[peznut]

Okay, I searched this site for an answer, read whatever I found, but still don't have a clearcut answer... if I missed something, PLEASE don't flame the crap out of me but instead, just offer a link to the proper thread...

Through Cingular, I have a voice plan and added the "XM wBBUNL Pool" feature, which I was told I needed for data. I've been paying $40/month for the latter for more than a year, but continually wonder if I really need it...?

I'm not on BES, and simply have rules in place to forward e-mails from my personal accounts to my @mycingular.blackberry.net e-mail address. I surf the Net once in awhile on my BB and, while that's nice, it's not essential.

My question: do I really need the "XM wBBUNL Pool"? Seems to me that Cingular's "EDGE" network offers data access for my routine personal e-mail & Web browsing, and that this is part of the normal Cingular plan?? Cingular's Website doesn't answer my questions; I've called the support line but as soon as I mention "Blackberry," the service peep gets all nutty because a BB is somehow wayyyy different from all other phone models...

I'd appreciate any insight forum users can offer...

[coreyg510]

Do you often get attachments in your forwarded email?

[rcbjr]

You have to have one of the BB plans activated, either the cheaper limited plan or the unlimmited plan you currently have. What is average monthly data usage from your monthly summary? If it is not signifantly greater than the amount of data allowed by the cheaper plan (I forget what that limit is - 5MB maybe) then you might consider changing. But trmrmber charges start adding up quickly when you exceed the limit.

Hope this helps.
Rcbjr

[peznut]

Originally Posted by coreyg510

Do you often get attachments in your forwarded email?

Nope!

[peznut]

Originally Posted by rcbjr

You have to have one of the BB plans activated, either the cheaper limited plan or the unlimmited plan you currently have. What is average monthly data usage from your monthly summary? If it is not signifantly greater than the amount of data allowed by the cheaper plan (I forget what that limit is - 5MB maybe) then you might consider changing. But trmrmber charges start adding up quickly when you exceed the limit.

Hope this helps.
Rcbjr

I follow you on the difference between limited/unlimited data usage, but are you saying that without the BB Data Pool thing, Cingular's plan alone doesn't offer e-mail/Web browsing?

I guess that's where I'm getting hung up, because other phones/carriers I've used offer this as part of their regular deal. Hell, even my wife's no-frills US Cellular phone offers e-mail/Web browsing as part of her basic plan. And it seems to me like Cingular's new "EDGE" network is all about data, which doesn't seem unique to BB users, and which I didn't have when using my 7290 through Cingular...

If I'm being dense, I apologize, but I'm just not understanding what the "XM wBBUNL Pool" feature does for me...

[rcbjr]

I don't really understand, you have to have some sort of BB plan with cingular in order to get any access to Data services on the BB. Is there any other line on your account features that says BB? You say you didn't have one when you had a 7290 and could use email and browse. I didn't think you could have had a BIS/BWC account set up without a BB plan. How did you do that?

Just curious.
Rcbjr

[coreyg510]

As a Cingular sales rep, you must have the BBXPmail unlimited or 5mb plan in order to have access to your @mycingular.blackberry.net account.

Now you can have Media Net, which would allow you to browse the internet, but with that feature you wont have access to your @mycingular address.

There is no way around it, so you really have to decide if you want the unlimited package or the 5mb package. Because if you take off your BBXPMAIL unl package and put on a media net package your @mycingular address becomes inaccessible

[techconsumer]

Hi Cory I'm new to The BB craze but I like the idea of being able to browse the internet and get my e-mail from outside my home. I am with Cingular and I can browse the internet with my current phone but I have to pay for kilobytes and airtime which is why I'm going with a BB. I have searched all over the different forums and the Cingular site and I can't seem to find an anwser about which plan would be best. A flat rate unlimted plan that doesn't incur and additional charges. Does the $45 unlimited data plan allow access to both media net and the internet and e-mail or is there a different plan that covers all this. and one more question is while surfing the net does this take away from your minutes like a regular cell phone browsing the net Thanks in Advanced from a BB Newbie

[rcbjr]

I believe that both BB plans allow access to the Media net WAP site using the Cingular Browser. Both Browsers use Data not Airtime.

Hope this helps.
Rcbjr

[peznut]

Originally Posted by coreyg510

As a Cingular sales rep, you must have the BBXPmail unlimited or 5mb plan in order to have access to your @mycingular.blackberry.net account.

Now you can have Media Net, which would allow you to browse the internet, but with that feature you wont have access to your @mycingular address.

There is no way around it, so you really have to decide if you want the unlimited package or the 5mb package. Because if you take off your BBXPMAIL unl package and put on a media net package your @mycingular address becomes inaccessible

Thanks, coreyg510. You're offering the simple, plain-talk explanation I've been looking for! And sorry if I seem dense in this thread or confusing; I appreciate whatever patience you/others offer me as I work through this...

But looking at the description of MediaNet on Cingular's site, it appears that I would receive a different e-mail address for my BB - something like "XYZ@cingularme.com" - if I went with MediaNet access. Thinking that this would still enable me to forward POP/IMAP e-mails through those accounts to my 8700 (which is what I do now because RIM's BB polling is too slow), I don't understand why I'm paying $45/month for the "XM wBBUNL Pool" (the BB unlimited-data plan) when even a generous MediaNet usage-plan is still less than half that price? Sure, I probably lose the ability to PIN another BB user through RIM's servers, but an SMS can still accomplish the same thing.

So there's the rub; all I need from my BB is the ability to receive forwarded e-mails from POP/IMAP accounts and reply, which only requires a unique e-mail address for my BB and Internet access. Can I accomplish what I'm doing now for far less money each month? If I'm totally missing something, please forgive me...

[coreyg510]

Originally Posted by techconsumer

Hi Cory I'm new to The BB craze but I like the idea of being able to browse the internet and get my e-mail from outside my home. I am with Cingular and I can browse the internet with my current phone but I have to pay for kilobytes and airtime which is why I'm going with a BB. I have searched all over the different forums and the Cingular site and I can't seem to find an anwser about which plan would be best. A flat rate unlimted plan that doesn't incur and additional charges. Does the $45 unlimited data plan allow access to both media net and the internet and e-mail or is there a different plan that covers all this. and one more question is while surfing the net does this take away from your minutes like a regular cell phone browsing the net Thanks in Advanced from a BB Newbie

you need the 39.99 BB unlimited plan. It will cover your email and your data transfer (email and such). If you incur any additional charges, you need to call customer service for a credit. What you are currently using is Media Net pay per use, which charges 1 cent per kilobyte. It is nice if you are not using those data features that much, but if you are charges can really rack up.

Corey

[coreyg510]

Originally Posted by peznut

Thanks, coreyg510. You're offering the simple, plain-talk explanation I've been looking for! And sorry if I seem dense in this thread or confusing; I appreciate whatever patience you/others offer me as I work through this...


Corey
So there's the rub; all I need from my BB is the ability to receive forwarded e-mails from POP/IMAP accounts and reply, which only requires a unique e-mail address for my BB and Internet access. Can I accomplish what I'm doing now for far less money each month? If I'm totally missing something, please forgive me...

But looking at the description of MediaNet on Cingular's site, it appears that I would receive a different e-mail address for my BB - something like "XYZ@cingularme.com" - if I went with MediaNet access. Thinking that this would still enable me to forward POP/IMAP e-mails through those accounts to my 8700 (which is what I do now because RIM's BB polling is too slow), I don't understand why I'm paying $45/month for the "XM wBBUNL Pool" (the BB unlimited-data plan) when even a generous MediaNet usage-plan is still less than half that price? Sure, I probably lose the ability to PIN another BB user through RIM's servers, but an SMS can still accomplish the same thing.



After reasearching the topic, I have found that while you will have the , you will not have it pushed to your bb. You will have to retrieve it. I am going from the information listed on Cingular Sales Portal and it is has not listed actual detail about Media Net on BB.

I would say that if you dont mind going to get the emails, then media net shoud be fine for you. You will be able to receive alerts when you have new mail using media net as well.


----edited for content----

[rcbjr]

Corey,
Can you even get a data connection on the BB, I.E. EDGE/GPRS vs edge/gprs, without a BB data plan?

Thanks for your Help.
Rcbjr

[peznut]

Originally Posted by coreyg510

But looking at the description of MediaNet on Cingular's site, it appears that I would receive a different e-mail address for my BB - something like "XYZ@cingularme.com" - if I went with MediaNet access. Thinking that this would still enable me to forward POP/IMAP e-mails through those accounts to my 8700 (which is what I do now because RIM's BB polling is too slow), I don't understand why I'm paying $45/month for the "XM wBBUNL Pool" (the BB unlimited-data plan) when even a generous MediaNet usage-plan is still less than half that price? Sure, I probably lose the ability to PIN another BB user through RIM's servers, but an SMS can still accomplish the same thing.



After reasearching the topic, I have found that while you will have the , you will not have it pushed to your bb. You will have to retrieve it. I am going from the information listed on Cingular Sales Portal and it is has not listed actual detail about Media Net on BB.

I would say that if you dont mind going to get the emails, then media net shoud be fine for you. You will be able to receive alerts when you have new mail using media net as well.


----edited for content----

Ah, coreyg510, I'm not using the BB/RIM e-mail polling/push feature because I found it way too slow - usually a 15-minute delay or longer; instead, I have rules set up on my POP/IMAP accounts that (almost instantly) forward e-mails sent to those accounts to my BB e-mail address.

THAT'S why I keep thinking I don't need the more-expensive BB/RIM data plan; as long as my Cingular plans gives my BB a unique e-mail address, I can forward to/send from my 8700. And not just alerts but the entire message.

Sooooo, I'm either onto something or still missing something...

[CingularMK]

Just as a heads up, the Limited is not 5mb, its 4mb with a overage of 1/2 a cent per kb.

Also, with a Cingular Blackberry, if you dont have a Blackberry Data plan (34.99 or 44.99 depending on which you want) Your blackberry will NOT function AT ALL as a data device besides Wap. When you turn off your BB data plan, your userid@mycingular.blackberry.net email address becomes "suspended" on the RIM network. I know this for a fact, Im a cingular Data tech. It would function only as a Calander/Contacts/Tasks device, a non-online PDA device.

So to clarify in very very easy words. No it is not possible to use the Blackberry for ANY kind of email without having a Blackberry Plan.

[CingularMK]

Originally Posted by techconsumer

Hi Cory I'm new to The BB craze but I like the idea of being able to browse the internet and get my e-mail from outside my home. I am with Cingular and I can browse the internet with my current phone but I have to pay for kilobytes and airtime which is why I'm going with a BB. I have searched all over the different forums and the Cingular site and I can't seem to find an anwser about which plan would be best. A flat rate unlimted plan that doesn't incur and additional charges. Does the $45 unlimited data plan allow access to both media net and the internet and e-mail or is there a different plan that covers all this. and one more question is while surfing the net does this take away from your minutes like a regular cell phone browsing the net Thanks in Advanced from a BB Newbie

Oh, and to reply to this, on NO phone on the Cingular network will browsing take your minutes, it's all packet data. The reason you cant access wap.cingular is because certain account features add certain APNs (access point names) to your "allowances" on our network. Blackberries only access the RIM network through the Blackberry.net apn, so with a blackberry plan (and only a blackberry plan) the BB will be able to connect, otherwise the blackberry will read "Data connection Refused"

[peznut]

Originally Posted by CingularMK

Just as a heads up, the Limited is not 5mb, its 4mb with a overage of 1/2 a cent per kb.

Also, with a Cingular Blackberry, if you dont have a Blackberry Data plan (34.99 or 44.99 depending on which you want) Your blackberry will NOT function AT ALL as a data device besides Wap. When you turn off your BB data plan, your userid@mycingular.blackberry.net email address becomes "suspended" on the RIM network. I know this for a fact, Im a cingular Data tech. It would function only as a Calander/Contacts/Tasks device, a non-online PDA device.

So to clarify in very very easy words. No it is not possible to use the Blackberry for ANY kind of email without having a Blackberry Plan.

Thank you for the clarification, CingularMK. Any explanation you can offer as to why BBs require a BB plan too (given the usage context I've described) versus other non-BB phones/plans? Some sort of security thing?? Thanks...

[rcbjr]

Its not in addition to other Data plans its in place of. The reason is that in addition to the Cellular Providers network, it also uses the RIM Blackberry Data Network.

Hope this helps.
Rcbjr

[Liv]

Not to ask a question about my own issues with the plans, but if I am looking into signing up with cingular for a plan as well.

I am going to get the Unlimited Data Plan (the 49.99 a month one) without the voice plan. Just the data plan. Will I have to pay anything else to use the data portion of my blackberry? I will use it to do the online stuff and to get my email pushed to my blackberry so I can read it while away.

All of the mentioned above is covered in the dataplan correct? No need to purchase anything else for myself?

[CingularMK]

Originally Posted by Liv

Not to ask a question about my own issues with the plans, but if I am looking into signing up with cingular for a plan as well.

I am going to get the Unlimited Data Plan (the 49.99 a month one) without the voice plan. Just the data plan. Will I have to pay anything else to use the data portion of my blackberry? I will use it to do the online stuff and to get my email pushed to my blackberry so I can read it while away.

All of the mentioned above is covered in the dataplan correct? No need to purchase anything else for myself?

No need, You'll be more than fine. ^_^