What are my options? I would like Blackberry service and Data, unlimited preferably. In India I can't figure out a simple plan to give me the blackberry - nothing on their websites seems to indicate what my options are. I will be in the Bangalore area the entire time.

As for the UK, I'll be in London the entire time, and found that O2 had some pay&go plans, and I could get unlimited data, but I didn't see any way to add Blackberry service.

Any suggestions or help? I leave Oct. 1st, so I'm in a bit of a hurry to figure something out.

Your BlackBerry is locked to you carrier so getting a BB plan from another carrier is not goint to work. Unless you can get T-Mobile to release your PIN. Getting an unlimited internation data plan from T-Mobile would be the simplest choice.

Yeah, I resolved that, it's unlocked. Let's assume for a second I'm not a complete noob.

I believe what x14 was saying is that the PIN itself is locked to T-Mobile. As far as I know you won't be able to register blackberry services on any other network. The phone being unlocked has nothing to do with this, unlocked means you can use service on another carrier as a regular phone, blackberry services are completely different. You would most likely have to have T-Mobile delete the blackberry account they have for you, and then register it with each carrier when you are in the country, having them delete the account once you go to the next country. In my opinion that would be more difficult then just getting the unlimited international plan.

Assuming for a second that you are not a complete noob (what does that mean, I wonder; not in a dictionary), what is the problem with paying something like fifty bucks for a month of unlimited international data plan with T-Mobile, much like I do with AT&T. You can always end this plan when you return to the US.

Urban Dictionary: Noob

Anyway - sure but I think the price of getting an O2 SIM card will be less. Yes, I understand the Blackberry PIN issue. What if I don't worry about that part and just want the data for Google maps?

No can do, the EASIEST method will be just getting an unlimited international plan, but if you want to change sim cards, you will have to tell T-Mobile to delete the blackberry service they have for you, then get an O2 Sim Card and tell them to activate the blackberry services. Then when you want to go back to T-Mobile, you will have to tell O2 to remove the blackberry service they have for you and tell T-Mobile to re-enable it.

our postpaid contracts don't run on a minimum rental basis. (in india)

i'm on vodafone IN. I have a postpaid account, and i run on a Rs.1099/- per month blackberry plan, which is different from your phone plan.
I use the Rs.349/- per month phone plan which includes:
- 1000 minutes vodafone to vodafone phone calls free
- 1000 sms text messages to other voda numbers free.

the BB 1099 plan includes:
- Unlimited data access
- unlimited downloads
- unlimited browsing
- receiving mail from up to 10 different email accounts.

this is your best option. I hope this MAY help you, even a bit.
-

Ultimately, the real question is for how long are you gone? Are you talking days or weeks or months in each location? --

If the total is less than 3 months, it remains the easiest and simplest to stick to your provider, and buy unlimited data, or the like.

I suspect many of us are watching this thread. Please let us know your ultimate best solution - even after you get back. Good luck!

the OP hasn't returned.

Maybe he/she went on the trip without us? :(

I often travel to Europe and India. I usually call AT&T before I leave and ask them to activate the $59.99/month: 50 MB Data Global Add-On. I call them upon my return and ask for this be terminated.

With heavy email usuage, including downloads of attached files, and moderate internet surfing, I find myself staying well below the 50MB limit. May even try the $24.00 20MB plan next time.

I suppose clever people may figure out a way to save a few bucks. I wonder, though, how much more money these clever people could make if they devoted this time to making money instead of saving it.

I proceed in the same way as you do Kumar, for my travels... which reminds me I didn't activate my global data add-on...

I fully agree to your last point... We can be silly at times.

Another option would be to use a pay-as-you-go service like RoamForce. I've used their global blackberry sim card, and it works like a charm. Their rates for voice and data are very good, and the nice thing is you are saving on both, not just data. Even if you don't have an unlocked blackberry they can unlock it for you.

If you can live without browsing/maps/attachments, you could just roam. The Blackberry sips data for text-only email (it's compressed too). Depends on your plan, but for example I'm UK based and went to Namibia in Africa for a week. Cost me about $10 in data. YMMV of course.