Pay as you go - Blackberry. Why do I need 2 internet tariffs?

[Anonymous]

Since I got my blackberry I've always needed the 'Blackberry bolton' just so I can use the internet, even though my tariff has internet for the UK.

Someone please explain why I need to pay more money to use what I already pay for

[version7point0 · Accepted solution]

Hi there.

You need to pay extra as O2 and any other provider has to pay BlackBerry for the services unique to a BlackBerry device, BBM, their BiS / BES email servers and internet provisioning.

This was taken away for newer BlackBerry 10 devices which rely on your network's data services.

Hope this explains it a little.

[Asdic_Ping]

And it is worth noting that you get around twice as much data for your money with BB OS7.1 and lower as the BiS compresses all the data that passes through it.

[Anonymous]

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@Asdic_Ping wrote:
And it is worth noting that you get around twice as much data for your money with BB OS7.1 and lower as the BiS compresses all the data that passes through it.

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More like ten times the data!

On my old BlackBerry's I would use a maximum of 60Mb a month, but since moving to a BlackBerry 10 device that doesn't pass through the BlackBerry Internet Service and so isn't compressed I am using on average 600Mb a month!

[Asdic_Ping]

That is a big increase in data consumption! I did see a chart somewhere that gave the compression ratio's compared with other smart phones. I seem to remember that browsing the internet you get around twice as much and emails up to four times as much, but from what you have said it could be a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Hi all:   i understand that BBM and BB email are BB services (and covered by the blackberry bolton), but is using the blackberry browser also considered a BB service so covered by the bolton, or is it's usage just part of your regular data usage?

tx

jeff

[Anonymous]

Using the browser will count towards your data usage as well and as you have a BlackBerry Bolt-On the data usage will be included in this. But as already mentioned, any data going through the BlackBerry servers (all use of data whilst using the BB Bolt-on goes through BlackBerry servers) is compressed and so will keep your O2 data usage down.

However, if you are connected to a WiFi network you will use that for data rather than any of your contracted O2 data.

Does that make sense to you? 

[Anonymous]

hi papadug:   thanks for the reply and most makes sense.    so just to extend the question a bit.   what happens if i go to the continent (france/spain).    If i have O2 Travel (£1.99 per day when i use data up to 25mb/day) i can add a blackberry bolton for £5 for blackberry data (email, messenger) which gives me 10MB of bb data usage per month.   but other data is covered by the O2Travel plan (google maps etc).   so my real question is, if i use the Blackberry browser, is it considered BB data so it would count against the 10MB BB BOlton amount, or is it other data usage so counting agains the O2Travel allowance (25mb/day)?   if it does count against the BB BOlton allowance,  should i use another browser (opera mini ?) to get the 25mb/day allowance (vs the 10mb/month bb data allowance)?    hope that makes sense 

tx

jeff

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

hi papadug:   thanks for the reply and most makes sense.    so just to extend the question a bit.   what happens if i go to the continent (france/spain).    If i have O2 Travel (£1.99 per day when i use data up to 25mb/day) i can add a blackberry bolton for £5 for blackberry data (email, messenger) which gives me 10MB of bb data usage per month.   but other data is covered by the O2Travel plan (google maps etc).   so my real question is, if i use the Blackberry browser, is it considered BB data so it would count against the 10MB BB BOlton amount, or is it other data usage so counting agains the O2Travel allowance (25mb/day)?   if it does count against the BB BOlton allowance,  should i use another browser (opera mini ?) to get the 25mb/day allowance (vs the 10mb/month bb data allowance)?    hope that makes sense 

tx

jeff

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ALL data accessed from your phone counts towards your data allowance no matter what country you are in. The BlackBerry Bolt-on doesn't replace your data allowance.

I'm not sure where you are getting the 10Mb of BB data from as the BlackBerry Bolt-on is purely to allow you to access blackberry services (data, internet, email and BBM) on your phone...it doesnt have a data allowance.

Your data usage while abroad, no matter in what way you are using data, will count towards your 25Mb a day. The Blackberry Bolt-on lets your phone use less data than other phones as it compresses the data so you shouldnt go near that 25Mb allowance on a daily basis.

I would advise to turn off data roaming when abroad though and only connect to WiFi networks where they are available.

[Anonymous]

Hi PapaDug:   here is where i got the bbroam info:

http://www.o2.co.uk/tariffs/payandgo-details/blackberry-data-roaming-details

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BlackBerry Data Bolt On

To use BlackBerry Email and Messenger services abroad on Pay and Go, you'll need the BlackBerry Data Roaming Bolt On.

The Bolt On costs £5 for a 10MB allowance of BlackBerry data, valid for 30 days and can be used anywhere in the world outside of the UK.

All other data, excluding BlackBerry services, is charged at our standard rates of £0.69/MB within Europe and £6/MB in the rest of the world. If you have O2 Travel, you'll only be charged £1.99 for the days that you use data in Europe - and you can use up to 25MB a day.

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my confusion is the reference to Blackberry data (which i bolded and underlined).   My understanding of this is for the BBROAM bolton, it will cost £5 and gve me 10mb of bb data, and i know that covers email and bbm, but wasn`t sure about using the native bb browser (in which case i will easily go over 10mb over the 2 weeks i will be on the continent).  i do have O2 Travel for other data needs - i.e. google maps.   so i wasnt sure if i should be using a different browser.   thoughts?

tx

jeff