Comments on: Why can’t I just pay for push email on my BlackBerry?

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Pandora finally available for BlackBerry | BB Geeks — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:54:32 +0000

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By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:01:57 +0000

Not that you’d want to switch carriers but T-Mobile has such a plan. $10.00 for unlimited Blackberry email. That’s it, nothing more. T-Mobile offers the most flexible Blackberry options of any carrier I’ve seen. That’s why I love them. Highly recommended them. But please keep in mind this was an option offered to me 6 months ago when I went back to T-Mobile, but I’m sure they still have this option available.

By: Network World’s essential BlackBerry apps | BB Geeks

Network World’s essential BlackBerry apps | BB Geeks — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:30:11 +0000

[...] you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my feed or subscribe to us on Twitter!Despite my desire to ditch data on my BlackBerry (mostly for economic reasons), I’m still a nut for BlackBerry applications, many of which use [...]

By: FLACO_LOCO

FLACO_LOCO — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:38:37 +0000

I would really rather have the full service. Not having the full service is like having limits (prepaid) I dnt like those limits. Lol!

By: justelise

justelise — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:48:35 +0000

Wireless companies don’t cater to a few rogue users who don’t use 95% of the functionality of their device, so an email only option doesn’t make sense for the vast majority of people. Furthermore, email is data. Email comes with attachments that you can view on your Blackberry. Would you like your carrier to strip the attachments and only deliver the messages to you in the email only scenario you describe?

You could go with T-Mobile, but as a former T-Mo customer, I wish you the best of luck getting coverage. I lived in Central FL and it stank there, it stank when I was in Reston, VA, it stinks for everyone I know in NYC… you get the picture. T-Mo sells its services cut rate because their coverage is sparse compared to the other major carriers.

If anything, the carriers should lower the cost of their BIS only plans, because they’re a little too high. I think $15-20 is the perfect price point for unlimited BIS.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:13:31 +0000

“Just email” holds no interest for me.

During our several day power outage in December (due to an ice storm), my BB was a lifesaver allowing me to get online. I could read local reports, blog, browse, twitter, and yes email because of my bb. I charged it via my car battery. We were only out of power for 3 days – but only having email would have been dreadful during that time. Besides, I use gmail on my BB and I can get to that via the browser if necessary (not the best way, but it is certainly doable).

The answer will be different for everyone. For those who need only email, they will never see the need for the rest of the data set. For those who use the BB data regularly or have used it during an emergency to get information, they will never understand tying yourself to email only.

Both options should be available so people can customize their data plans to suit their style.

By: cameron

cameron — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:12:40 +0000

Supposedly BIS will let carriers offer tiered services like that of which you descibe. I say a plan for email could be as low as $5/m. That would be good for people who just want the email. Me personally like getting all the data. Otherwise I couldn’t post this from my Bold right now. ;-)

By: jagibson

jagibson — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:45:03 +0000

From a cost perspective, I would love a pay-as-you-go data option. Operators struggle at offering these due to the lack of potential recurring revenue (where data has higher arpu).

I’m with vzw and their $30 per month plan as well, email is my primary function, I wouldn’t mind a lesser email only tier. T-mobile is not an option for my from the voice perspective until their coverage is improved.

By: ed

ed — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:44:15 +0000

Seems like a good idea to attract subscribers. Which, of course, means that verizon will not be offering it.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:01:40 +0000

Yes, T·Mobile does offer such a solution which Chip describes above. But DavidB makes an excellent point about data for other services (including Viigo, Google Maps, etc).

Are you be willing to pay-as-you-go for data? I would think that after a month or two you’d switch back to an all BB data plan. I know I would… and actually have in the past!

For 2 months we canceled our BB data plans and just used phone/text to communicate. I was left feeling like we were only using 20% of a powerful device.

Sprint also offers multiple tiers of plans, but you may need to inquire beyond their website for details.