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Old School Users - BIS Trouble Today?

I'm trying to get a 9370 running on pre-paid. I got the $45/month plan with 2GB of data. You NEED a data plan just to get BIS, which you need to use any of the BlackBerry data services (like email). After a 15 minute online chat with tech support they said BIS was down for upgrades and to try in 24 hours. Smells fishy to me, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Anybody else having issues with old BlackBerrys?

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47seijar

After several fruitless hours on chats with tech support at Verizon I decided to head to my local Verizon store. Those guys are good - really know their stuff.

Apparently the definitive answer is you cannot have BIS on any pre-paid plans, with OR without data. I bumped up my $30/month no data plan (wifi only data) to the $45/month plan that includes 2GB of data. I was able to register my BlackBerry 9370 with the network - got the confirmation message on the BlackBerry - and my Host Routing Table populated. However, I still cannot set up email accounts. The only option remains Enterprise Activation. No good for me as I'm not on a corporate BES system.

So it turns out that on pre-paid, you can use the phone, send/receive text messages, and even use the browser on WiFi. But email is not going to happen on pre-paid. Newer BlackBerrys like the Q10 and Z10, Z30, and Classic, running BB10 operating system, work fine on pre-paid but that's because they do not use the legacy BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) for data.

Pre-paid and BIS is NOT going to happen. Bummer. Of course there are probably six or seven of us on Verizon that even care these days.

47seijar

Conflicting reports are coming in. I've heard from several folks who swear they have had full BIS on their BlackBerry 9930 models on pre-paid. The exact same pre-paid plan I'm on now. So a 2+ hour call to Verizon tech support, three escalation to a BlackBerry specialist, and several runs through the call center playbook for repairs, and I know have an NDR ticket. That's fancy talk for "it's going to our most senior BlackBerry techs" and I should have an answer on my lack of BIS in a few days.

I could have a defective 9370.

My plan could be mis-provisioned on the Verizon end.

I could be doing something tragically stupid and causing my headaches myself.

I don't count out ANY possibility.

47seijar

So still no definitive answer from Verizon's BlackBerry support. In all fairness, I'm asking questions about legacy devices that are FIVE YEARS OLD. None of the carriers were ever great with BlackBerry support, and asking about ancient devices is hardly fair.

The answers I have gotten from some hard core BlackBerry users on the BlackBerry Support Forums is that none of the carriers offer BIS on prepaid plans anymore. Bummer.

Tidbits

I thought BB killed BIS like 2 years ago on their own. Maybe I misread that?

BB9370

IF anybody knows a trick or a secret to adding BIS to a Verizon prepaid plan I'd love a tip!

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