General BlackBerry® 10 Smartphone Functions and Features

[sdgardne]

On BES, I agree...it will continue.

For BIS, however, I disagree...last time I had a BIS plan here in the USA, it definitely DID NOT include what you list (unlimited browsing, email, and text anywhere in the world), yet it still cost (monthly) roughly double what the least cost generic data plan that I could find was priced at. What I have learned is that the variability in what service levels a BIS plan includes as well as the added cost for it is massively different between various regions of the world.

Since the added cost and service level of BIS plans varies quite widely, it was therefore never a universally "level playing field"...dropping BIS from being required will put the BB10 devices onto a level playing field throughout the world. In some regions, it may mean a lesser amount of service availability. In others, it may mean that a BB device becomes, from a monthly plan perspective, competitively affordable. As to if that's a good or bad thing...that's a judgment for each individual consumer to make.

Lastly -- compression -- from my understanding, that had greatly diminished in "value" in recent years anyway, rendering it a relatively moot point now (I have a friend who can, if desired, post for hours on the subject!!). PUSH email IMHO, however, may remain a difference in data plan consumption. Where BIS used to do the polling of non-PUSH email servers and only generated traffic to the BB when there was "something to do", that polling will now be conducted by the device itself and will consume bandwidth for what was previously a "non chargeable" activity. But hopefully the actual consumption by that activity is small, and if folks properly integrate to email services that do support PUSH, then it is still avoided.

Adapt indeed we must...for me, I'm happy for the change, for in my region it finally puts a BB plan into the range of "affordability" for me (no longer double). YMMV.

Cheers!

[akkariem]

Hi all.
I was disappointed to here BB10 does not support BIS. It has not launched yet here in South Africa where data costs are high. BIS has led to major savings for all here and probably the reason why BB has a large market share here. Lack of BIS would probably have a large negative influence on that. I was highly disappointed by my Bold 9900 due to lack of battery life, the phone itself rocks... So I am very pessimistic in purchasing Q10 when finally gets here.. If no BIS I have no reason to stay with BB in future.

[sdgardne]

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akkariem wrote:
Hi all.
I was disappointed to here BB10 does not support BIS. It has not launched yet here in South Africa where data costs are high. BIS has led to major savings for all here and probably the reason why BB has a large market share here. Lack of BIS would probably have a large negative influence on that. I was highly disappointed by my Bold 9900 due to lack of battery life, the phone itself rocks... So I am very pessimistic in purchasing Q10 when finally gets here.. If no BIS I have no reason to stay with BB in future.

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Hi and Welcome to the Community!

No one here can predict what the data plan charges for BB10 devices will be; each carrier will determine their own pricing structures. The only thing for sure is that BIS is no longer required for a BB, which puts it on a par with other SmartPhones (from the perspective of the data plan). In some markets, costs may go up...in others they may go down...in still others they may not change. No one here can predict...all anyone can do is watch closely over their own carrier and see what they (eventually) decide to do.

Good luck!

[dolphincharles]

Here in Nigeria, Data charges cost an arm and a leg. I find it intriguing that blackberry services in some regions cost double the normal data plan for even other smartphones.

I am hoping when it finally gets released here, the service providers can retain their bis feature with the new bb10 devices and then hopefully retain the pricing. We even have what we call the "Complete" package here for blackberry, that means I can just add 1 email address instead of the standard 10 email addresses.

[flextor63]

Not Having bis on the BB10 is a major setback!! I currently use a 9900 in nigeria and I pay about 10$ for bis, its an unlimited data plan but I can use just one email... If I get the z10 on the same network I hav to now pay about 20$ for just 1gb data... And it seems BBM is going use data

[dolphincharles]

Flextor63, do you have confirmation its now going to cost $20.

Bbm would be an added feature, an extra for having a blackberry, bbm though being offered by blackberry as a freebie, should still operate with your carrier's data.

I think blackberry should give some carriers the option to retain the use of bis for the Z10

[flextor63]

The network I'm using isn't going to continue with the biS plan from what I hav learnt it is optional depending on tHe network provider.. WIthout bis bbm won't be a freebie

[jacob3]

Is it true that in SA we will be paying an amount of R200 for BIS every month

[moming]

I am from Hong Kong. And getting rid of BIS (maybe just my provider CSL wouldn't provide it) is a very bad decision by BB.  A lot of people in HK travel a lot to China and other Asia or foreign countries. And having international roaming email that is compressed is a huge cost saving. And not only that. One of the biggest benefits of BIS was that with BIS, when I am roaming, I can always send out an email. With iPhone/Android, where I can using SMTP, only 70% of the times, email can be sent out, somehow, ISP's sometime block SMTP ports. This, is a huge huge benefit for me to continue using BB, already everything else about my 9790 is poor.

So, by coming out of BB10 and getting rid of BIS. BB effectively took  away the only reason for me to carry on getting BB. If it handles data, roaming and emails no differently than iPhones and Androids, why don't I just get an Android? i don't see ANY benefits of BB over say iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4. Absolutely NONE!

BB better quickly find a way to implement BIS back into BB10 or this will be an end to BB

For me, I am forced to stay with 9790 for a while longer until I find a better solution