I travel quite a bit of international per month. I have the BlackBerry 7290 with T-Mobile... $30 for internet/email plus $20 for unlimited international email. So $50 total.

Question...

Should I switch to Cingular and do their Unlimited International Data plan?

Is there any way to tether (hook up) a BlackBerry to my laptop while international? THAT IS THE BIG QUESTION! (maybe the new 8700 allows tethering)

What I want is the cheapest international data/email, with laptop tethering capability.

Let's discuss the options.

This is what I saw on the Cingular website...

BlackBerry® International $69.99 per month**
Use your BlackBerry device to send and receive unlimited e-mail in the U.S. and around the world in over 100 countries. Call 1-866-CINGULAR to sign up now.

Is that $70 total?... or a $70 add-on fee, on top of what you would normally pay for domestic USA BlackBerry service?



Either way, I can get T-Mobile unlimited international email/data for $50 total. So it seems that T-Mobile already has Cingular beat on price.

Cingular's BB International plan is NOT an add-on to the domestic plan. You just pay $70 and you get unlimited BB use both domestically and internationally.

How is your domestic coverage? My company switched our international travellers from T-Mobile to Cingular because of poor T-Mobile coverage within the USA.

We're stuck with Cingular here in Raleigh. The unlimited interational/US data plan is 64.99 if you already have a voice plan with Cingular. However, Cingular CS is so poor that getting a BES hosting service is a must (unless you enjoy getting Cingular to recompute your bill once a month).

So, the bottom line is

Voice plan + 64.99 for data + 20.00 for BES

The other (and really important) issue is how the voice coverage is where you live. If one of the two gets a better signal in your home/office, that's the one to go with.

Why would you need to pay extra for BES hosting if your company hosts its own BES server?

Unless you need to switch to Cingular for domestic coverage, I'd recommend sticking with TMO if you want to tether.

What exactly do you mean? BES isn't necessary for everyone and you're not going to be able to avoid dealing with Cingular just because you have hosted BES.