So, is anyone offering BES hosting for less than $10/mo?

[perpetualjon]

My wife and I are thinking of just moving over to BES for our two Curves just to exchange calendar and address book information. We both use BIS with a Yahoo address for our email so that's not necessary but would like calendar and contacts sharing live. We've tried Unite with terrible results. I don't want to rely on one of my desktop machines to keep running 24-7 (and praying it never crashes). I don't like the fact that Unite can't sync with Outlook --nor will it import an existing calendar or contacts list (and considering the fact that we maintain about 400 contacts, that's a big deal)...

So we're now looking at a BES solution --but with no email needs. I'm just trying to avoid an additional $240/year we would be spending for the use...

Any ideas??

[BeachBumSteve]

Google Calendar Sync using a shared calendar?

The calendar sync works OK...contacts sync is coming. For now, you can import them to GMail.

[dualsub2006]

Google Calendar Sync using a shared calendar?

The calendar sync works OK...contacts sync is coming. For now, you can import them to GMail.
Contact sync works just fine in the Google Sync application.

[BeachBumSteve]

Contact sync works just fine in the Google Sync application.

Yes, contacts sync works, although it doesn't sync all elements.

I should have been more clear...there is a sync product for the BlackBerry and there is a separate sync product for Outlook. The Outlook product does not have a contacts sync capability...that's what I meant when I said it's coming.

Sorry for any confusion!

[perpetualjon]

But will GoogleSync work across two BB's? Seriously, I'd pay probably pay the monthly cost for a year up front if I could find a BES hosting plan that was $5/mo. Why isn't anyone doing this? Since my mail is carried by Yahoo anyways, I really only need BES for calendar and contacts sharing and live sync. It's not that big of a deal IMO (being without needing to manage mail storage). Is there someone's BES plan my wife and I can piggyback on for a discount?

[titetanium]

Try thinkpost.net. I'm not currently a customer but they are cheap enough that you can use it with BIS, I think.

[BeachBumSteve]

But will GoogleSync work across two BB's? Seriously, I'd pay probably pay the monthly cost for a year up front if I could find a BES hosting plan that was $5/mo. Why isn't anyone doing this? Since my mail is carried by Yahoo anyways, I really only need BES for calendar and contacts sharing and live sync. It's not that big of a deal IMO (being without needing to manage mail storage). Is there someone's BES plan my wife and I can piggyback on for a discount?

I think the least expensive BES hosting you'll find is about $18/month, including an Exchange account. Some providers will supply the BES only, assuming you have your own Exchange server, for about half that.

Given that BPS and Unite! were just announced as discontinued products, I think your best bet is Google Sync. Yes, you can share and sync calendars between device and Google, also between Outlook and Google. Syncing contacts will work between device and Google, but for now, you'll have to keep Outlook in sync using import/export or making manual changes.

Try it! It's free!!!

[zocster]

Have you tried yahoo! Go? seems to be ok syncing one mobile

[Serpentine009]

Wirelessly posted

I don't think yahoo go syncs calendar or contacts. You could setup a third Yahoo account and import all of your contacts to it and calendar items. Then use Desktop Manager to sync each BB to that account. You could then set up each of your personal email accounts as a "special friend" to the shared account and you would be able to view create and edit calendar items from your personal yahoo account online. I would do extensive testing before committing any changes as well as backing everything up.

[zocster]

Wirelessly posted

I don't think yahoo go syncs calendar or contacts. You could setup a third Yahoo account and import all of your contacts to it and calendar items. Then use Desktop Manager to sync each BB to that account. You could then set up each of your personal email accounts as a "special friend" to the shared account and you would be able to view create and edit calendar items from your personal yahoo account online. I would do extensive testing before committing any changes as well as backing everything up.

You're right, need to revert back to yahoo! Go 2.0 not 3.0 beta

[perpetualjon]

There are TONS of 3rd party apps for sync. I don't want them. I wan to use the native calendar and contacts features built in to my BB. I don't want to have to know to hit up another app just to make sure my appointments and contacts are up to date. This simply means I need to start using a BES hosting company (and I've found a few that will run me at $10/mo). This means our two desktops and our two BB's will sync live calendar and contact info seamlessly. I'm just trying to not spend so much if I can get away with it. Frankly, after doing all this research, it looks like paying $20/mo for my wife and I is starting to look pretty good considering the lack of headaches I'll endure!

[rambo47]

I'd have been on a hosted BES solution if I weren't a Mac guy at home. There are work-arounds for us Mac users but also lots of headaches.

[dualsub2006]

AT&T is going to increase your monthly access so that you can connect to a BES server. I'm not sure what their price is, but with Verizon BES will cost you $15 more to connect. This is in addition to whatever the BES account runs you.

Why isn't anyone offering $5 a month BES hosting? Because that won't even cover the license costs that the host has to pay RIM for each user on their system.

[BeachBumSteve]

AT&T is going to increase your monthly access so that you can connect to a BES server. I'm not sure what their price is, but with Verizon BES will cost you $15 more to connect. This is in addition to whatever the BES account runs you.

Why isn't anyone offering $5 a month BES hosting? Because that won't even cover the license costs that the host has to pay RIM for each user on their system.

Very good point! And BES provisioning cost is the same on at&t as Verizon.

There's just no free lunch...or even a cheap one it seems.

[perpetualjon]

I set up my boss's BB Pearl with a BES connection from our Exchange hosting plan. It didn't cost us any additional charges from our network provider (we're using AT&T). He's on a BIS plan and, with a few setting changes, his phone works on our BES plan perfectly --but it's costing us an additional $10/mo for the connection. I think this additional charge dualsub2006 is talking about is for BES services through AT&T (at least that's what makes sense to me from my experiences)...

Still, the more I look into this, and the more I see all the headaches that come from trying something else, the additional $10/mo is starting to look better and better!!

[takeshi]

He's on a BIS plan and, with a few setting changes, his phone works on our BES plan perfectly
BIS might be working fine but you'll need a BES data plan for BES to work properly.

Seriously, I'd pay probably pay the monthly cost for a year up front if I could find a BES hosting plan that was $5/mo. Why isn't anyone doing this? Since my mail is carried by Yahoo anyways, I really only need BES for calendar and contacts sharing and live sync.
First of all, a BES server is useless without a suitable mail server (Exchange, Notes, etc). As for the cost of hosted BES, the provider has to offer not only BES but a suitable email account as well. There's no way that $5/month can cover all the licensing, support, hardware, etc costs. Even if I found a provider offering hosted BES for $5/month I'd be concerned that they wouldn't be around for long or they'd be overloading the systems that they have.

[BeachBumSteve]

I set up my boss's BB Pearl with a BES connection from our Exchange hosting plan. It didn't cost us any additional charges from our network provider (we're using AT&T). He's on a BIS plan and, with a few setting changes, his phone works on our BES plan perfectly --but it's costing us an additional $10/mo for the connection. I think this additional charge dualsub2006 is talking about is for BES services through AT&T (at least that's what makes sense to me from my experiences)...

Still, the more I look into this, and the more I see all the headaches that come from trying something else, the additional $10/mo is starting to look better and better!!

You're correct about the additional headaches using a non-BES sync method. Several of them work, but none are perfect.

As relates to cost...the ability to successfully perform an "Enterprise Activation" is dictated by the provider provisioning on the device. That means a device with BIS provisioning will NOT be able to complete an "Enterprise Activation" and enjoy all of the synchronization features available through BES provisioning. BES provisioning usually has a cost differential of $15 by the provider. In at&t's case $45 for BES as opposed to $30 for BIS provisioning. This is before any corporate or personal discounts you might be able to enjoy.

If you were able to complete the "Enterprise Activation" on any device, I would submit that device was already on a BES provisioned plan, regardless of the actual cost you're paying. I've heard of situations where the provider would ONLY sell a BES plan to corporate or business accounts.

So speaking in terms of non-discounted costs...hosted BES typically costs a user $45/month for the wireless provider's data plan and about $20/month to the BES/Exchange provider ($10 for the Exchange account, $10 for the sync service). For a non-BIS sync solution, $30 to the wireless provider's data plan and as little as $0 for sync solutions. That's a savings of up to $35/month if you can find a non-BES sync solution suiting your needs and sanity.

My wife and I are on hosted BES plans...and would love to reduce the cost somehow...but we haven't been willing to give up the features of BES...YET!