Who's fault is it?

[nedzalife]

I see this more and more these days - people getting blackberry's without data plans... If they're in canada, I understand why...

what are the costs like for data plans in the US? are they to the point where people don't wanna pay for them? are consumers impulsive buyers that don't do their homework? (.... don't answer that one, already know the answer :P )

or is it the carrier's fault for advertising them as regular phones? regular phones can facebook, msn, etc unlimited for $5-$10/m here in Canada, so I'm assuming that's the case too in the US? But that's not the case with blackberry's regardless of which side of the border you're on...

Discuss :)

[jojo6]

my company pays $40/m for my unlimited plan. i wouldn't pay that if i had flip the bill. you are correct data plan for regular cell phones is different than blackberry.

[paulbblc]

I don't think the carriers are advertising in that way. I think the commercials do a pretty good job of informing the customer.

I'd say it boils down to users not wanting to pay an additional $25-30 a month or they are not doing their homework.

[jsconyers]

This could be the fault of lack of research on the consumers end. Wireless companies advertise to sell phones and plans. It is the consumers responsibility to do the appropriate research.

Regardless of all that, to answer your question. It is all my fault, I will take the blame for this :razz:

[paulbblc]

Regardless of all that, to answer your question. It is all my fault, I will take the blame for this :razz:

There we go. Case closed! :smile:

[juwaack68]

And here I was going to blame JSanders!

Seriously, I agree with jsconyers. It's up to the consumer to research what is needed for their device to work the way they want it to work.

That being said, there are people who simply want a phone with pda functionality for their calendar/contacts. I'm sure they are out there somewhere.... ;-)

[Gbcue]

I have a BB without a data plan. Why? I'm on a family plan and a BB plan for everybody would cost $80 ($20 per person) extra a month (more than just the voice plan alone)! Instead, I opted to get unlimited text for $10 a month for everybody on the family plan.

[TBOLTRAM]

On verizon, 8830, BIS, cost is $30 month for "unlimited" data. Actually it is limited to about 5Gb a month. I have a hard time figuring out how to move that much data in a month with a BlackBerry that is not tethered. I do not tether as it cost $ 15 more per month.

The cost is worth it as my wife can email me while out of town and I access the internet as required. My company does not have the cell email address.

Hope this helps with your original question.

[Beezer]

$15 a month, Suncom

[nedzalife]

I don't think the carriers are advertising in that way. I think the commercials do a pretty good job of informing the customer.

I'd say it boils down to users not wanting to pay an additional $25-30 a month or they are not doing their homework.

I've seen some of the T-mobile adds for the 8100 here in Canada, the one where the couple is picking colours for thier set of Pearls? IMO, they're trying to target a wider customer base. Nothing wrong with that, the more BBs the better, but its the way they're showcasing all the features without telling customers about the additional costs to get all those features working that seems... off (border line shady?)

I'm sure they do it "in the fine print", but it'd also be nice to see carriers be more transparent with the fact they don't control 100% of the BB environment. I know when I first started using a BB, how it ACTUALLY worked and the lack of control the carrier has with RIM devices was a big surprise.

[rambo47]

My T-Mobile BIS add-on is $20 per month. That's in line with what people pay for data plans for their Treos with AT&T or Verizon. BB data plans with other carriers, however, quickly reach proportions unmanageable for many users. It's up to the consumer to do his homework before making an impulsive purchase. Otherwise he'll be disappointed and immediately look to blame someone else because he was lazy and engaged his credit card before his brain.

[Dawg]

My BB is on a family share plan with verizon and I have data for 30 bucks a month with out tethering and I dont find it expensive at all. But worth every penny, I cant understand why anyone would buy a ferrari without an engine. Its the same to me about Bb plans just doesnt make since to have a powerful device and not use it to the full potentioal.

[DeoreDX]

For most cell users Data is a "Wow" feature they will not regularly use. $20-30 bucks is just more then they are willing to work over for limited internet they aren't going to use very often on a handheld device. There are a lot of people that do a lot of texting and a BB like device can surely text much better then a T9 type keypad. You see phones like the pearl and Tmo's Shadow bridge the line between phone and PDA, and with the cost so cheap nowadays people are willing to fork over a little more money for a phone with more capabilities but are not willing to spend the extra $20-$30 a month on the data plans. I think that's there Tmobile gets their $5.99 Tzones-Web plan right, it's just cheap enough where you can convince people to pay the extra charge without breaking the bank. You see a ton of Tmobile users at Howards forums that are using the $5.99 T-zones-web plan and are APN'ing to get basic internet through the service. In fact that's what I did until I was enticed by the opportunity for a free Pearl.

[roofus]

This could be the fault of lack of research on the consumers end. Wireless companies advertise to sell phones and plans. It is the consumers responsibility to do the appropriate research.

Regardless of all that, to answer your question. It is all my fault, I will take the blame for this :razz:

I knew it was you all along!!!!

[glehman85]

people getting blackberry's without data plans



thats the reason rightt here why data plan prices dont drop

[nedzalife]

There are a lot of people that do a lot of texting and a BB like device can surely text much better then a T9 type keypad.

You have a very good point there. Texting on pearls is much better than T9. I can see heavy why txt'ers would get a pearl just for that functionality when the BB hardware costs the same as regular phones.