Blackberry Bold Question

[calebb0917]

Why can't I use a Blackberry Bold, Curve, or Storm 2 like an iPod Touch, as a standalone Wi-Fi device, without the need for activation from a carrier? I would like to use it as a PDA for Calendar, Contacts, Email, and Internet.
Thanks in advance

 

[BigHungry04]

Because the contract that RIM has with the carriers require blackberries to be sold with a voice plan and a data plan.

 

[iEric]

buy one locked, then unlock it or go to amazon.com and buy an unlocked one.

then when you get it you can turn the radio signal off and just have wi-fi on.

 

[FastEddy]

" Because the contract that RIM has with the carriers require blackberries to be sold with a voice plan and a data plan. ..."

Same with the iPhone ... except you only get one choice = AT&T

 

[calebb0917]

buy one locked, then unlock it or go to amazon.com and buy an unlocked one.

then when you get it you can turn the radio signal off and just have wi-fi on.

Hi, you're the first person that actually gets what I'm trying to do, I think. (no offense to any others that have responded to my post)
But are you positive that this will work? I could just buy an unlocked device on eBay...but I thought unlocking it just meant that I could use it on other carriers?
Thank you so much!

 

[pukifloyd]

Hi, you're the first person that actually gets what I'm trying to do, I think. (no offense to any others that have responded to my post)
But are you positive that this will work? I could just buy an unlocked device on eBay...but I thought unlocking it just meant that I could use it on other carriers?
Thank you so much!

It should work.

I bought Nokia 5800 unlocked and used it without the sim card for 2 days ( as I broke the phone before that and didn't get the new card...was too lazy ) and it worked fine..

Unlocking means you can use it anyway you like...with any carrier and without one too

cheers

 

[storageclothing]

Blackberry Bold Question

can u tell me whts price of Blackberry nd how it looks

 

[thatshellacool]

when i had my curve 8900 through t-mobile before i decided to unlock my verizon tour and use that (switched from verizon: i know, crazy, it's a long story.) i remember when i first got it that i wanted to test different things out and i tried to turn my network option off and just leave wifi on so that i could possibly save some battery while i was at home with having one less radio on. i have the unlimited uma option for unlimited minutes via wifi, so couldn't see why this wouldn't work, but whenever i tried to turn the mobile network off, it turned wifi off as well. the only way i could re-enable wifi was to turn the mobile network back on.

that said, this was a locked blackberry, so i'm not sure if that played a part, and can't test it now as my unlocked tour i'm using with tmobile doesn't have wifi.

however, i don't see why you couldn't just pick up a sim card and put it in to make it happy and leave the network connection on and have wifi on as well, and obviously just lack the ability to make calls. after all, one of the biggest advantages of wifi on a phone is that you can make calls when you don't have service, and if you don't have service, the phone can't phone home (which would be to the carrier the device was originally released under or rim themselves.) of course, it could also be possible that the phone would have to be activated and have some sort of number to reference to do anything data related, even with both mobile network and wifi both enabled. i'm also not sure if wifi on blackberry itself phones home when you have no service and are running strictly on wifi. i'm pretty sure that wifi on blackberry still goes through bis (blackberry internet service). without a set up bis account and the right service books on your phone, you could be paying top dollar for a sexy paperweight.

the above condensed: your best bet would be to call blackberry customer service yourself and ask, before you drop a substantial amount of money on a device that may not work for your needs. rim makes the majority of their money on sales of the device itself, so i can't see why they wouldn't give you a honest, upfront answer if they think you're buying a product from them.

just my experience and thoughts.

 

[thatshellacool]

did some lite research and found this:

http://www.blackberrytune.com/how-to-browse-internet-on-blackberry-using-wi-fi-without-data-plan/

one more thought: you may have better luck going to crackberry.com and posting in their forum..

 

[calebb0917]

when i had my curve 8900 through t-mobile before i decided to unlock my verizon tour and use that (switched from verizon: i know, crazy, it's a long story.) i remember when i first got it that i wanted to test different things out and i tried to turn my network option off and just leave wifi on so that i could possibly save some battery while i was at home with having one less radio on. i have the unlimited uma option for unlimited minutes via wifi, so couldn't see why this wouldn't work, but whenever i tried to turn the mobile network off, it turned wifi off as well. the only way i could re-enable wifi was to turn the mobile network back on.

that said, this was a locked blackberry, so i'm not sure if that played a part, and can't test it now as my unlocked tour i'm using with tmobile doesn't have wifi.

however, i don't see why you couldn't just pick up a sim card and put it in to make it happy and leave the network connection on and have wifi on as well, and obviously just lack the ability to make calls. after all, one of the biggest advantages of wifi on a phone is that you can make calls when you don't have service, and if you don't have service, the phone can't phone home (which would be to the carrier the device was originally released under or rim themselves.) of course, it could also be possible that the phone would have to be activated and have some sort of number to reference to do anything data related, even with both mobile network and wifi both enabled. i'm also not sure if wifi on blackberry itself phones home when you have no service and are running strictly on wifi. i'm pretty sure that wifi on blackberry still goes through bis (blackberry internet service). without a set up bis account and the right service books on your phone, you could be paying top dollar for a sexy paperweight.

the above condensed: your best bet would be to call blackberry customer service yourself and ask, before you drop a substantial amount of money on a device that may not work for your needs. rim makes the majority of their money on sales of the device itself, so i can't see why they wouldn't give you a honest, upfront answer if they think you're buying a product from them.

just my experience and thoughts.

Thanks so much!! I'm going to call RIM ASAP.