Disclaimer: I don't work for Rogers, and all this information may be wrong. If you don't understand this explanation, call Rogers at 1-877-CAN-PAGE and have them explain it to you. :-)
The retail experience of buying my BlackBerry was great. Justin and Steve and the staff at the Ottawa Carlingwood mall Rogers were very helpful. Great job, guys!
However, I found the "out-of-box" experience for my BlackBerry pretty bad - the setup instructions were not very well structured - for instance, if you followed the BlackBerry "Getting Started" guide before you read a "Start here" page buried as the last page under the service agreement in an "Important Information" folder, you got confused - well, I got confused. Haven't these people bought a Dell? The worst was the ridiculous wireless support customer satisfaction telephone survey, but I digress. After I finally got the thing activated, I found the mail systems (yes, there are two) totally confusing. I'm not the only one, because it was the most frequently-asked-question I was e-mailed about (until I put this page up, I hope). Anyhow, here is my take on it. Like many things, it is simple once you know it.
System #1: Electricwebmail
First, forget about the BlackBerry. Think about plain, normal, webmail, like Hotmail or a zillion other similar systems. They all have a web interface, with folders, composition windows, etc. Let's call it Rogers electricwebmail - because that's what the system is called. Now in the Rogers version of electricwebmail, you get a mailbox of 4Meg. That's the size of the mailbox on the web, not your BlackBerry mailbox. (Remember, I said forget about BlackBerry for a second.) You can get this increased to 10Meg, and pay extra. Why is beyond me.
Now, in electricwebmail, you can make folders, you can enter a signature, you can make filters, yada yada yada. The important thing to remember is all this stuff applies to the web interface only. In the web interface, there are two options to worry about. The first allows you to setup auto-deletion. Messages so many days old get deleted. Remember, you have a 4Meg limit, so when that limit is reached, then POW! - bounced e-mail. The second is POP mailboxes. If you specify another mailbox here, then mail from that account is moved over to electricwebmail. "Moved" means a copy is brought over, and the message is deleted over at the other server. Most web interfaces allow the choice between "move" and "copy." No choice here. There must be a good reason for this, but I find it really dumb.
So far we have a fairly standard webmail-type interface. Big deal. Where does the BlackBerry fit in? In only one way. Every message received in the electricwebmail inbox goes to the BlackBerry. None of the other stuff matters - the filters, signatures, etc., you defined in electricwebmail do diddly-squat from the BlackBerry perspective. They only apply if you access electricwebmail directly, via the web. Why this isn't documented anywhere I could find (and believe me I looked) is one of those "It is intuitively obvious once you know it" things. (Note also that you cannot access the web interface of electricwebmail from the BlackBerry - electricwebmail uses Javascript or Active server pages or something, so Go.Web can display the page, sorta, but not do anything. Again, there must be a good reason ...)
Right. Now look on the side of the Rogers electricwebmail web page, and you'll see the "Activate BlackBerry" and "BlackBerry settings" buttons. You have to put another username and password here, which can have no relation to anything else. Whoah! Now there's a whole bunch more settings, with filters, and signature, just like electricwebmail. I'll call this page BlackBerry-land. These are the settings that matter. The filters control how mail goes from electricwebmail to your BlackBerry. The signature here is appended to the end of every message you send from the BlackBerry. The warranty registration and activation applies to your BlackBerry. You get the picture, now, I'm sure.
To recap, someone sends a message to yourid@mobile.rogers.com. The electricwebmail thing receives it. You can see it on electricwebmail, you can reply to it on electricwebmail, etc. - totally independent of BlackBerry. Electricwebmail sends a copy of the message to BlackBerry-land. BlackBerry-land applies its filters, etc., and sends it to your BlackBerry. Simple enough, if it is explained ...
System #2: Wirelessinbox
Now, lots of folks now have multiple e-mail accounts. I have a half-dozen active ones. I want to see that e-mail on my BlackBerry. In fact, I want to send e-mail from the BlackBerry, but have it look like it isn't from the BlackBerry, but from those accounts. I don't want the whole world knowing my mobile address. (An e-mail account that gets no spam is a wonderful thing!) Rogers Wirelessinbox does all that.
Wirelessinbox is another web application - but this one runs on Go.Web. It is totally separate from BlackBerry-land. You access wirelessinbox from the Rogers Go.Web homepage, under "Portals" (and yet another userid and password). The interface isn't as nice as the integrated BlackBerry e-mail application, as it is essentially a web form (and it has the attendant lag). Like a dial-up account, you can only see messages stored on the mail server(s). Most importantly, it doesn't delete messages from the server, it only takes a copy - although a message deleted from wirelessinbox is deleted off your mail server. The messages sent from wirelessinbox carry the "from" line of whatever account you are accessing, and you can reply, forward, etc. However, it is totally separate from BlackBerry software, so the address book, etc., are different - although you can import Outlook contacts via an ActiveX control - see the excellent on-line help (via a desktop browser) for more details. Alerts can also be configured - this sends a message to your BlackBerry account with the subject "You've got mail" (ARGH!) and giving the title and sender of the e-mail received on your other account.
All-in-all, wirelessinbox is a very nice system. However, because of network lag (I hate lag), I use the wirelessinbox only when necessary, and access these other e-mail accounts primarily from my home PC. However, it is very nice to have wirelessinbox when travelling.
Last update February 28, 2001. Copyright 2001 Craig Seko All rights reserved.