I have a 7100v blackberry Phone and i "dont " subscribe to the blackberry service. What can i do to be able to send sms messages through my local network ?

I am in NZ and am with Vodafone NZ. They tell me that i can only send SMS messages from my phone if ive subscribed to the Blackberry service. Other wise its not an option. I think thats a bit odd but maybe the case.

As it stands at the moment all i can do is send and recive phone calls.

Is there anyway around this. ???? at all ....

SMS messages do NOT require the BlackBerry data plan. The BlackBerry data plan is required to send email, PIN messages, and browse the web. You should be able to send SMS messages with just a voice plan.

Have you tried to send an sms message? What do you get?

Wirelessly posted (Cingular 7130c: BlackBerry7130/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

They may require you to have a the blackberry plan. I know with Cingular if you don't have the SMS feature you can't send them. They may just be trying to force you into a blackberry plan.