i bought my 7100i on ebay. i already had a nextel service and phone. so when i recieved my 7100i in the mail, i simply just inserted the sim card that i already had and i was up and running and ready to go.

i had no complaints. but i did notice that i have no messaging service at all. i can not send or recieve text messages. ofcourse i could before. i tried everything i could think of to try and figure out how to send messages with no luck. i called nextel and they tried to convince me that my motorola sim card would not work in a blackberry and i needed a blackberry sim card. but i think they just want to get me to pay more for the blackberry service which will add $45 to my already $100+ bill. i know that the messages are still there, because when i put the sim back into my motorola phone, i got bombarded with all of the text messages that i missed having the sim card plugged into the 7100i.

the thing is, i get messages from the nextel network telling me that my device is registered with the network and i even got a few when i first got the device about how to use it and other tips. i also get all of my voicemail indicators. so i know there must be a way to send a message to the phone. it must be different than what i am used to. maybey a different address.

do any of you know a way for me to send and recieve messages without having to sign up for the extra $45 messaging service? i have a yahoo mail account, but i need to check it all through the day. i would like a "pushed" email service or even the real way to text message this thing.

Nope. You want to use a BlackBerry, you have to pay. And Nextel can detect if you are using a BB and they will add the BB service ($45) to your account.

odd, i've been using my 7100i for over a month now and they haven't added anything to my bill or my service. not that i can tell atleast. (not yet anyways)

oh well, it's only a minor annoyance anyway (not having text messaging). i check my yahoo mail quite often, as i get alot of idle time on my job. and i can check and send text messages when i go to nextels site and do it manually. but once again, i have to check every so often.....

small price to pay for the cheaper bill and one heck of a phone.
i still perfer my nextel/blackberry over my previous verizon/palm based smartphone (kyocera)

I tried to do the same thing on T-Mobile with a regular internet plan but ended up having to get the Blackberry plan to get email working.