I'm really sorry for my lack of knowledge(stupidity)on this subject but........................I have an 8310 with os4.2 and have a couple of questions.
1st--i been wanting to upgrade to the 8900 for the wifi but was told you have to have a data plan to use it.I had a data plan til i got laid off work and had it cut off to save $$$.What is the purpose of wifi if you have a data plan?

2nd--If i upgrade my os to 4.5 will i lose all my apps,pics,etc. ?

This is an awesome site and very informative thanx in advance for the help.
BTW....I love my blackberry!!

1) There are lots of things you can do over wifi without a data plan. Might not be completely applicable as it's an 8320 thread.
http://www.blackberryforums.com/wifi...n-cant-do.html

2) You can backup your apps. The pics, you should backup on your own. If they're on the sd card nothing will happen to them. If they're on the phone the OS upgrade will back them up, but it's still better to do a backup before the OS upgrade in case the upgrade messes up. You can then do the OS upgrade again and restore from the manual backup if necessary. Extremely low chance of problems, but just do the manual backup anyway.

How to back up the apps:
How do I backup my Third Party Applications on my BB? - BlackBerryFAQ

I generally reinstall the apps even if I've saved them since many times there's an upgrade so this is when I check. But the method in the FAQ does work.

One last thing. On some phones going to 4.5 caused reboot problems. Formatting the sd card again fixes that and then sometimes one of the files is somehow corrupted or something. So some people have had to add pictures and things one at a time to see if any caused problems. So you should back up the sd card so you can format it if needed.

If your device works as you like it to work and there are no problems, then why bother to upgrade to a new OS and risk screwing something up?

My advice is if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Wirelessly posted (Tmo's cheapest BB customer)

With Tmobile and the 8900, you also get the benefit of UMA which let's you make/receive calls over a wifi connection. This is especially handy if your normal cell signal is weak but you have wifi say in your house. If you opt for the $10/month plan, all calls over uma are free and minutes are not deducted from your normal plan minutes. This is a benefit for those people who don't have land lines and rely on their cell as their primary line of communication.

Sorry just noticed original poster has AT&T. Please disregard my previous post. The downside of wap is that I can't see what carrier people have.

But only on T-Mo and only if the phone is UMA capable.

I wanted to upgrade because i thought it would give me video capabilities.Prolly not worth it tho.Maybe i'll just look for a deal on a newer phone.Right now i'll make do.

Hi,

I have a quesiton similar to this topic. I am with Rogers, I have 500 MB of data per month. Now my question is, when I'm at home I connect to my wireless network, so does that mean when I'm surfing the net/using IM this is not deducted from my 500 MB plan, rather it is going through my home internet?

I just don't get how that works. If someone can please explain.

Thanks!

Provided that you have a Blackberry data plan, and the Wi-Fi icon turns white, that is exactly how it works.

So you mean to say that basically I won't get charged when I'm at home on my wireless network as long as the wi-fi icon turns white?

Wirelessly posted (Tmo's cheapest BB customer)

You shouldn't be charged when you use wifi, period.

That is correct.

If the Wi-Fi icon is gray, BIS data will go via your wireless carrier. In that case you could still use the Hotspot Browser to browse via Wi-Fi, and some applications are Wi-Fi aware and will/can use it even if the icon is gray. Though in general if the Wi-Fi access point has reasonable connectivity, and you have a Blackberry data plan, the Blackberry will be able to contact the RIM operations centre and the icon will turn white.