I have been using Blackberry service in Shenzhen since 2009. I first made a contract with China Mobile using BES (Blackberry Enterprise Service) , I had to spend a year paying over 1000 RMB (150 US$) realizing that the service was not worth it, I cancelled it when the year was over and spent around 3 months waiting so see if China Unicom would come up with Blackberry Service.

And so it was, China Unicom opened up Blackberry (BIS) service in July 01st 2011 . After struggling a while with the service staff over the application for this service I can give you a small list of details for you to open up a Blackberry Internet Service in China Unicom :

1. You need a 3G SIM Card.It means if you do not have it you need to change your phone number, they usually start with the prefix 186 . It is around 200 RMB,

2. You need to apply for Blackberry service. the Best plan is 98 RMB every month. they give you around 150 mb per month.

3. Need to go to a China Unicom service centre, the authorized resellers are not authorized to apply for this plan.

4. If you do not have a Blackberry Smartphone that supports 3G , it does not matter, buy the SIM card anyway, you will be connected with EDGE by default. I checked with a 8520 .

5. after you are set, you need to register at :  chinaunicom.blackberry.com  to create your BIS Account. Before registering restart your handset, if you do not see EDGE or Blackberry symbol next to the 3G you need to go to your host table setting and request for your device registration with the system, it’s not to common but it can happen. Your device will notify you about this and give you the exact instructions.

6. when you have registered your BIS account you are ready to go….

I usually pay around 200 RMB every month and service is stable within the city limits.