blackberry payg help

[uk-guy]

hello I am hoping someone can help with my questions I need answering regarding
blackberry on payg 02

Q1 can I buy any sim free blackberry from the net to use on 02 payg ?
Q2 text and web sim £10 cost do i need to top up over and above the cost of text a web to use and make normal phone calls?
Q3 can i just add o2 setting for mms and internet into unlocked blackberry?

[Tony1044]

I've had many blackberry handsets over the years, including some on O2. I've tried to answer your questions below:

Originally Posted by uk-guy

Q1 can I buy any sim free blackberry from the net to use on 02 payg ?

Yes, but don't expect to get internet or email - these require a separate bolt on. I'm not sure if O2 even allow that on their PAYG network to be honest.

Originally Posted by uk-guy

Q2 text and web sim £10 cost do i need to top up over and above the cost of text a web to use and make normal phone calls?

See my first point - you would be able to make / receive calls and texts but the blackberry bolton is a separate entity.

Originally Posted by uk-guy

Q3 can i just add o2 setting for mms and internet into unlocked blackberry?

No - the blackberry.net APN settings are a closely guarded secret on O2. And don't be tempted to put in the APN settings for other services as you'll be raped at the £1+ per MB of data, even it did work. And to go back to point 1 - you still wouldn't get email as you need a BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) account set up by your service provider.

In a nutshell, as nice as BlackBerry handsets are, they're not really for the domestic market in my humble opinion - they can be tricky to set up, require additional (overpriced, usually) boltons and you have to be _very_ careful about attaching devices such as satellite navigation that can update over the air as they rarely use the blackberry.net APN and cost an arm and a leg.