Okay. So I've been all over this site via searching, hours on the phone with Cingular customer care(?), and countless hours poking around the web at large trying to figure this out.

So yeah, I have no browser. I get no service books. Host Routing Table register thingy has no effect. Phone works fine. It was my impression that i should be able to use my existing MEdiaNet package to view web pages. I heard this in the store, on the phone, and from several (probably unreputable) websites.

Tonight, I am at my wit's end. I don't need to pay $35-$50 every month to check my hotmail and browse websites. I already pay $25 for unlimited MEdiaNet access. I just got off the phone with Cingular's BB department (866-490-2666) and the rep there told me I simply could NOT access the internet using my BB without a blackberry feature code add-on.

Are you f'in kidding me?! I liked the concept of the blackberry because of the large screen and affordable price. Being able to view HTML pages as designed was critical. But if I have to pay 40+ a month to do that, I have a Bluetooth Moto V551 and can order a DataWind and just use my minutes.

So, in short (too late ) I want to know if this is actually true, or should I just toss this 7290 up on eBay and call it quits.

You need to have a data plan. And while you are at it it better be Unlimited if you are going to do a lot of surfing. If you do not want to pay for the data plan that part of your BB is useless and what you have left is a big phone. So if you do not want to deal with it then yes, by all means put it up on e-bay. However with the release of the 8700c and the uproar it has caused I doubt you are going to get anywhere near your money back.

Your Medianet plan means nothing to a BlackBerry. Sorry. You want data, including e-mail and web browsing, you have to pay for it.