{"id":70900,"date":"2013-02-21T10:10:53","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T08:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=70900"},"modified":"2013-02-21T10:40:30","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T08:40:30","slug":"bye-bye-bis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/70900-bye-bye-bis.html","title":{"rendered":"Bye bye BIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both Vodacom and MTN have revealed that the unlimited data service that had become a hallmark of BlackBerry devices in South Africa (BIS) will not be offered with the BlackBerry Z10 on their respective networks.<\/p>\n

Details of Vodacom<\/a>\u2019s new contract packages<\/a> for the BlackBerry Z10<\/a> recently emerged, revealing that the network operator will not be offering any form of unlimited data plan with the device.<\/p>\n

The same is true of MTN, who also announced BlackBerry Z10 contract packages<\/a>\u00a0with a\u00a0warning to customers that devices running on the new BlackBerry 10 platform will not support the existing BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) data packages.<\/p>\n

Previously there was some industry speculation that certain BlackBerry services, particularly BlackBerry Messenger (BBM<\/a>), might remain unlimited even if all other data use is capped.<\/p>\n

Older BlackBerry devices need a subscription to BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS<\/a>) for features such as BBM and e-mail to work.<\/p>\n

As added value to the subscription, which mobile networks in South Africa offered for around R60 per month, unlimited on-device Internet usage was included in the price.<\/p>\n

\"Average

Average Vodacom BIS data usage<\/p><\/div>\n

Vodacom will only offer unlimited BBM on certain contracts until 31 May 2013, spelling the end for the unique value proposition BlackBerry has enjoyed in South Africa until now.<\/p>\n

MTN explained that BlackBerry 10 devices will work like any other smartphone, and that customers can use normal data bundles with their new BlackBerries.<\/p>\n

The network operator reiterated BlackBerry’s previous statement that customers will be able to use traditional BlackBerry services such as BBM through a regular data bundle.<\/p>\n

BlackBerry 10 data packages on the other networks have yet to emerge, though 8ta has revealed its plans to launch the BlackBerry Z10 by 1 March 2013, and it is understood that Cell C is aiming for the same launch date.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBerry

BlackBerry 10 partial screenshot showing active BlackBerry network connection in top right<\/p><\/div>\n

More BlackBerry news<\/h3>\n

BlackBerry Z10 Vodacom contract prices revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

No BlackBerry plan needed for BlackBerry 10 services<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

BlackBerry Z10 SA pricing revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Uncapped BIS in SA on life support?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

New MTN BlackBerry Absolute package revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BlackBerry 10 will not include a unique data proposition common to all networks in South Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":69718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[473,97,18058,18254,18010,35,42,41],"class_list":["post-70900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-8ta","tag-blackberry","tag-blackberry-internet-service-bis","tag-blackberry-messenger-bbm","tag-blackberry-z10","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70900"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71000,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70900\/revisions\/71000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}