International BlackBerry Compatibility Guide

To use a BlackBerry internationally, you must use a GSM compatible BlackBerry. This means North American users must go with Rogers, AT&T, Cingular, or T-Mobile, or go with an International carrier that sells one of the compatible BlackBerry models. As long as the carrier has GPRS capability for their GSM network, and your home carrier has a roaming agreement to roam onto their network, then BlackBerry should work even if that network isn't BlackBerry compatible. (However, you must use a SIM card from a BlackBerry-compatible network.)

"Domestic" = Inside North America
"International" = Outside North America
"XX" = A number that is 58, 62, 67, 72, or 77.

BEST UNIVERSAL WORLDPHONES (BOTH DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL)
XX90
7100 series

BEST UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL BLACKBERRIES
XX20
XX30
XX90

BEST UNIVERSAL DOMESTIC BLACKBERRIES
XX80
XX90

GOOD INTERNATIONAL BLACKBERRY
XX10

CONDITIONAL DOMESTIC BLACKBERRY - LESS RECEPTION ON SOME CARRIERS
XX10
XX30

CONDITIONAL INTERNATIONAL BLACKBERRY - LESS RECEPTION, ONLY SOME COUNTRIES
XX80

WILL NOT WORK INTERNATIONALLY
XX50
5790

WILL NOT WORK DOMESTICALLY
XX20



Listing Of Frequencies

Where XX is either 58, 62, 67, 72, or 77.
Countries inside North America use 850 Mhz or 1900 Mhz or both.
Countries outside of North America use 900 Mhz or 1800 Mhz or both.

XX10 - 900/1900 Mhz GSM
XX20 - 900/1800 Mhz GSM
XX30 - 900/1800/1900 Mhz GSM
XX50 - CDMA (North America only)
XX80 - 850/1800/1900 Mhz GSM
XX90 - 850/900/1800/1900 Mhz GSM

EXCEPTIONS
6500 series - iDEN
7500 series - iDEN
5790 model - Mobitex
7100 series - GSM (quadband like XX90 universal worldphone)



International Roaming Agreements, Rates, Data Roaming

• Check Rogers Roaming
• Check Cingular Roaming
• Check T-Mobile Roaming

The 75xx and 65xx phones should roam into Telus and NII in Mexico and South America for voice service. Telus offers iDEN Blackberries so there is a good possibility that you can use data on the Telus network from the US (or vice versa)

NII doesn't offer a Blackberry so iDEN blackberries might not have full functionality in their network. (I guess you'd have to look at the NXTL to see what services are showing)

NEXTEL's data services will work on any international iDEN network. Nextel's Blackberry service utilizes the same packet data network that is used by the Direct Connect feature and other data related services.

As for the roaming units....and taking your nextel blackberry and voice service world wide:

above is effective 1/1/05

Interesting, I wasn't aware the Nextel SIMs would work in a GSM phone.

Still it is odd they chose tri-band GSM over quad-band.

Not odd at all; the 4th (quad) band you refer to is the 850 MHz GSM band, which is used in North America. Since Nextel operates in North America and will not roam onto GSM networks in North America, there is no need for the 850 MHz band.

Same holds true for the new converged CDMA/GSM phones (like the Samsung A790), which uses CDMA for North America and GSM for international use. It has 900 and 1800 GSM bands, which are used outside of North America.

Ok, I guess that makes more sense now.

Does the 69.99 plan let you have unlimited data (eg web browsing) or only
unlimited email?

Does cingular make a distinction?

Does the answer change if I'm on BES or BWC?

(edit on 5/7/05)

Finally found an answer from Cingular!

http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-blackberry-discussion/7972-billing-code-cingular-internation-add-plan.html

I have heard the 7250 works for roaming in some countries that have CDMA.

So, what countries have you heard it works in. 'Cause I don't think so....

Australia on Telstra CDMA and Israel on Pelephone. I was quite surprised when the IT guy of a company we deal with told me this. They are on BES 4 and use Telus 7250's.

a colleague at work claims that Verizon will be coming out with an international BB sometime next year. Anyone know if there's any truth to that?

TIA

I am going to travel to Hawaii in April 2006.
I am wondering if my Blackberry 8700r will be functional in Hawaii ?
I am planning to use it only for email purposes.

Dont know about Rogers, but this past May, I still had a Nextel 7520, and it worked just fine in Maui....

I know I have a few European business trips on the drawing board, am I safe to assume if I bought an unlocked 7290 and bought SIM cards in the country I was traveling in and that phone company allowed BB service that my phone would still have the same PIN number?

So many decisions, so little time. I want to get a Blackberry (prefeered, for qwerty and e-mail, no phone) that will work in Qatar and Kuwait. I would like to tether it for my laptop surfing, and I want it all for a flat rate. The options I have seen are Cingular, but they disallow tethering, and T-Mobile who allows tethering but I don't know if a salespersom looking at an Excel spreadsheet gives me comfy feelings on what I can get. Am I missing anything, anyone?

I wonder if we should update the faq to mention that the xx50 phones will work as phones internationally on CDMA networks as long as the carrier supports voice roaming (i.e. Asia and Australia use CDMA) But apparently data roaming is not possible.

I'm sorry to break this to you, but QTel (Qatarnet) does not allow GPRS roaming, and thus does not allow BlackBerry. It works great for a phone, but you will not have any e-mail service. You MIGHT be able to use it in Kuwait as there is a Vodafone network there.

Rats, just saw that today. Well there may not be Internet via BB in Qatar but there may be Internet locally via an ISP. Cingular says there is BB mail for sure, heck, salespeople will say anything.

We have a BES 4.0 w 5 Bell BlackBerry 7250's on it. Our CEO wants the ability to roam in the Caribbean. Currently, Rogers is the only one that currently supports roaming via GSM (I don't think that the Caribbean islands support CDMA, and even if they dis, you cannot get data, right?).
What my question is is this; Can I have a BES with 5 Bell/7250 and then buy a Rogers/7100r, will the BES be able to communicate with the new phone? I will have to buy a new licence for the BES.

Thanks!

Yes.... Carriers have nothing to do with BES's functionality.

Can anyone suggest where I can rent a T-mobile blackberry for an upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic?

T-mobile has a GPRS roaming agreement with the local provider in the DR but Rogers does not.

I'd like to be able to rent a Blackberry on the T-mobile network for about 10 days.

Thanks.

It has nothing to do with the phone, its about the SIM. If Rogers doesn't have a roaming agreement, if you rent a phone and put the Rogers SIM in, it won't work, plus the ID for the Blackberry will be different and you won't be able to access your email, if my understanding of how the blackberry identifies itself is true.

Yes, I know -- I am looking to rent a T-mobile Blackberry -- the unit and a T-mobile sim card included.

i am getting some from pacebutler and recellular but most are locked can you assit with leade wher i can unlock or buy in lots of 20 pcs under $20
regards
sms 254722520083
oliver

From what I have learned, No Blackberry will work in Japan
Is this correct?

There are rumors that the new 8707 being released in Europe will be UTMS ready which would mean you could use it in Japan if it is correct.

I'm packing for Qatar now and still have not bought a Blackberry. TMO says no data, Cingular says they have data. In the shortest sentence I can make, what I want is "Unlimited International Tethering." That gets funny looks form the salespeople. Sigh, I may never get this worked out in time.

Hi guys/gals,
Was wondering if anyone can help me out on this little problem I'm having. I currently own a BB which is connected a corporate BES as well as to a BIS (retrieving gmail) based in Malaysia. As I spend the majority of my time in London, I own a local british (o2) sim card. I was adviced by my telephone operator in Malaysia that if I were to change any sim card and put it on my bb, as long as the sim was blackberry data enabled, I would be able to retrieve emails from the BES back in Malaysia as well as emails from the BIS (I presume this works as emails from the BIS and BES forward emails to the BB using the BB's PIN). So recently I upgraded my o2 sim to be blackberry enabled and popped it into my bb. True enough, emails from the BIS work fine but however contact with the BES was stopped as I could no longer retrieve/send emails from my corporate email address as well as perform OTA synchronsiations. Any suggestions as to why this occurred?

Anyone?

can anyone tell me how to unlock my 7520. i need the code and info on how to input it. imei: 01000135040190 thank you

hi there:it is much cheaper to buy a bb even the models 7100 working perfect
if no simlock.but every good celular repair store deblogs for 5-10$ this models and for abr30$ the 8100,8700,8707 or 8800 models.if you dont want to go in a store send an email to johanna in miami .
good priced for perfect working units you find in ebay.she deblogs by phone!
we use in our company many of the oldtimers like7100T and they work
in all gsm nets worldwide.you must look if gprs shows up in big letters like
GPRS this mean the BB is working fine.
recently I bought a prepaid simcardfor bb who works in more the 10 countries!
the ebay nr is 140 140 029 519.this card can be recharged worldwide from the provider.
greetings from tenerife
jimmy