There are only a handful of applications on a Berry that will work without BIS, not even the latest versions of mxit work without BIS anymore.
If you go to advanced options>tcpip and set the apn to internet youw ill have limited functionality, browser will work but mms, email, appworld and any other BIS/BES dependent app will not. A few 3rd party IM clients like IM+ or Nimbuzz i know has the configuration options to work without BIS, other than 1 backup app thats about all i know of that works without BIS.
As for MMS and email, the only way to get it to work without BIS is to buy a new phone, a non-blackberry 1 of course.