I am planning on buying the Blackberry 8700c. I have an existing Cingular account, and I don't believe I am elligible for an upgrade at this moment. How do I go about buying this phone the cheapest way, and start using hone? Can I just buy it and switch the sim card from my old phone, which is a Sony Ericsson 710A or something like that. I would also need to change my service to accomodate all the uses of the blackberry, correct? Thanks for the help.

Yeah, you can order one off Ebay or Craig's List or the anywhere online as long as it's the 8700c or an unlocked 8700, you'll need to have a BlackBerry Data Plan added to the account. You can get the Unlimited BlackBerry Data Plan from Cingular for $29.99. You can use the same SIM card.

Yup...ebay is really your only way to go...you can get a brand new one for around 300 bucks...give or take 20 or so...

Thanks for the help and information. So that unlimited plan for $29.99 means I can do as much online activity and e-mailing as I want each month?

yes, that's the "Unlimited" part.....do as much as you want...

Before you rush off and buy it though, you need tomake sure that the seller has released the device and taken his user name, IMEI and PIN off of BIS so you can register and set it up in your name. Otherwise, you will have problems getting it provisioned and established on BIS.

My advice is to do a search on the forums for words of wisdom before buying a BB on ebay or from anyone for that matter. Might save you a bunch of trouble and cash.

But if I buy it new, in the box, I won't have this problem, correct? Also, I was looking at plans on Cingular.com and the only blackberry unlimited plan I saw was $44.99 a month. Am I missing something? I don't use the phone that often for phone calls, and most people I call is mobile to mobile, so what would be the best ultimate plan to utilize the 8700c? Thanks again for the help.

Cingular (as far as I know) is currently offering two pricings. 1 for users on a BES server (usually within a larger company) and one for users on a BIS server (usually only with the carrier, i.e. Cingular, TMobile, etc). Prices should be around $40 - BES and $30 - BIS.

Correct, you won't find the unlimited data plan for $29.99 on the website. For some reason they haven't put that up yet, or I haven't found it yet either.

Give them a call hopefully you reach someone who is somewhat knowledgable reagrding plans and they'll be able to help you out. Let them know you want the BIS $29.99 unlimited plan.

Cingular Unlimited BIS -> Get Started | Cingular Wireless

Thanks for all the replies and help guys. It looks like I have to wait til christmas for this one. Been spending too much money lately and the wife is putting her foot down. Is there going to be something newer by the time christmas comes along or with the 8700 still be the best? Thanks again.

Just as another side note:

Obviously heed the advice about making sure it actually IS sealed and in the box, and NEVER USED. That would just be an awful, unneccessary experience. eBay'ers have gotten shadier and shadier over time. What once was a great place to find random unfindable things is now an onslaught of merchants selling and reselling the same thing a thousand times over....excuse the rant, I was buying off eBay a LONG time ago and miss the old style.

Anyways, when activating on Cingular, make sure you get the right plan.

BIS Unlimited is NOT what you want if you will be activating it on a BES. Cingular is infamous for allowing you to activate on a BES and receive emails for a month and then all of a sudden your bill is outrageous (or so I'm told from fellow users).
Good luck and welcome to Cingular!

BIS Unlimited-$29.99
BES/BIS-$44.99

Please explain this to me as if I were a child. If I am just getting this for personal use so I can check the internet, e-mail, and make phone calls, all I want is the BIS Unlimited plan for $29.99 plus whatever voice plan I need, correct? Thanks.

Thanks

is unlimited data plan from Cingular really "unlimited"?

i read some horrible stores about the "unlimited" data from tmo and/or cingular (from hofo).

...and people get billed extra for trying to tether on Cingular using the pay-per-use APN. To make a long story short, if you want to tether on Cingular and avoid extra charges you have to add-on the Blackberry data plan that includes tethering (about $80/mo IIRC).