Blackberry data plans

[Jessie]

Do any of you use a Blackberry? 

I just changed over to AT&T (they bought my provider - Cellular One) and because of some goofups on their end, I'm getting a free Blackberry 8800 for my phone.  I know it has lots of use outside of email/internet, so it'll be a good phone even without a data plan, but I still think I might get one.

If you have one, which one is it, what do you usually use it for, and how much data do you typically use in a month?

They have a personal plan for $30, and it's for 4MB/month.  Is that enough for emailing and whatnot? 

I have no idea.

[Jessie]

Scratch that, the plan is $35/month for Blackberry Enterprise.

I'm not sure how that differs from the $30 Blackberry Personal.  Does that mean I can use it all I want as long as I don't use my work email address?

http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/popup/dataconnect-comp-table.jsp

Help me understand this!

[Infobahn]

I have the BB 8800, great phone.  No camera, though.  I can't explain the billing.  I know that I use more than 4mb in data in a month, but I get all of my work e-mail sent through it, and I am at about 50 mb per month.  You can always bump the plan up if needed, so I think you should be okay at 4mb.

[Jessie]

Thanks.  I should have a new job title by the end of the week, and might be able to weasel them into paying a data plan for me.

I don't know that I need it for work or for pleasure, but I kind of just want it because I like gadgets. 

[Dry then Catch]

no i'm not cool or important.   I just use a tomato soup can with a string.  that i keep attached to part of e0

[eo000]

wang bone.

[Dry then Catch]

wang bone.

I NEEDED  A LOT OF STRING FOR THAT

[Beefy]

I'm so glad I don't have one of those things.

Yes, I'm talking about eo's wang bone.

[Dry then Catch]

I'm so glad I don't have one of those things.

Yes, I'm talking about eo's wang bone.

seems like it would have been perfect to plug up the hole in your stomach. 

[meredith]

I'm surprised there are still metered plans.  I would ask an AT&T rep but it looks like BB Personal($30) is unlimited.

Blackberry has a special design where if you tie it into work email, your office needs a special server that pushes e-mails down to your device.  The enterprise plan is meant for people doing that, and that functionality, "push e-mail from a Blackberry Enterprise Server" is what you will miss out on if you don't have an enterprise plan.

[Gamplayerx]

I can't get enough wang bone.

Everybody I know who has a blackberry uses it for work.  And it seems to have the added drawback of then making them ALWAYS at work. 

[grace]

i never want to be THAT connected or meshed...similar to having the portions on my dinner plate mixed.

[ReBurn]

I use a BlackBerry. My company pays for it. They pay $84.99 per month for unlimited voice and data and they run BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

What I love about it is that I have GoogleTalk and Gmail apps installed on it. That way I have access to my personal stuff. The email account it points to is my work email, and if any of you want the phone number I would be more than happy to provide that to you.

I will warn you. They don't call them CrackBerry for nothing.

Everybody I know who has a blackberry uses it for work.  And it seems to have the added drawback of then making them ALWAYS at work. 

That's why I have one.

[Jessie]

This thing's a lot of fun, even without a data plan (yet - I think work's gonna pay for one)

[Jessie]

What fun, useful, and hopefully free apps do you use on your blackberry?

[meredith]

i assume blackberry supports java well -
point your phone to http://m.google.com/ and hit the download links for Google Maps and GMail

[Jessie]

i assume blackberry supports java well -
point your phone to http://m.google.com/ and hit the download links for Google Maps and GMail

That's my plan.  My phone has gps, and with google maps I can have in car navigation.

[meredith]

i assume blackberry supports java well -
point your phone to http://m.google.com/ and hit the download links for Google Maps and GMail

That's my plan.  My phone has gps, and with google maps I can have in car navigation.

It's nice, but not nearly as robust as a dedicated GPS unit.  For something that is more powerful, but also less user-friendly than google maps, there is a project called "Mobile GMaps".   It was started before google released their own version.

I don't think either does the automatic step-by-step directions that you see in real GPS units, though.

[ReBurn]

What fun, useful, and hopefully free apps do you use on your blackberry?

Gmail and Google Talk.

Incidentally, a Blackberry makes a decent wireless modem, too. I was in need of internet connectivity and I didn't have any. So I used my Blackberry. It ran at 112.5 kbps, which isn't the fastest. But it got the job done.