Forgive me for my sheer ignorance. I don't even know how to change my ringtones, much less check my email on my new phone. So I apologize in advance if I offend anyone with my simplistic question.

I'm going to Italy tomorrow. I understand that it is possible to get a SIM card there, in Italy, to put into my 7100g (Cingular), so that I can use my phone while there. How do I do this? Is there anything I need to do in advance? Where would one go, once in country, to find such a card? Is it easy? "Legal"?

Any advice you blackberry veterans could offer would be very much appreciated.

Hi Jill -

The first question to answer is do you have an unlocked BlackBerry. The carriers lock their devices so they will only work with their SIM cards. So they can recoup the cost of subsidizing the price of the BlackBerry. Unless the 7100g is unlocked, you can not do this. That's the information you need up front.

It is legal to put in another SIM card.

Why not just have Cingular enable international roaming?

Internation roaming is super expenisive compared to using a prepaid sim card in another country if you intend to make call within the country you are visiting. As for the phone, I know with TMO, you have to be a customer in good standing for 90 days before they will unlock it. Even then, it takes about a week for them to send you the code to unlock your phone. If you are leaving tomorrow, you are pretty much screwed into internation roaming.