BlackBerry

[Sydney1]

Hi, I just upgraded to a BlackBerry Curve 8250 from my old Sony Erricson. My contract costs £13.00 a month and includes "500 texts, 100 minutes, 100MB mobile internet and 500MB BT Openzone Wi-Fi". My sister also upgraded to the exact same contract last September, and recieves BBM without having to pay £5 a month. My BlackBerry Messenger doesn't seem to be activated, and I was told by a member of the Vodafone staff that I need to pay £5 a month for mine to be activated, despite my sister having not to. Is this correct? Or should my BBM be activated free of charge?

Thanks.

[pau1j · Accepted solution]

Hi Sydney.

For BBM (and other RIM services) to work, you need a tariff that includes BIS - Blackberry Internet Service/Solution.  If it's activated on the phone, your signal meter will show GPRS/EDGE in upper case (or 3G with a BB symbol) ... if not, it's gprs/edge in lower case (or 3G without the BB symbol).

This is likely to have been incorporated into your sister's contract - maybe there was a promotion at the time, or she might have fewer minutes/texts to compensate.  As an add-on to a standard tariff, BIS is £5.00 per month.  It's strange that someone would allow you to upgrade to a BB without telling you that you needed BIS.

Having said all that ... Vodafone monthly tariffs are more complicated than eye surgery .  The Monthly Price Plan page shows two tariffs of £13.00 per month ... one including BIS (with a free 8520) & one without.  Without going into the minutiae, BIS in this case seems to be free.

Sorry to have added to the complication!

If you've upgraded to one of these tariffs, my guess is you've been put on the wrong one.

[Sydney1]

Hi pau1j,

Thanks for your reply. I've seen that there are two similar looking phone contracts for £13 a month, one including BIS and one that doesn't. Upon initial reaction I thought I had chosen the wrong contract, until I viewed the phones available for the contract without BIS to discover that my phone was not included on the list. So, it looks like there's just been a mix up with Vodafone, as I'm now certain I had chosen the contract including BIS.

Thanks very much for your help.

[Lee]

Hi there Sydney1,

Many thanks for your post about your price plan.

I'm really sorry but it looks like we were never alerted to your original post but I'm here to help now

If this is not already resolved and so we can have a look at your price plan and get things resolved I've sent you a PM which can be accessed here. If you could follow the instructions in the PM and send us your details one of the team will be with you as soon as they can.

Cheers,

Lee