I am trying to use the wifi and my gps in the BB 8820 to find my location and also download google maps without incurring in ATT charges. I can connect to the Internet when I in a hotspot. But Google maps seem to be in cahoots with ATT because it asks me to turn on the data stream. if I do that, how do I know that I am NOT incurring ATT data charges ?

All the Google apps require a BlackBerry Data Plan. They will not work without one.

ATT will eventually add a blackberry data plan to your account when they sweep their system of IMEI numbers.

OK. Thanks.

Even then, I am trying to connect to a WiFi hot spot, and the BB finds the service, but then returns a message saying " unable to allocate IP address" which makes me to suspect than some of the parameters for TCP/IP are wrong.
Any suggestions ?

ATT requires you to have a BB data plan before it will push the WiFi service book to the device. Won't connect without it.

OK, Thanks

First of all, let me apologize for being so insistent. But my understanding is that, if I am in a place with no ATT coverage but with Wifi, i could still use the cell to make or receive calls. From that, I gather that I could connect to the cell network, and my data plan would not play a role. Am I missing something here ?

If you have no cell signal, you can't make a cell call. Read post #6.

thanks for the info