Here's my dilemma. I had a nextel blackberry, the problem was I could never ever hear the darn thing ring in my purse/diaperbag, it drove me crazy, so I switched back to sprint and got my old handly flip phone...

What I miss is my email and the calendering. We have a BES server (we run an inhome business) , and all that stuff. I'm just wondering, could I get the nextel service turned on for everything but the phone... I mean, all the functionalty of the black berry, internet, emails, etc...just not have a phone number (I'll still keep my old phone)... is that possible to do????


Thanks,
Trishy

Yes, it is possible to get a data only BlackBerry plan. Most carriers dont like to sell them, but if you keep pushing they will give it to you.

Rogers has a similar plan for data only, and they're actually quite open about selling it.

One word of caution, however, is that such plans do not prevent you from using the phone, they just provide no bundled airtime an an exorbitant per-minute rate. You'll want to be very careful about using the phone if you're on such a plan.

Suggestion: If you get the BB with no voice plan, you may be able to convince your BES administrator to set up a policy variant for you with the phone service disabled ("Allow Phone" unchecked). This would stop you using the BB as a phone and paying the very high minute charges.

Hey Trish, Definitely

I have the same setup for one of our partners here at my company. He uses a regular Razor phone for regular voice calls, and he signed up with Tmobiles 29.99 data only blackberry plan, and he only does his txt, email and calendar stuff on that blackberry. Not sure if Sprint has a similar plan, I have sprint too, but you may want to give them a call and see.

If you purchase a data-only plan, in most cases you are not assigned a phone number. Due to this, the phone function wouldn't be useable anyway.

You can also reload the OS on the BlackBerry and choose not to install the phone software. Or if the phone software is installed you can hide the icon on the main screen.

Go into Options then Applications on the handheld and delete the phone . I support 275 with data only no phones.....

Thanks everyone....

My situation is weird, we own a construction company so the BES server is ours so I don't need to do any tricks or favors with the BES admin to get anything special done (like you might in a big company)

So do I call sprint first, ask them about the data only plan and get signed up for that, or is this something we do inhouse here with the BES server and not involve Sprint....I got a little confused with the posts....

Since I won't have a phone number, how will I ensure I don't get charged with minutes...if I use the internet, will I get charged minutes, etc... I'm still a bit confused about it all...

What do I need to do first?

You would need to go to sprint and ask them to activate a data only plan for your blackberry, it is really not complicated

I got my data only plan from Cingular, I was assigned a phone number, but the phone is deactivated and it won't let me call out anyway

and when you use the internet, that is covered under your data plan

When the phone function is not working as with a data only, is there a way to find out what the phone number is on the device that they use for billing purposes?

I know with Cingular there is always a phone number assigned to the device. I would imagine the number assigned to the SIM should appear on the bill.

I had a 7130 from verizon and traded it for a Razr. Then went out and got a new 7520 from Nextel. It has the unlimited data plan and pay as you go phone, so I don't pay for anything with the phone or DC unless I use them. That is why I still Verizon, it is for phone use. Plus I like having phone and email/web at the same time

If you do this with Nextel you ALWAYS get a phone number just no plan. I have does it before. You can use just the data but if you use the phone it will cost by the minute!

Yes it .40 cents a minute for phone and .20 cents a minute for DC. Like I said I use my verizon account for phone but having the nextel as a back up is not a bad thing.