Contributed
Cable & Wireless (C&W) Jamaica's vice-president of corporate communications and corporate affairs, Errol K. Miller (right), makes a point at the media launch of the company's BlackBerry Prepaid Service, which was held recently at C&W's head office in Kingston. C&W will be rolling out a prepaid BlackBerry service in its markets across the Caribbean, becoming the first mobile service provider to officially launch the service in the region. With Miller (from left) are Paula Warren, C&W's head of mobile & retail solutions, and Steve Hashman, director, Value Added Services, Cable & Wireless Caribbean.
Cable and Wireless (C&W) Jamaica will on Monday introduce prepaid BlackBerry voice and date service on two plans - unlimited email for $999 per month and unlimited email and Internet for $1,899 per month.
But subscribers will, in the first 60 days of introduction, be billed at 50 per cent of the fee, up to August 22.
The plans are accessible on all BlackBerry smartphones.
Research in Motion, the company that makes BlackBerrys, has endorsed the plan, with Mark Guibert, vice-president of corporate marketing, calling it "a significant step in extending the reach of BlackBerry smartphones to more consumers in the region".
C&W also plans to roll out the service in its other Caribbean markets.
Until now, BlackBerry handset users have had access to post-paid service, both in Jamaica and elsewhere in the hemisphere.
"With the majority of Jamaica's mobile market consisting of prepaid customers, C&W recognises the value of a prepaid BlackBerry service, and we think it will enhance the way people live, work and play," said Mariano Doble, C&WJ's commercial director.
"We are pleased to be the first provider to offer this service in Jamaica."
business@gleanerjm.com
Week on the Web - Internet in your pocket
Wouldn't it be great if you could always be connected - mobile msn, mobile Wiki-pedia, mobile eBay, mobile Amazon - where you can do anything online, anytime, anywhere.
This can be a reality if you really desire.
With the aid of Cable and Wireless Jamaica, one may purchase a data sim card plan which comes in two packages - 10mb data transfer per month for $500 per month, or unlimited data transfer per month for $1,500 per month.
Data usage
Note that data usage over 10mb for the $500 will attract an 'overage' charge. It is quite easy to exhaust 10mb of bandwidth, so for heavy users it might be more advisable to go with the unlimited plan.
It's more expensive but in Jamaica there is absolutely no competition for this particular feature.
Digicel does not yet offer an unlimited GPRS data package to anyone other than Black-Berry users.
Internet speed
Unfortunately, the data speeds on the mobile Internet plans are not great, but good for browsing on the go, and instant messaging.
However, downloading that 'pdf' file that you should have read before your next meeting may be a problem.
Though Internet speeds via GPRS are less than desirable, it isn't really noticeable when browsing web pages using the right tools, such as Opera Mini - a java midlet browser that renders web pages exactly as seen on a desktop computer at fast speed.
To subscribe to mobile Internet, the user must have a GPRS-capable handset.
Your bills are sent to your data sim via SMS.
gladstone.taylor@gleaner jm.com
