I want to purchase a new Blackberry for one of my employees but I don't want to go through my current phone provider for the purchase because they won't move on the price. Is there a way to do a non-affiliated purchase and thne get the thing to work on my provider's system? My provider is Cingular. Obviously I know very little about this so any help at all is appreciated.

Sure.

Ebay, the Buy/Sell/Trade forum here etc. another e-tailer or retailer.

I bought mine from a Cingular dealer.

Buy it anywhere as long as it's either Cingular branded or unlocked you'll be able to use it on the Cingular network with a Cingular Blackberry plan on the person's account.

when you buy from ebay make sure you find out that the pin and imei are clear and ready to activate