I am so frustrated and feeling pretty dumb; I like technology and couldn't imagine that I would be stymied by a phone. This has been going on for two weeks although I haven't sat down and applied myself for hours, I can't see how that would be necessary. I am blaming my semi-mindless state on Hurricane Katrina; I'm a native New Orleanian and between grief, fear for what happened to missing loved ones, and being very angry, my Blackberry 7100G has not seemed important. Here's the deal, I signed up for basic phone service with Cingular with the intention of adding e-mail and web service when I can afford it. I am a Realtor and I have to have a cell phone. I can't get this freagin' phone to work!! I dial numbers but I get a sound as if the number isn't working but this isn't the case as I am phoning my own residence. Two questions: Do I have to have web service/e-mail account to use the phone as a simple mobile phone? How do I get back to the Tutorial? It came up a couple of times when I first turned on the phone but I can't find it now. Sorry for being so long-winded and thanks in advance for your help, Julie

The phone application should work w/o a data plan, so no worries there. Dial a number and see if it pops up a little error on the screen, such as Congestion. As for the tutorial, there is most likely a way to get it to come up via some sort of Help (I don't have it installed), although the easiest way for me to tell you to get it to come back up is to simply remove the battery and plug it back in - when it boots up, it should be the first thing displaying.

I think it is a problem with Cingular thing. these nutts will not let you use just the phone service if they have added the Blackbery as the primary plan and voice and option plan. Which means you will have to have both plans. That is the biggest pain for and thats why I had to pack my phone service with them and come to T-Mobile. They have Voice and Data plans completely INDEPENDENT
Hope you can work out some deal with Cingular.

I'd lean more towards Jibi's response. New Orleans got whacked pretty hard on the technology front. Landline telco also affects wireless carriers, and there are also probably a lot of towers that are still offline (either still underwater, no power, or no local telco to carry). It is going to be a long mess to clean up.

You say you are a native of New Orleans, but are you actually in their coverage area now? Because like they've stated above, I've heard that the amount of cellular traffic down there is off the charts, and that many people are having trouble getting calls while down there.

Good luck!

The number you are trying to dial - is it in New Orleans?

I have a plain old Cingular phone (personal) and a Cingular 7290 (work). I can put my personal SIM into the BB, and it works fine for just voice. The phone is definitely not tied to BB data. BB data is just another option that can be added to your plan.

Thanks, y'all! I've lived in Houston for many years but if you were born and raised in New Orleans, you will always be a New Orleanian! I have been on a rant for almost three weeks. It's certainly not cool to rant about the Administration in Houston where two-out-of-three gas guzzling cars still have the GW '04 bumper sticker on the car; it's career death for me as I am a Realtor selling to oil company families. Okay, sorry for being off topic.

It is true that the New Orleans mobile phones are not up and running on a regular basis. Some 504 area code mobile phones work in Baton Rouge and surrounding towns but that is spotty, too. What a nightmare!

I am going to tackle this 7100G again this afternoon. I removed the battery and sim card but the tutorial did not come back up. According to the Cingular website, my phone is active; a customer service rep told me the same thing. Do you know if Blackberry has their manuals online for downloading. All I can find is the Safety booklet. My phone came with the Safety booklet and a quick tips semi-gloss card with perforated pages. Was there something missing from my order? I'm going to e-mial Cingular and find out if I am being held hostage to take the online service to activate my phone.

Again, forgive me for being OT; I appreciate your help.

Julie