or is it that a BIS/BES works on a completely different protocol than GPRS/EDGE?

Originally Posted by Jaggu

@nishanth: you are better off with Nokia, atleast your usage doesnt warrant BB in any way

I agree Jaggu, usage does not warrant. But heart rules over head at times. I quite like the build quality of the BB handsets.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

This is the most surprising and unbelievable statement. Isnt BB supposed to be a phone first, and then an wireless email device? If answer to this is yes, then it should atleast support basic data protocols right?

If its supposed to be a phone having the requisite hardware for a BB plan, why should it not work on GPRS platform?

Yes it might be most surprising and unbelievable statement but its plain truth. What network are you using nishant ? Blackberry support has toll free numbers, why dont you call up and hear it yourself and avoid your confusion once and for all ?

BB handset is designed for BB services not for anything else. Blackberry servers are independent and encrypted unlike any other gprs or MO servers. Naturally a BB handset will work to its full form when its tuned to the BB server. And limitations of functioning will be irrirating when we try anything other than BB server based services, namely BB plans.

BB handsets are feature rich, advanced, encryped, firewalled, secured to the core, no other handsets have these kind of restrictions specially when it comes to 1000s of 3rd party softwares. So, that makes a BB handset different from others.

Quickdraw, I just spoke to the Vodafone BB support, they have only 2 plans for individuals, thats 499/- 500 kb free and 15 paisa for every extra kb, then 1099/- unlimited. I asked them why they are charging more than airtel for unlimited ( 899/- to 1099/- difference ). He said only corporates get that 899/- offer from vodafone, nobody else. Means, if I decide to subscribe I have to pay 1099/- by any chance. Earlier you had mentioned that they will come down to 899/- if we bargain. I dont see any chance, please give your ideas.

[Jaggu]

Shaju is partly true, if you need to use the full potential you need expensive BB service. If you are ok without the inbuilt aps that come with the BB but want ONLY a BB set then there are ways to bypass connectivity, but will NOT give you the feeling of a real BB.

It will be just another GPRS enabled phone at the end of the day, which is NOT what its meant to be.

@nishanth: If your heart is not listening, then please go ahead and get a BB connect service, or else just move to nokia.co.in and search for new handsets which are going to be released soon You will not regret it either ways.

[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Quickdraw, I just spoke to the Vodafone BB support, they have only 2 plans for individuals, thats 499/- 500 kb free and 15 paisa for every extra kb, then 1099/- unlimited. I asked them why they are charging more than airtel for unlimited ( 899/- to 1099/- difference ). He said only corporates get that 899/- offer from vodafone, nobody else. Means, if I decide to subscribe I have to pay 1099/- by any chance. Earlier you had mentioned that they will come down to 899/- if we bargain. I dont see any chance, please give your ideas.

Shaju,
I had to talked to a customer care guy when I was contemplating on buying the storm. He did tell me that a plan for 899 is available. This was like 20 days back, so call them again and find out. And no, I didn't tell him that I already had a corporate connection.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Shaju is partly true, if you need to use the full potential you need expensive BB service. If you are ok without the inbuilt aps that come with the BB but want ONLY a BB set then there are ways to bypass connectivity, but will NOT give you the feeling of a real BB.

It will be just another GPRS enabled phone at the end of the day, which is NOT what its meant to be.

I can live with that. I just want to confirm whether a BB can indeed be "just another GPRS enabled phone" or not. What I inferred from Shaju and Quick's posts was that this is not possible at all. Hence the dilemma.

Anyways, I have been on a GPRS plan since the last 2-3 years and pretty happy with that. I might not be using a BB to its full potential (i.e. push email), but then again, I don't need push email!

Look at it this way - I like a BB for its class and style, but don't want the excess baggage of push that comes with it. Seems like I want the best of both worlds, and that's why my confusion is there.

Jaggu - which inbuilt apps are you talking about?

Originally Posted by shajufx

Yes it might be most surprising and unbelievable statement but its plain truth. What network are you using nishant ?

BB handset is designed for BB services not for anything else.

P.S. I am on Vodafone network in Mumbai.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

there are ways to bypass connectivity, but will NOT give you the feeling of a real BB. It will be just another GPRS enabled phone at the end of the day, which is NOT what its meant to be.

I am very curious to know that bypass thing. I tried all what I could, but still not finding a way to run gprs on my BB. Anyway I have a BB handset now, so If I can use it on gprs for sometime, I would be very happy to keep the handset with me for sometime, otherwise I might consider buying a windows mobile, just to save the expensive BB affair.

Originally Posted by HellwratH

Shaju,
I didn't tell him that I already had a corporate connection.

You dont have to tell that buddy, when you give your number before you start talking to these guys, they can see your account and the type. So naturally they will talk about the corporate plan to you by default.

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

What I inferred from Shaju and Quick's posts was that this is not possible at all. Hence the dilemma.
Jaggu - which inbuilt apps are you talking about?
P.S. I am on Vodafone network in Mumbai.

Yes nishant its not possible. You can call up 55666 from your phone and talk to someone and post here what you hear. Atleast a 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinion to clear our doubts. I too want to know from Jaggu what can be done to convert a BB to an ordinary gprs mobile. I am sure there are ways to surpass restrictions, but unless someone guides us, we are still in dark.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by shajufx

I am very curious to know that bypass thing. I tried all what I could, but still not finding a way to run gprs on my BB. Anyway I have a BB handset now, so If I can use it on gprs for sometime

Yes nishant its not possible. You can call up 55666 from your phone and talk to someone and post here what you hear. Atleast a 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinion to clear our doubts. I too want to know from Jaggu what can be done to convert a BB to an ordinary gprs mobile. I am sure there are ways to surpass restrictions, but unless someone guides us, we are still in dark.

Shaju, since you have deactivated BIS now and moved to Vodafone, why dont you sign up for Vodafone Live - the plain vanilla GPRS/EDGE data plan and let us know the feedback.

I would suggest that you try signing up through SMS (1st choice) and if not feasible, visit the Vodafone Store (2nd choice). Dont go through the CC route as they are a bunch of morons.

I called Voda CC, but its as good as anybody's guess. Those guys are pure robots and answer out of a manual, not by listening to the problem and understanding it.

In Mumbai, you can activate Vodafone Live by just sending an SMS "ACT VLZERO" to 111. To get the service settings, send the SMS "VL" to 52586 and you are good to go. This is a zero rental, pay-per-use plan. You are charged 10p/10kb for it.

[shajufx]

Hi Nishant, Vodafone Compatible Phones | Handset Manufacturer | Vodafone Live! is the answer for you. Please check it out. Also I dont want to use vodafone live even on a Nokia smarphone, not of my liking nor use.

[nishantgandhi]

Found this thread else where on the WWW. Hope it has answers to some of the questions posted here.
http://www.blackberryforums.com/wifi...-can-t-do.html

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by HellwratH

Quickdraw,
Agreed that they indicate the number of links, but the more links your phone supports, the more simulatenous connections and hence faster rate? I might be wrong here, but wouldn't that be the logical conclusion?

It does but just imagine if you access google.com ok? 1 slot goes for upload to request google.com and 1 more goes for actually downloading google.com and so on. Our desi operators use a lot of bandwith throttling to provide poor QOS (quality of service) and in turn can keep you online longer and make you send multiple requests for the same page (hence more data is being used) And there is nothing we can do, we should have somekind of RTI for these buggers as well!

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

Just to rephrase luvjascha's questions, in my own words -
**********************************
Assuming budget is not a constraint, is it OK to go for a BB 83xx vis-a-vis Nokia E71, if my usage is the following:
1. Occasional mail checking through GPRS 1-2 times in a day
2. Intermittent browsing, Facebook and Googling
3. Using other GPRS based application (which I use currently on my Nokia E51) i.e. ngpay, movie tickets booking (PVR/Cinemax/BookMyShow/Adlabs etc), Air tickets booking, bill pay etc.
4. GPS
5. Gmail's mobile application, Yahoo Go etc.
***********************************
Please also enlighten me on the following:
1. Does 8320 use GPRS for accessing GPS satellite, or is it cell tower based assisted GPS?
2. Does it have turn-by-turn voice/non-voice guided navigation facility?
3. Are the above mentioned GPRS based applications available easily for a BB as they are for Symbian based Nokia E series? (this is VERY IMPORTANT for me!)
**********************************
So in a nutshell, when I am out of home, I would be using the BB on a plain vanilla GPRS data plan (NOT A BB PLAN).

As soon as I enter my house (or any other WiFi enabled hotspot), I would be using WiFi for the above mentioned functions.
************************************
Hope I have been able to put across my requirements clearly.

I NEVER said that you cant use it on a normal GPRS and wifi. Let me rephrase it correctly. YOU CAN USE A BLACKBERRY WITHOUT A DATA PLAN FOR BROWSING, CHATTING AND SENDING EMAILS. But it just wont be the same. If you really want a BB pick it up ill help you get it setup with your setup

Originally Posted by shajufx

As far as I understand, BB handset will not function on GPRS or EDGE if atleast one of the BB plans are not activated. Means, BB handset is a life-less brick without any of the BB plan, it wont support gprs or MO. If BB plan is active, any other service can be individually activated, but one does not require anything extra once BB plan is running.

Quickdraw, please come out, you will be able to explain better about the particular BB handset doubt. I have not used anything other than 8120. I stand corrected if anyone has activated a gprs plan on a BB handset without having basic BB plan running. Heavy users and long time users, please clarify. There are many doubts that can not be resolved by BB support teams ! They are a bunch of useless, good-for-nothing fellas, who can only confuse a customer !

Nahi Shaju, BB's can work perfectly fine without BIS. Its just some applications which are hardwired into the OS like BB Messenger and Push Email dont work on the OLD OS's. Prior to 4.5 on any device. The new devices can replicate everything absolutely fine. But it wont be such a breeze to setup like the BIS but its 100% possible.

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

This is the most surprising and unbelievable statement. Isnt BB supposed to be a phone first, and then an wireless email device? If answer to this is yes, then it should atleast support basic data protocols right?

If its supposed to be a phone having the requisite hardware for a BB plan, why should it not work on GPRS platform?

Or is it that a BIS/BES works on a completely different protocol than GPRS/EDGE?


I agree Jaggu, usage does not warrant. But heart rules over head at times. I quite like the build quality of the BB handsets.

Actually NO! BB is first a Email device then a Phone, the earlier BB's didnt have phone capibilities. They were introduced later as a novelty actually. Funny na?

BIS works with Blackberry service books that are specific to operator. EDGE is a technology platform bas. The BB service can be delivered over 3G and WiFi as well.

Bhai just go ahead and get a BB and let it rock your world!

Originally Posted by shajufx

Quickdraw, I just spoke to the Vodafone BB support, they have only 2 plans for individuals, thats 499/- 500 kb free and 15 paisa for every extra kb, then 1099/- unlimited. I asked them why they are charging more than airtel for unlimited ( 899/- to 1099/- difference ). He said only corporates get that 899/- offer from vodafone, nobody else. Means, if I decide to subscribe I have to pay 1099/- by any chance. Earlier you had mentioned that they will come down to 899/- if we bargain. I dont see any chance, please give your ideas.

Tell them they better hand you the Blackberry Enterprise plan (they keep changing its name or Ill have to go and spank em. And trust me it exists. I think you have to send ACT BBE as a sms to 111 or 56789

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

I can live with that. I just want to confirm whether a BB can indeed be "just another GPRS enabled phone" or not. What I inferred from Shaju and Quick's posts was that this is not possible at all. Hence the dilemma.

Anyways, I have been on a GPRS plan since the last 2-3 years and pretty happy with that. I might not be using a BB to its full potential (i.e. push email), but then again, I don't need push email!

Look at it this way - I like a BB for its class and style, but don't want the excess baggage of push that comes with it. Seems like I want the best of both worlds, and that's why my confusion is there.

Jaggu - which inbuilt apps are you talking about?

P.S. I am on Vodafone network in Mumbai.

Bhai please dont misintrepret me. I think Shaju and Spiff said that. I can never say anything bad about berries. Ill always try and show them in a good light . How much do you pay for your GPRS per month anyways?

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

I NEVER said that you cant use it on a normal GPRS and wifi. Let me rephrase it correctly. YOU CAN USE A BLACKBERRY WITHOUT A DATA PLAN FOR BROWSING, CHATTING AND SENDING EMAILS. But it just wont be the same.

Tell them they better hand you the Blackberry Enterprise plan (they keep changing its name or Ill have to go and spank em. And trust me it exists.

You are talking exactly opposite to what Airtel and Vodafone BB support team say, and its really really leading me and others into more confusion. So, lets cut it short, if you have used a BB for browsing, chatting and sending emails (not through wi-fi), lets hear how you did that. That will clear all confusions. And next point is about the BB service difference; as I understand, Enterprise Service is for corporate connections and Prosumer Plan is for individuals. Are you telling they offer Enterprise service for individuals as well ? Then why these guys are unwilling to process my request as I already spoke to 3 different service heads ? By the way my handset runs on 4.5 version.