Original Droid - Email Questions

[nmcentire]

So I had a Droid Eris, and the digitizer got shattered, so I am using a loaner Droid until I can afford a Bionic.

I had this problem on the Eris as well...but...

I can receive my IMAP email on my university account, however I can't send mail. The university has it blocked, and I have to use my own ISP SMTP.

Looking around, I found that Verizon's SMTP server is "outgoing.verizon.net" with port 25. It also says you have to sign up for vtext.com - however when I went to vtext.com it says that it's a service that will require more charges. And it also appears that emails are severely limited (basically you can send a text message that impersonates an email as I understand it). So...my question is, is there a way to send email on a Droid, through the mobile network, without having to pay extra fees on top? That's what the data package is for, right?