Here's the problem. I work as a guide in the Moroccan Sahara, and I badly need mobile email access - push email.

I persuaded my dad to buy me a Blackberry while in the UK, but it's locked to the British T mobile network. So far, I've been ripped off by an internet unlocker (blackberry unlock - unlocking gsm blackberry - email transcripts available if you're interested...) and am still stuck with a pretty but unusable phone.

All I need is email access and a phone...

I'm wondering if I can reformat the BB, or install alternative open source software on it?

Any ideas?

Welcome to BlackBerry forums.

A couple of things - what carrier network do you want to run your BB on; in order to get push e-mail they must support BlackBerrys and offer you a BlackBerry Data Plan.

Many people here use GSMPhoneSource.com to get the unlock codes. They are reputable and reasonable.

Not sure what you want to "reformat" the BB for, and there is no open source code to do anything on a BlackBerry. It is a closed OS.