[w1L50n]

Background:
I have only had 1 smartphone and it was a Blackberry Storm1; I only had it for a few months before it was jacked in SE Asia. Now I'm thinking about getting another, but my experience is limited to a few months with the Storm (no wifi on that one). To further complicate my decisions, I live 1/2 the year in Canada and the other 1/2 in Vietnam.

At the top of my decision tree is a wifi question. The Storm didn't have wifi so I'm clueless.
True or False....
Wifi is a completely separate method from whatever Data plan I may or may not have? To rephrase...A smartphone, say with NO data plan, can still access the internet using, for example, a free wifi in a cafe? GPS (where am I?), browser and dLoad some tune...all possible using wifi with no data plan??

Please note, I am not asking Blackberry specific questions; it is simply the extent of my current experience, but I am ultimately trying to decide on a new phone...not necessarily Blackberry (very Android curious actually).

Thanks in advance for the initial direction
w1L50n

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[D.Dark]

The wifi connection is not bound on your provider. As long as the phone unit you have has Wi-fi and it is compatible with the devices your connecting for your wifi.. then that's good enough. Be it an Xperia, BlackBerry, Palm or iPhone or other manufacturers. It is not completely bound to your subscription.

[Hachiko]

D. Dark is spot on. The one you are referring to I believe is 3G which is the one that is bound to a data plan but not wifi.