Blackberry noob needs plan Help

[thetitanking]

My wife and I have the verizon plan for 2 phones and with 1400 minutes and 50 texts. We want to get the BB for both of us. My question is what plan should I get to save the most money and what will it cost. We text non stop and call alot. But we wouldnt mind having the e-mail option plus other goodies the BB comes with. Any suggestions on plans and cost for us. Looking for ways to sve money. Even if I have to pay for phones and plans upfront to save cash.

[duane534]

This may sound biased on both counts, but it's true. If you can get away from Verizon, do it. If you can get a BlackBerry besides the Storm (which I assume is what you're looking at), do it. While Verizon does have a nice 3G network, the advantages of 3G are few and far between while the negatives are plentiful, ESPECIALLY if the primary use for your phones is texting.

Check if T-Mobile is available in your area. They have the BEST customer support, decent rates, and coverage in most places that Verizon does. If they do, hold off for about two weeks. The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is slated to be released there. It's essentially the Bold minus 3G plus several minor upgrades which might be considered more useful in a consumer-type phone. You'll be able to get it cheap as a new subscriber, PLUS it supports UMA which will allow you to freeze your minutes counter whenever you are somewhere that has wireless Internet access, be it home, work, school, etc. It also has a tendency to extend battery life, as BlackBerries (like all modern phones) turn down the power on their radios when excess range is not necessary. Assuming your wireless router is less than 20 miles away, that'll help.

It sounds like you want minutes, messaging, and data, with the latter two being unlimited. Like most people, I imagine most of your calling is done at home or is between the two of you. You could probably get away with sharing 700 minutes for other calling. With the FamilyTime Basic Plan, you get 700 "whenever minutes", unlimited weekend minutes, unlimited night minutes, and unlimited T-Mobile minutes. With the Unlimited HotSpot Calling for Families add-on, you get unlimited calling whenever you are within range of Wireless Internet. With the BlackBerry Unlimited Web + Unlimited Messages add-on, you get unlimited data and messaging.

In total, that comes to $104.97 / month (plus fees, taxes, and all that...) and gives you...

700 anytime minutes
Unlimited WiFi calling
Unlimited T-Mobile calling
Unlimited between you guys calling
Unlimited night calling
Unlimited weekend calling
Unlimited data (includes email)
Unlimited text, pic, and video messaging

I guarantee that's better than what Verizon can do. And, watch your first bill. You might be able to actually knock the anytime minutes down a bit farther. I have WiFi that I can hit at home, at work, and where I traditionally eat, so I pay for literally about 150 minutes per month.

[Dubdub]

This may sound biased on both counts, but it's true. If you can get away from Verizon, do it. If you can get a BlackBerry besides the Storm (which I assume is what you're looking at), do it. While Verizon does have a nice 3G network, the advantages of 3G are few and far between while the negatives are plentiful, ESPECIALLY if the primary use for your phones is texting.

Check if T-Mobile is available in your area. They have the BEST customer support, decent rates, and coverage in most places that Verizon does. If they do, hold off for about two weeks. The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is slated to be released there. It's essentially the Bold minus 3G plus several minor upgrades which might be considered more useful in a consumer-type phone. You'll be able to get it cheap as a new subscriber, PLUS it supports UMA which will allow you to freeze your minutes counter whenever you are somewhere that has wireless Internet access, be it home, work, school, etc. It also has a tendency to extend battery life, as BlackBerries (like all modern phones) turn down the power on their radios when excess range is not necessary. Assuming your wireless router is less than 20 miles away, that'll help.

It sounds like you want minutes, messaging, and data, with the latter two being unlimited. Like most people, I imagine most of your calling is done at home or is between the two of you. You could probably get away with sharing 700 minutes for other calling. With the FamilyTime Basic Plan, you get 700 "whenever minutes", unlimited weekend minutes, unlimited night minutes, and unlimited T-Mobile minutes. With the Unlimited HotSpot Calling for Families add-on, you get unlimited calling whenever you are within range of Wireless Internet. With the BlackBerry Unlimited Web + Unlimited Messages add-on, you get unlimited data and messaging.

In total, that comes to $104.97 / month (plus fees, taxes, and all that...) and gives you...

700 anytime minutes
Unlimited WiFi calling
Unlimited T-Mobile calling
Unlimited between you guys calling
Unlimited night calling
Unlimited weekend calling
Unlimited data (includes email)
Unlimited text, pic, and video messaging

I guarantee that's better than what Verizon can do. And, watch your first bill. You might be able to actually knock the anytime minutes down a bit farther. I have WiFi that I can hit at home, at work, and where I traditionally eat, so I pay for literally about 150 minutes per month.

What appears to be cheaper in your mind may not necessarily be the best option for the person asking the question. Cheap is only good if it works. And if it doesn't then its too expensive.

One has to look at coverage where you live, work, travel and play, above all else since if you don't have a signal, then cheap does you no good at all.

IMHO, TMO doesn't have the coverage that Verizon, AT&T and even Sprint can offer. Maybe it is good where you live, but where I live, it is almost non-existent.

[Dubdub]

My wife and I have the verizon plan for 2 phones and with 1400 minutes and 50 texts. We want to get the BB for both of us. My question is what plan should I get to save the most money and what will it cost. We text non stop and call alot. But we wouldnt mind having the e-mail option plus other goodies the BB comes with. Any suggestions on plans and cost for us. Looking for ways to sve money. Even if I have to pay for phones and plans upfront to save cash.

Your voice plans should be the same, no matter which BB (or which other phone) you get. To get email and Internet as you suggested that you might want, I think Verizon charges $30 a month for the personal BB data plan. You will need on for each device.

Best bet is to go to a Verizon store and chat with them. You can always come back here to validate what they told you.