I have AT&T & Curve 8300 running BIS - Can I upgrade-

Question

to version 2.5 of the device firmware along with the companion v4.5 or 4.6 desktop software?
Here's a little background:
I bought my Curve last fall at an AT&T store.  I had been a quite satisfied Palm customer since 1994 and so had accumulated over 1500 very detailed contact records, as well lots and lots of appointments.  But I had to return my latest Palm device, a Treo 680 within the 30 day warranty period due to a severe problem with battery life.  To my frank amazement, it stay charged up enough for use for more 3-4 hours at a time.  (I'm a heavy data user but not that heavy!)  So I decided to make the big switch, thinking that Palm technology was becoming obsolete anyway and the company's future was in doubt. 
It turns out this was a really good move, except for one thing:  with the Treo I had become acustomed to not needing to lug my laptop around on planes, etc. because I could do most anything I needed on the Palm, including most MS Office work via the Dataviz software product Documents To Go.   While this software was not yet available for BB at the time, I was told that this was coming in a few months.  So I decided to get by without MS Office temporarily - really meaning only the loss of MS Word and Excel because I knew that the Curve integrated well with MS Outlook. 
But what I didn't expect was to still be waiting 15 months later!
As I say, I've been very happy with my Curve and Dataviz did in fact come out with the BB platform support a few months ago.  However, the issue remaining is that this software requires me to upgrade to at least v4.5 BB Desktop (I'm running 4.3 now) and to upgrade to Curve firmware version 2.5 (I'm running firmware v2.4.2 now). 
 I was in contact with AT&T "support" again today and I'm still being stonewalled. The trouble is AT&T only supports the software versions I'm running now and apparently have no plans to support anything newer.
Obviously there are no worries about running desktop v4.5, but I have two specific questions about the v2.5 firmware:
1.  Can I upgrade the firmware to 2.5 and still safely receive AT&T voice and BIS data services?  I guess what I'm really asking is whether there are compatiability issues I shold be aware of???
2. If I find later that have any issues, or AT&T arrests me (kidding, sort of) can I safely downgrade back to firmware v2.2.4?
I don't care a wit about whether AT&T offically supports these O/S versions.  There little of that expected or needed anyway.  What I'm asking is "will it work technically or is AT&T doing something funky on their network with file transfer protocols, etc.?"
Any feedback here will be much appreciated!
Rodger Beard
Solved!
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Answer 1

1) Use the link below to your model. 
2) Do a complete backup with Desktop Manager. I always do that, AND sync my data/contacts, calendar, to Outlook as well, to be safe.
3) Follow the instructions in the link EXACTLY as posted, and IN ORDER as posted, and you will be fine.
If you have an 8300:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-8300-serie​s-discussion-curve/151848-latest-os-8300-v4-5-0-10​...
for the 8310:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-8300-serie​s-discussion-curve/153055-latest-os-8310-4-5-0-108​...
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