[TBone2k]

For frak's sake, why can't one of these companies get smart enough to offer a voice and data plan that covers Canada, USA and Mexico? My company is pretty small potatoes and we have plants in all three places and staff who need to go between them. I'm sure there are some really big companies who have lots of people who need to do this sort of thing.

Problem is this, we can get a good cell coverage plan through Verizon, but their data plan sucks. It doesn't work in Mexico at all. Cingular has given us an awesome data rate, but they don't offer cell packages outside of the US.

I won't even get into the crazy setup that the Canadian companies have. Neither Roger's nor Bell offer any sort of deal that would help us.

No matter what, we have to have a cell plan that covers Mexico, otherwise roaming charges are like $3.00/min, plus a .15/min tax Mexico has just started.

We can't be the only ones who have an issue like this. What are others out there doing?

[NJBlackBerry]

Paying the roaming charges.

[billclark]

There's no way your roaming charges in Canada and Mexico are $3/min. I have a Cingular corporate account and I have users that travel in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and most of Central America... the most expensive our roaming charges get is $1.75/min in most of the Central American countries.

If you do business in multiple countries, expect to pay roaming charges. It's a cost of doing business as an international company or corporation. It sucks, but everyone wants your money in some way or another

[ndub33]

It wasn't all that long ago that roaming was $3.00 a minute in parts of the U.S. The carriers overall have done a fairly decent job of driving down a charge that was a universal sore point for wireless customers for a long time.

The truth is, International roaming agreements cost carriers money. I'm not naive enough to believe that all they are doing is defraying costs, but it is a factor.

[TBone2k]

Originally Posted by billclark

There's no way your roaming charges in Canada and Mexico are $3/min.

I'll be glad to show you a copy of my Roger's bill. The charged me $3/min and now there's an additional .15 tax. I agree that Cingular has a better plan for Mexico, but they don't have a plan for Canada, so I'd be roaming 75% of the time.

The plan so far seems to be two devices, a Cingular BB and a verizon phone.

[ron.pepper@sympatico.ca]

Originally Posted by TBone2k

For frak's sake, why can't one of these companies get smart enough to offer a voice and data plan that covers Canada, USA and Mexico? My company is pretty small potatoes and we have plants in all three places and staff who need to go between them. I'm sure there are some really big companies who have lots of people who need to do this sort of thing.

Problem is this, we can get a good cell coverage plan through Verizon, but their data plan sucks. It doesn't work in Mexico at all. Cingular has given us an awesome data rate, but they don't offer cell packages outside of the US.

I won't even get into the crazy setup that the Canadian companies have. Neither Roger's nor Bell offer any sort of deal that would help us.

No matter what, we have to have a cell plan that covers Mexico, otherwise roaming charges are like $3.00/min, plus a .15/min tax Mexico has just started.

We can't be the only ones who have an issue like this. What are others out there doing?

I am with Rogers Canada and I have the North Amrerican One Write plan which covers all my travels and L.D. charges accross North America, nowhere near the $3/min. I dont know about Mexico. When I travel to the USA obviously Rogers partnered with other carriers like T=Mobil etc cause that's what displays on my phone as the service provider.

[southwestcomm]

Sprint offers excellent international rates for Canada and Mexico.

[kahenya]

What about the rest of the world? Europe????

[Aroc]

I know Cingular's international voice and BB BES Data work in UK, India, and China. I haven't tried Latin America, but a collegue has T-Mo, and reports little problems in Latin America.

We're headquartered in the United States. We dumped Verizon and Nextel to go to Cingular for better international coverage and better voice/data rates. WE initially dumped T_Mobile due to poor in building reception (in the United States). International reception was fine for the most part.

I don't see the bills at work, but I can assure you we are not getting raped. Maybe it's just the 'Robbers network (er, Rogers).

[angel36]

T-Mobile is 99 cents a min. and Singlebar, umm I mean, Cingular is $1.29 a min or 99 cents if you pay $5 extra a month in Europe. In general TMo is cheaper for international roaming, but there are places where Cingular is a better bet.

[Wandrwoman]

Originally Posted by Aroc

I know Cingular's international voice and BB BES Data work in UK, India, and China. I haven't tried Latin America, but a collegue has T-Mo, and reports little problems in Latin America.

We're headquartered in the United States. We dumped Verizon and Nextel to go to Cingular for better international coverage and better voice/data rates. WE initially dumped T_Mobile due to poor in building reception (in the United States). International reception was fine for the most part.

I don't see the bills at work, but I can assure you we are not getting raped. Maybe it's just the 'Robbers network (er, Rogers).

I am an independant consultant working from home in NYC. I travel throughout the US frequently and overseas to China, India, Europe, Mexico at least once or twice a year. I currently have a simple Verizon cell with camera which is coming off plan in one month. I like Verizon in the US as I find it the most reliable and the service the best....at least in the Eastern US. I used to have an additional plain vanilla TMobile cell which I only used when traveling overseas. I paid a small monthly charge and then suffered the charges when overseas.....at least I had cell phone service when traveling....it was sort of the best-worst of both worlds. Now that my Verizon plan is expiring, I am now thinking that I would get a BB but I am totally confused which service and what model BB to get. Should I combine the phone service and bb on one device, with say Verizon or Cingular or should I continue with a Verizon phone and get a BB with possibly TMobile with or without phone service? The Pearl is a nice device but the screen looks very small. Should I be using the BB for everything, phone, data, internet or just as a data/internet device? Thanks for anyone's advice here.

[David B]

I have been with Cingular for 2-1/2 years, although just switched phones to BB Pearl in January. If you have Cingular, and travel to Canada and/or Mexico, call up and ask to be switched to the North America plan. Reps may not know about this, so be persistent. Cost is a bit more per month, but no roaming, so if you travel often, it pays to switch. Then, you only use minutes.

[Dawg]

Important Notice About Increase in Mexico Roaming Rate
Effective July 1, 2007, the rate for making and receiving calls while
roaming on participating carriers networks in Mexico will increase from a
flat rate of $0.69 per minute, to a flat rate of $0.99 per minute. Global
Phone GSM airtime rates will not be impacted by this change. For more
information, please visit www.verizonwireless.com/international and
select 'International Roaming'. Please consult your Customer Agreement
for information about rate changes.

[BallHawk3]

Originally Posted by southwestcomm

Sprint offers excellent international rates for Canada and Mexico.

+1

Sprint has benifited from the merger, cause Nextel had great rates for Mexico and south america.