[George1]

I have done a lot of research and learned that my 8300 supposedly will work very well for my current needs (Gmail, a bit of Google maps and Goggle Synch) without a BB data plan. If I can live without the native BB applications like the mail client, BB Chat, BB Messenger etc), I don't need a BB data plan, a generic data plan will do.

Well, today I had the BB plan taken off my plan (my provider is Optus in Australia). When calling Optus to disconnect the BB Plan and o put a generic data plan on, I was told that Blackberries would not work with a generic plan full stop.

After all my research h I was convinced that that was not true. Well, guess what, as soon as the plan came off, my GPRS letters in the top right corner changed to lower case - and that was the end of my data access.

No more Gail, Maps, Google Talk - nothing.

I did change the APN (Options, Advanced, TCP) to "internet" and also tried wap.optus.com.au. But whatever I do, no more data flow.

Same thing by the way when I put a Telstra (another provider here) SIM card in.

Until this afternoon I was on a BES, but no longer am. Do I have to delete any service books or anything else to make my BB talk to the Net with a generic data plan?

I tred the same with an 8100 (that has no been on a BES before) and I get the same problem. On the 8100 it says data connection refused.

Am I missing something?

Your help will be very much appreciated.