Expert: DebiN - 8/9/2009

Question
QUESTION: I swapped my sim card from an old phone to the blackberry and now i cant retrieve and send any picture messages..i have unlimited text so i'm not sure what the problem is..it works fine with my old phone but its slow that's why i changed it.
my service provider is T-Mobile

ANSWER: With a BlackBerry, MMS messaging isn't part of text messaging, it is part of a BlackBerry data service package. On a phone, MMS worked because MMS didn't go through a special server. But now, since you are using a BlackBerry, even if it is a T-Mobile BlackBerry, unless you sign up for a BlackBerry Data package, you will not be able to use MMS messaging, access the internet or send and receive email. BlackBerrys (and T-Mobile Sidekicks) work for data via special servers and the one and only way to use any data features (including MMS) is to be associated with the server. And the one and only way to be associated with the server is to have the special data package with your carrier (in this case, a BlackBerry data package). With T-Mobile, the BlackBerry data package is $24.99 a month and provides you with 400 text messages and unlimited data. They may allow you to just add the data package for $20.00 since you already have unlimited text. If the BlackBerry is not T-Mobile branded, you will not be able to use it for data regardless of the package. I hope this helps. Thanks. DebiN

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: yea it helped, but one more thing.., i read somewhere on yahoo that if you had t-mobile in the first place, then you could get the data plan for free im not sure it said something about a "free enabler service" have you ever heard of this?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090118172241AAny7sn

that's where i found it

Answer
I'm not really sure why the person who answered the question on Yahoo said that you could get a "free Blackberry feature enabler" in order to use MMS messaging. There's no such thing. All BlackBerrys have to communicate with a BlackBerry server for data and T-Mobile does not give away that service for free (especially since they have to pay RIM for this). You have to have a BlackBerry data plan to use any data features on a BlackBerry. As I had mentioend previously, the minimum charge will be $19.99 for this (which is less expensive than any other carrier). I hope this helps. Thanks. Debin