I went on verizon's web site to price a 7130e w/ service, however it doesn't give me an option to add any blackberry or data service....is this problem on the web site or is verizon offering the bb service for free???

Selected 7130e, agreed to $35 one time activation fee, proceeded to plans, was offered the following plan which is what you need:

BlackBerry® Solution
An Internet/Data plan for your BlackBerry device.

Apparently if you select any other plan other than the default combo, you will have to add it later after you receive the phone. That is according to what the online help staff told me when I purchased the 7130 with a family share plan. :(

Oh well can't wait!

Former SK owner

How much is the bb plan? Does it include unlimited texting and email like my t-mo plan?

i went an tried to order a 7130 and right before check out, it offered me the "core" plan which is 450 anytime, night and weekend and in calling with unlimited blackberry for 79.99.

I will probably get this for my wife.

When I get the 7130e next week, I'll add the unlimited BB service for $44.95. Since I have to pay full retail it doesn't matter. Already have Family Share plan $59.95 for 450 mins with wife's phone on the plan.

WAIT, the BB plan is $44.95? At least tell me that includes unlimited texting. WTF, i pay $20 for my BB plan with tmobile. That right there will make me not switch to VZW.

So if I was going to get the 1350mins for $79.99 + BB for $44.95 + texting (if its not included in the BB plan that is so wrong), thats over $125 after taxes?

No, blackberry service is included in that plan. The "core" plan, which is Unlimited blackberry service + 450 minutes, and the "recommended" plan, which has unlimited blackberry service + 1350 minutes - both have blackberry service included. IE: no extra charge of $44.95.

However, if you don't go with any of these plans, you will have to pay $44.95 on TOP of any other voice plan. So, for example, if you wanted to do a family plan, you would have to pay $79 (or whatever it is) for the family plan, AND 44.95 on top of that for blackberry service.

Yep, that's correct. The $44.95 BB unlimited plan is added on top of any voice plan. SMS text messaging is NOT included in the BB plan. If you want tether EVDO its $15.00 extra.

So if i want the 1350 mins plus the bb plan, its $109.95 PLUS a texting plan? Thats rediclous. Thats an extra $30+ for data plus $5-15 for texting??? Right now I am with T-Mo, I pay $49.99 for 1500mins, PLUS $20 for my BB data usage, bringing me to $69.95. That included unlimited text and email.

I might not get the BB if thats the case. I am 21 and cant spend over $100 on a phone. I might not even switch to verizon if thats the case.

Espo,

You sure you have unlimited text messaging? I have the same plan, 1500 min for 49 with the BB plan for 20. I pay an extra 5/month for 400 text messages. Email is obviously free b/c it does not use SMS, only data. If you do have unlimited texting for that price, i'd love to know where that plan is so i can sign up for it.

Blackberry Minutes and Mail enterprise package includes 1000 voice minutes, unlimited bb email, web browsing, and messages, including instant messages. All for 69.99 (TMO)

Their network is the best but you pay the price for it. I'm expecting the phone today and will evaluate it over the next couple weeks to see if the price jump is worth it. I'm on Tmobile right now too.

I was told (at a local store) that it was $24.99 to add unlimited blackberry service on top of a family plan....does that sound right to anybody? And they said that all of the blackberry plans included unlimited "mobile web" and the 10MB plan was for transfering 10MB of email via BIS....does that sound right?

No that does not sound right. The BB unlimited data plan is $44.95 with a voice plan.

That is like saying that someone is stupid for paying $45/month for cable modem service because you can get NetZero dialup for $10/month.

Verizon EVDO is 400-700kbps speed. T-Mobile GPRS rarely tops 30kpbs. Plus Verizon's coverage is world's better than T-Mobile.

You get what you pay for. T-Mobile is a nice company and has excellent customer service, but they are a couple of years behind the other cellular companies as far as data connection speed. I've heard they will not have 3g until 2007.

I hear ya, my choice really is between Cingular and Verizon. As hard as it is to believe, I think GPS is better in the north east then CDMA. That was not the case a year ago, but on my latest trip to VT, i was dumbfounded to have service AND email access in the mountains of Vermont! My Verizon phone used to drop in and out constantly while on Analog service that chewed the hell out of my battery life!

My wife and I are currently Verizon customers. We are interested in upgrading our phones to the 7130. I spoke with Verizon CS last night, and they said that I would have to get a data plan for each phone. Basically, $79 for phone service and $45 for data service, per phone! When I was looking into the 7100g/t, neither carrier mentioned that we had to have data service.

We just want to use the 7130 as a phone and pda. We want to get rid of our current pda. We have no current need for email or internet access. Is there any way to accomplish this with the 7130? Can we still use a family share plan? Or do we need to switch to Cingular or TMobile to meet our needs? If so, which would be recommended?

Thanks for your help.

VZW does have a 5 or 10 mb data plan. The $44.95 is the unlimited data plan. But I think they will require a data plan on their PDAs, whether a Treo BB or Samsung.

you can get the family share plan and share the minutes. It is a plan plus $10 for the second phone. You might wind up liking the email. I got one for my wife, and now she calls me less during the day. It is a lot easier to blow off an email than the call .


Mike