blackberry help needed

[blackberryhelp]

Can anyone help with a blackberry question. When I went on mat leave a couple of years ago noone asked me for my blackberry back and I forgot to return it. I have just found it now (didnt go back after mat leave). Firstly from a technical point of view is it possible to change it so I can have it set to my own email settings-the key point being-without alerting my old work that I have it? Realistically I wont return it to them now so much time has passed so either I use it or it languishes in a drawer. But being non technically minded I have a vision of turning it on and being tracked down as the criminal I am by my ex employers!!! Or have I watched too much "24"
Any help out there?

This is a tricky one...
If you can still make phonecalls on it then your old company are still paying for the contract, in which case using the phone might be classified as theft - need to check that with the Lawyers! However if you are prepared to take the risk then you may find that you can configure extra email accounts on the blackberry websites. e.g. www.blackberry.orange.co.uk for Orange phones.
Assuming that you get some sort of "No Network / Invalid SIM" message - i.e. they have cancelled the contract, then you should be able to contact the service provider (Orange, Vodaphone etc) and ask for a new SIM for the phone which you will be billed for. You will probably need a new contract though.
However your old company may have taken the extract step of confirming your phone as "Lost/Stolen" in which case when you give the provider the IMEI number of the phone they may tell you that your phone is blocked (permanently) and you may as well chuck it away!.