[gunar]

Greetings forum members,
I am getting ready to go on a long business trip. Basically I will be all over the place, including but not limited to, France, Italy, Spain, UAE, Philippines (possibly Netherlands and Russia too) I will take an ATT phone with me so family members and few select friends can call me but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with BB service outside the US.
I was thinking about upgrading my current BB service to the International Data Plan and communicate with everyone back home via email while traveling the next couple of months.
I wanted to first check with everyone at BB Forums to see if anyone had any experience with roaming outside the US, particularly in the countries I mentioned above. Thanks in advance to all who take the time to share their experiences.

[djm2]

France, Italy and Netherlands -- I've done OK with GSM roaming and Sprint partners. I suspect that ATT partners should be fine.

[C17Driver]

Wirelessly posted

I have roamed in some of those countries using att. It has worked out really well! No problems with connecting and no hidden bills. I spent 4 months deployed and used my BB to stay in touch.

[gunar]

Thanks for your responses and C17Driver.... thank you for your service!

[C17Driver]

Originally Posted by gunar

Thanks for your responses and C17Driver.... thank you for your service!

Gunar, I appreciate it. I also wanted to add that I used Jivetalk extensively in addition to BIS email and BB browser surfing (news and BBF of course).

The only minor issue I had was that sometimes I would have to manually select the network that I wanted to use. Sometimes my phone would Auto select a provider that didn't offer data services. But it was always an easy fix...

[brkdncr]

my experience is with T-mobile. You'll be fine in those countries. Be aware that the unlimited int'l Blackberry email plan may be for email only, not internet browsing. Check with AT&T first.

[bostonnerd]

I've been to modt of those counties on business and the BB worked flawlessly everwhere. Definately get the AT&T all you can eat data roaming.

You will find that in most of those countries your GSM signal will be pegged at 100% almost everwhere. I've had full signal in basements elevators, etc.

[gunar]

Originally Posted by brkdncr

my experience is with T-mobile. You'll be fine in those countries. Be aware that the unlimited int'l Blackberry email plan may be for email only, not internet browsing. Check with AT&T first.

... will do. Thanks for the heads up!

Originally Posted by bostonnerd

will find that in most of those countries your GSM signal will be pegged at 100% almost everwhere. I've had full signal in basements elevators, etc

I have been to all these countries as well and you are absolutely right about the coverage. So much better than what we have here.

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The only thing I am kind of bummed about is that, if you activate international data roaming, it is for a whole year not for the time you are traveling. (According to ATT web page, I haven't called them yet) Which means I will be paying $60X12=$720.00 for something I will be using for 3 months at the most. Does anyone have a way around this?

[bostonnerd]

Originally Posted by gunar

... will do. Thanks for the heads up!



I have been to all these countries as well and you are absolutely right about the coverage. So much better than what we have here.

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The only thing I am kind of bummed about is that, if you activate international data roaming, it is for a whole year not for the time you are traveling. (According to ATT web page, I haven't called them yet) Which means I will be paying $60X12=$720.00 for something I will be using for 3 months at the most. Does anyone have a way around this?

I've pleaded, threatened, and joked to try and get around this with no luck. Let me know if you get the secret decoder ring working.

[djm2]

[QUOTE=gunar;1055739

The only thing I am kind of bummed about is that, if you activate international data roaming, it is for a whole year not for the time you are traveling. (According to ATT web page, I haven't called them yet) Which means I will be paying $60X12=$720.00 for something I will be using for 3 months at the most. Does anyone have a way around this?[/QUOTE]

That was one advantage of Sprint's roaming contract.

[Ghillie]

I have been in Germany using T-Mobil and T-Mobil D for two years. Be aware that there is an access charge to the local tower - about xxx8364;0.35. Also, recieved calls show xxx8364;1.50 to connect and xxx8364;1.00 per minute. I also got hammered Christmas of 2006 when I thought that I had unlimited browsing. If you buy a local SIM, your Blackberry will always show "Data Connection Refused" and you will be limited to voice and SMS. The charges include Blackberry IM.

Moscow was worse at one time with higher connection and browsing charges (about 2000). I can't imagine they got any cheaper.

In case you need it, the Irachna network works in the central Iraq area. I SMSed for two years there and had data when no one else did. No additional cost, either, but I suspect that was because there was no real accounting and billing going on. You have to do a manual search and lock for Irachna in many places.

I sure hope those C130s are more comfortable up front than they are in back. My 60 year-old butt does not fit web seats any more.

[takeshi]

Originally Posted by gunar

The only thing I am kind of bummed about is that, if you activate international data roaming, it is for a whole year not for the time you are traveling. (According to ATT web page, I haven't called them yet) Which means I will be paying $60X12=$720.00 for something I will be using for 3 months at the most. Does anyone have a way around this?

$60 x 3 + $175 ETF = $355 is your best bet.

Unless you have a time machine to go back before at&t instituted the ETF.

[djm2]

Originally Posted by takeshi

$60 x 3 + $175 ETF = $355 is your best bet.

Unless you have a time machine to go back before at&t instituted the ETF.

Actually, shouldn't you substitute the difference in the cost of the plans, presumably about $20 more per month for international, as opposed to the full $60. This is based on the assumption that the OP would want a "normal" plan under any circumstances.

[TroyDBrown]

Originally Posted by takeshi

$60 x 3 + $175 ETF = $355 is your best bet.

Unless you have a time machine to go back before at&t instituted the ETF.

Or leave AT&T to T-Mobile

$175 ETF (Leaving AT&T) + $20 x 3 (International T-Mobile Data) = $235.00

[gunar]

This has gotten a little more complicated than I had anticipated as far as the pricing is concerned.
I think I am going to go an entirely different route since I called ATT and they were very unwilling to even talk about terminating the international data plan after my return to the States (even though I was going to stay with the unlimited US plan for the remainder of the year)
So in the interest of not letting them make any more money off of me than I can stomach, I have decided to do the following .
I will take my Nokia N95 which has Fring on it. Since I have the ATTWIFI Premier membership, I will use my Skype account at FREE Public Hotspots to call back US (FREE) and check my emails for FREE.
As far as I am concerned ATT could have made 60X3=180 + 30X9=270 Grand total of $450 off of me on the data side, instead I will continue to use my work provided BlackBerry while in the US. I will keep the voice plan I have with them just until the end of my contract term and will make a decision at its conclusion.

[jdacal]

AT&T = Ripoff

[littlemin]

So does the AT&T unlimited international data include e-mail AND browsing? I think Tmo's $20 unlimited international plan only includes e-mail.

I've also read in other threads that sometimes that Tmo users do get charged for data roaming, however, it doesn't apply to everyone so I'm wondering if AT&T's plan is really FREE.

I'm hoping to open account in the States and bring it back to China

[C17Driver]

I get unlimited browsing and email using ATT's international data plan.

[cctraderx]

The T-Mo plan includes data for $20, just make sure you ask for the BB data add on that includes data.

[iporter69]

What about tethering on the T-Mobile or AT&T global roaming unlimited data plans - how do they know you are doing it, and the bigger question - has anyone done it and seen what happens when the billing comes through? I heard they look for large speed increases and assume you are tethering and hit you for it that way.