Top 20 BlackBerry Tips and Tricks

From RIM's BlackBerry Tips:

1. Hold the ALT key while you roll the trackwheel to scroll horizontally in any field where you can enter or view text.


2. Hold the ALT key while you roll the trackwheel to scroll through a field to view options.


3. Hold the SHIFT key while you roll the trackwheel to select multiple items in a list.


4. Type the first letter of an item in an options list or menu to jump directly to that item.


5. Type the first letters of a name or the initials separated by a space to find a contact in the Address Book screen.


6. To cut and paste text, hold the ALT key and click the trackwheel, then roll the trackwheel to highlight text. Click and scroll to Cut Selection or Copy Selection. To paste the selected text, place the cursor in an editable field and click. Scroll to Paste Selection and click.


7. Press and hold a letter to capitalize it (with Key Rate enabled).


8. Press the SPACE key twice to insert a period and capitalize the next letter.


9. Press the SPACE key to insert the "@" and "." characters in an Email field.


10. Press and hold a letter key and roll the trackwheel to scroll through international characters, equation symbols and other marks.


11. Press ALT + SPACE to open the Select Symbol screen. Press the associated letter below the symbol that you want to insert into the text.


12. Press ENTER to page down in an open message.


13. Press ALT+ENTER to page up in an open message.


14. Press T to go to the top and B to go to the bottom message, task, memo, or appointment in the list.


15. Press T to go to "Today" in the Calendar screen.


16. Press G to go to a specific date in Calendar the screen.


17. Press C to create a new message, task, or appointment in the Messages, Saved Messages, Calendar, and Tasks functions.


18. Press ALT+O to view only the sent messages in the Messages screen.


19. Press ALT+I to view only the received messages in the Messages screen.


20. In the Home screen, hold the ALT key and click the trackwheel to select an icon. Roll the trackwheel to move the icon to another position and click the trackwheel to "drop" it into the new position.
    

Have another one that we haven't listed? Let us know about it!

KidConnect Plans From T-Mobile

Merle Ihne, III
Gopher Wireless
www.GopherWireless.com

Your child wants a phone, but your afraid of overage charges?

That’s where the KidConnect plan from T-Mobile comes in. With this, your child can have a phone, and you will never get charged for any overages.

Basics of the KidConnect plan:

• Child can select any T-Mobile phone.
• Child can use the phone to call you or receive calls from you on your T-Mobile phone anytime.
• Child can call any other T-Mobile phone in the US at any time.
• Child can call any US number during the weekends.
• Child gets 50 Whenever Minutes to use whenever they please during weekdays.
• Child can trade one Whenever Minute for 4 text messages.
• When the 50 Whenever Minutes are used up, the phone doesn’t allow the child to make calls that would result in overages.
• The child will still be able to make/receive calls to/from the parents’ T-Mobile phone(s), any other T-Mobile phone in the US, any US number on the weekend and to 911 in case of an emergency.
  

All for only $19.99 a month. Must be added to an existing T-Mobile plan.

Second option: $29.99/month gives you:

• 1000 text, instant, picture or video messages.
• 75 Whenever Minutes
  

This is the best way to allow your kids to have a phone to be able to keep in touch and you won’t have to worry about overages – ever. Contact us for getting your children hooked up with a new phone that won't surprise you when the bill comes.

Keeping Your Phone Number

Merle Ihne, III
Gopher Wireless
www.GopherWireless.com

Local Number Portability means that you can keep your phone number and bring it to your new carrier. That gives you a lot of freedom!

Tips when porting your number to a new company:

· Switch only if you don't have a long-term contract. Otherwise the penalties -- early termination charges, for example -- will make any change costly. Added to the cost of a new phone, they could offset any potential benefits. You may want to wait 'til the day after your current contract ends.

· Most cellular providers' early termination fees are $150 to $200. Cellular One's early termination fee is $20 per month remaining on the contract for each line of service. So leaving Cellular One with one line a month early would only cost $20 instead of $150-200.

· Do not cancel your account with your current provider. If you cancel you will not have your number anymore to port to another company.

· Do your switching through official carrier stores. The guys at your local electronics and one-stop phone shops aren't up to speed on number portability.

· If you don't currently have a cell phone with a SIM card, back up your cell phone contact-list data on your computer, unless you want to spend an entire weekend punching phone numbers into your new handset.

· Want to keep your current phone? Your current phone may not work with your new carrier. Ask prospective new carriers if your current phone will work with their network.

· Bring a copy of your latest cell phone bills. It has information including account number needed to complete the transition of porting your number to your new carrier.

· Expect a delay. Most numbers will be ported within a few hours. But it may take up to 24 hours to complete the transition to your new phone. This means that you should carry both your new and old phones with you for a day.

· Be aware that when terminating service with a wireless company, you may be obligated to pay any early termination fees under your existing contract. Also, when terminating service with any company, you are usually required to pay any outstanding balance owed. Review your bill or contract to determine what fees or charges apply. Once you request service from the new company, however, your old company may not refuse to port your number, even if you owe money for an outstanding balance or termination fee.

For more info on this, look at the story at: www.gopherwireless.com/lnp.

ICE - In Case of Emergency

Do you have someone that you would want called ice case of an emergency?

Example: You are in a car accident and are unconscious when the paramedics arrive. You are taken to the hospital and will be okay, but you are in critical condition. Who would the hospital personnel contact?

One solution is to add an ICE number to your phone. ICE is an acronym for In Case of Emergency. This way someone can scroll down your list of contacts until they get to ICE. Then they can call that person and explain to them where you are and how you are doing.


Just add a contact in your phone. When you are entering their name, start with ICE-________ and fill in their name in the blank. As you can see in the picture, this says ICE-Mom&Dad. Enter the contact number they can be reached at most of the time.

You may want to have backup ICE numbers. In this case, in order to make sure they are called in the right order, enter them as ICE 1-_________, ICE 2-__________, etc...

I hope you will take advantage of this safety tip but never have to have it used. As they said on Hill Street Blues, "Let's be careful out there."

Merle Ihne, III
Gopher Wireless
www.GopherWireless.com