Ok. We are doing the long distance dating thing so I can't check her phone for another week to make sure she is really using BBM...but I believe you all.

Sometimes when I have a new BBM and I have not checked it yet and I'm in my email screen, the BBM shows up with the smiley in the email list. Does that make sense?

yes, the message folder will show PIN/SMS/MMS/Email/BBM Conversations/Web Notifications. Its basically a catch all.

Her phone is linked to her parents family plan and her mom called this morning telling her the big jump in the bill due to her usage (extra $400!) and she said her mom called Verizon and they said it was due to text msgs and she said the only increased activity in messaging over the last month has been with me over the BBM. What I think it is is that she doesn't have unlimited data plan and went over her data allowance...but it still sure seems high to get charged an extra $400!!

well its technically possible but VZW's data plan is "unlimited" (read 5gb). It has to be something else. at 10cents per message sent and 5cents received, it would be a minimum of 4000 sent to get an overage of $400.

Yes if she only has the 10 mb data plan then that would certainly do it. I dont live to far from Roswell, Mike. We should grab a beer one night. We are still trying to organize a get together for all the local BBF members here in ATL some where. I need to revive that thread.

I am almost certain that OZ is an "pseudo IM Client" that uses SMS to deliver IM like messages. There are members with unlimited text plans but without a data plan that use it to IM others.

But Sith, it does sound like something else is not right here. I guess we will see when he finally gets to the bottom of it!

E-

oh i am very aware of how OZ works. It uses SMS to send IMs which sounds a bit backwards to me. but i was saying that if he received an IM then she wouldnt be using his PIN number

Gotcha Sith! Point understood and agreed.

E-

She has confirmed she is pretty sure she has been using BBM b/c she clicked on the "bubble dialog" icon and then has the blue/yellow smiley faces. I really think it comes down to she doesn't have an unlimited data plan but I am waiting to find out for sure. Her phone is linked to her families plan and I'm sure they never saw a need for unlimited data. She should be able to upgrade to unlimited for another 10-20$/mo. She said we could just email for now while we get to the bottom of this but if it really comes down to it being her data plan emails are gonna run thru her data usage also!!

On another note..I see a lot of people wanting to setup and use other IM programs like Yahoo/Google etc. What is the advantage of this over using the BBM?

Thanks,
Mike

that 10mb plan may not include unlimited email keep that in mind. i havent even seen an advertisement of VZWs 10mb plan in a long time and i have no idea if they changed it or not. You would be hard pressed to use 10mb of data with BBM in a given month. Was she doing any web browsing or emailing as well?

So you can IM with the unfortunate people that don't have BB's! :) I would suggest JiveTalk if you are going to do it. It supports all of the IM's in one package and is very slick. It does cost but it's worth the price!

E-

and it uses data not sms

(y)

I spoke to a Verizon rep and they did confirm PIN msgs should be free if you have a data plan and don't go over your allotment.
She said 10mb plan is $29.99/mo and unlim is $44.99/mo.

The rep is correct about the PIN messages, but wrong on the data plan pricing.

From what I have read and heard from you all....am I correct in thinking that my g/f wouldn't have been able to use BBM at all IF she didn't have some type of data plan? So the chance that she doesn't have a data plan at all and that is how she racked up the $$ wouldn't make sense, right?

It is impossible to not have a data plan with Verizon. The system will not even activate the phone without it.

Wrong in the sense it is cheaper!!? I hope so b/c it seemed a bit high. I think I'm only paying $29 for ATnT unlimited data plan (before my corporate 19% discount! :) )

Demon covered all of it. PIN messaging doesnt work without a data plan even *IF* you could activate the device without a BB plan (which you cannot on VZW, though you can on other carriers)

Pricing for Verizon Blackberry data....
$24.99 - 10mb BES
$29.99 - Unlimited BIS
$44.99 - Unlimited BES
$64.99 - Unlimited Global BES