I am on the verge of buying a BB with T-mobile phone service, and am totally unfamiliar with them. I'm a lawyer in a small two lawyer firm who is looking for basic email and web browsing capabilities.

We need to have the best web browsing we can get, but will not need to use much if any of the information administration tasks that Microsoft Exchange offers, since we will have only two BB users with 2-4 mailboxes. Would I need to sign-up with an ASP and connect to Microsoft Exchange in order to obtain full web browsing capabilities on my BB? In other words, how can I avoid being limited to wap browsing on my BB?

You can make do without a hosted BES or Exchange Server by trying one of two solutions: (1) a third party web browser such as Webviewer by Reqwireless or (2) using the RBRO hack (described in detail in this forum). Both solutions will give you access to HTML web sites over your carriers WAP gateway.

However, you could do even better if you used a hosted BES such as Mailstreet.com or myblackberry.us -- they give you real HTML access via the BES server. No issues with the carrier truncating the WAP data stream.

If you wait a bit and get either the new 7100t or a bit longer still and get any Blackberry with the 4.0 operating system, you will have more complete HTML browsing without the need for the hosted BES solution.

Read Mark's sticky on hosted BES solutions at the top of this forum...it offers a tone of information on the topic...

Thanks, but please explain. What's the difference between a BES versus exchange server solutions to my best html browsing needs? And, what does "more complete HTML browsing" with the 4.0 operating system mean?

You get use of the BlackBerry Browser, which is a more full-featured browser than the carrier browser that ships with your device. Reqwireless puts out a cheap browser that is a decent medium between the two. The Blackberry browser is activated when you become registered with a BES, whether in your company or one of the many pay services available.

If you look in the 4.0.0.100 features thread, you'll see some of the advantages of the 4.0 blackberry browser that will be activated regardless of whether you have BES/MDS or not. Such as javascript support, javascript popups I believe, and better html support such as background colors, etc...

That's essentially it -- only thing I'd add is that Mailstreet offers hosted BES WITH an Exchange Server account - a bit more expensive ($23 per month per user) -- gives you BES for Blackberry (with the enhanced web browsing, etc.) but ALSO gives you a full Exchange Server account...just for kicks.

myblackberry.us is ONLY a BES solution -- no Exchange Server account. Still get the enhanced browsing, and other Blackberry benefits. Cost is only $10 per month per user.

If you have your OWN BES on your OWN Exchange Server, the cost would be...ahhh...ohhh...hhmmmm....well, lets see...well...yes...LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY!

Sorry for my ignorance, but are you saying that I should get BES host services, which gives me a superior BB browser, than the exchange browser which ships with the unit, and even the Reqwireless browser, if I want to get the best web browsing capabilities from our BBs? And this is even true if we were to be connected to Microsoft Exchange?

I got it. Thanks. I'll be back after I get activated.