[Deeva28]

Hi....I'm a newbie...and I love my 7290. Yes, I may not get all the bells and whistles without a data plan but I still love it. Unfortch, I have a cellphone with MTS Mobility in Canada.....and we have a HATE-HATE relationship. The only way they would let me put my Blackberry on a plan was if I bought out my existing plan at $30/month.....then they told me I would have to pay $50/month for just data and $25/month for phone usage and that they have a stipulation that the minimum monthly payments on having an integrated phone/data plan is $75/month?! Nuts to that!! My plan with them expires next June, so my hubby (who did not have a cell) is using that until the plan expires and then he's going to give up on them and go to Rogers with his 7280. Until then, I have my 7290 on Rogers Autosaver Anytime plan so I can at least still have a phone and sms. No internet with that despite rumors I have heard. I am glad however, that I was able to set up mobile MSN through sms, so I have all my mail forwarded to me from all 3 of my email accounts and come to me through sms. I figured this was the cheapest option for me thus far as I'm in University...with a mortgage, and adding $75+ to another monthly bill is not advantageous until I can get rid of the $50/month bill I'm paying on my old cell phone.
Who else is on pay as you go? What options are offered to you in the states that are not offered here in Manitoba?

[radimus]

Have you checked to see if there is the option of paying an early termination fee and getting out of the contract early? I don't know if they do that in Canada, but in the US there is usually a clause in the contracts where you can terminate your service and then pay a penalty fee. We were in a similar situation a few years back where we needed to cut back on the monthly expenses. My wife had a phone under contract with Verizon, but the contract term got reset because we changed the plan we had it on part way through. We were paying around $50/month for the phone and the contract would not be up for another year and a half. The early termination fee was $175, or a about 3.5 months worth of service at our current rate. We chose to cut our losses, cancel the contract, pay the fee, and save ourselves 15 months worth of payments.

Anyway, now she's using a prepaid phone from T-Mobile. Minutes added to the account are good for a year, voice rates are good and SMS is 10 cents to send and free to receive. Every once in a while I think about getting her an unlocked Blackberry to use on it, but she's not all that tech savvy. Anyway, we've been quite happy with the T-Mo prepaid.

[jbairdjr]

There really isnt a pay as you go Blackberry option in the U.S. (or anywhere else that I know of)

[jbairdjr]

There really isnt a pay as you go Blackberry option in the U.S. (or anywhere else that I know of)

[PB_admin]

Pay as you go Blackberry really doesn't make much business sense for carriers, as most of the users are either on BES or prefer to get a contract

[Deeva28]

Originally Posted by radimus

Have you checked to see if there is the option of paying an early termination fee and getting out of the contract early? I don't know if they do that in Canada, but in the US there is usually a clause in the contracts where you can terminate your service and then pay a penalty fee. We were in a similar situation a few years back where we needed to cut back on the monthly expenses. My wife had a phone under contract with Verizon, but the contract term got reset because we changed the plan we had it on part way through. We were paying around $50/month for the phone and the contract would not be up for another year and a half. The early termination fee was $175, or a about 3.5 months worth of service at our current rate. We chose to cut our losses, cancel the contract, pay the fee, and save ourselves 15 months worth of payments.

Anyway, now she's using a prepaid phone from T-Mobile. Minutes added to the account are good for a year, voice rates are good and SMS is 10 cents to send and free to receive. Every once in a while I think about getting her an unlocked Blackberry to use on it, but she's not all that tech savvy. Anyway, we've been quite happy with the T-Mo prepaid.

I have checked into the early termination, but MTS says they don't have one. I would have been willing to cut my losses at $200 or under.....but they are not offering me that option.

[Deeva28]

Originally Posted by PB_admin

Pay as you go Blackberry really doesn't make much business sense for carriers, as most of the users are either on BES or prefer to get a contract

I can appreciate that.....but there are a lot of University students out there like me who want the functionality of a pda integrated phone and the ability to surf the web sometimes when needed or have our school email and other email forwarded to us since we are away from home for 12 hours out of the day.