[weasieg247]

I am a Blackberry neophyte, so bear with me. I recently took my Blackberry to Mexico (Cancun). Before leaving my service provider (using the AT&T network) assured me that I could use the phone/email/web features. No service for me in Mexico. On return I was told it was because I was not paying for international service.

So, my question is if I go ahead and buy the international service will I receive my emails in Greece or really anywhere outside of the US?

Thank you

[NJBlackBerry]

What model BlackBerry do you have?

Cingular has an interactive web site - http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/int...guide/wtg.html - where you can check their roaming agreements. Check out the roaming costs from the Cingular web site.

Activating your phone for international service should not cost you anything. They offer some sort of unlimited international plan, but that is not necessary for the casual traveler and is not required.

[weasieg247]

Thanks for that web site, informative. I have a 7210 through Cincinnati Bell and I have to pay them around $3 a month for international service. I understand the roaming charges on the cingular web site. Will I receive my emails though? I was so hoping Mexico would be a good test run for the Blackberry.

Appreciate your feedback.

[NJBlackBerry]

You have to check with Cincinnati Bell.
The carriers have roaming agreements with carriers outside of North America.
Wow. $3/month for International Service. What a rip-off.

[hughvh]

As long has your BB can roam on a GSM network, you should be fine. You hit the only speed bump, letting your carrier know that you will be traveling internationally and need international voice and data roaming enabled.

When you call Cincinnati Bell, ask for their International Customer Service number. They should give you a NON toll free number you can call when outside of the country. (Toll Free service only works in the US.) I don't know about Cincinnati Bell, but AT&T Wireless's International Help Desk would call you back so you do have to worry about long distance charges.

[weasieg247]

Thank you all so much...middle aged busines woman trying to stay on top of things..it is not easy! Any other input appreciated. I will try to requestion Cincinnati Bell, but unfortunatetly you have to go through the middle man (call center).

[jmob]

Any luck with using the BB in Greece? Have a similar trip to Skopelos and wonder how to make it work.

Thanks!
JMOB

[thriller]

which SIM card provider will work with the BB, meaning which SIM card can have emaill access. can i forward my email to that sim card that will have it's own address.

[Modernceo]

I just got back from a 10 day trip to Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and London.

My blackberry worked perfectly as a phone, and for email there througout with NO service problems whatsoever. Im very happy.

Ps, im with Cingular, and have a 8700C.

[thriller]

what provider has blackberry support in Greece ?

[Modernceo]

Originally Posted by thriller

what provider has blackberry support in Greece ?

Originally Posted by modernceo

Ps, im with Cingular, and have a 8700C.

[stufried]

Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry

You have to check with Cincinnati Bell.
The carriers have roaming agreements with carriers outside of North America.
Wow. $3/month for International Service. What a rip-off.

There is no charge for basic interntional roaming on Cingular. Cingular has to international add-ons which are in the price range you are talking about. The first is a discounted international calling plan. For $3 a month they promise to only rob (as opposed to rape) you on international calls. There is also an Intrnational Traveler Plan for $6 a month which gives you a similar "discount" on voice calls when roaming outside the country.

For $20 over Basic Blackberry Service, you can get international Blackberry service which means you don't pay a per megabyte fee when roaming internationally. I'm not sure if this is available to "Blue customers." If you don't have it, I would reframe from web surfing or opening attachments when in Greece to the extent possible. You can pack alot of e-mails into a single meg of data. It is the other stuff that will kill you.

You should certainly call customer support and request interntional roaming (including data roaming) be activated on your phone. My Cingular blackberry has been to numerous countries and normally works perfectly. Once and a while, it will take several hours for data roaming to get turned on in a giving country (voice is instant).

[thriller]

i ment to say which provider in Greece is able to help me with setting up a temp bb account while i am there. I know about the North American providers support, looking for support in Greece. THis sould clear things up

[stufried]

Originally Posted by thriller

i ment to say which provider in Greece is able to help me with setting up a temp bb account while i am there. I know about the North American providers support, looking for support in Greece. THis sould clear things up

You're not going to be able to do Blackberry on any prepaid plan that I know of. Cosmotel has contract Blackberry service there.

The url for Cosmote is Cosmote dot GR. Because I am a newbee on this forum, I cannot directly post a url. You might also want to talk to the folks at prepaidgsm dot net. It is a forum devoted to prepaid SIM issues. There is a fair amount of data questions on the forum. The current prepaid roaming favorite is a SIM card from the Italian provider Wind which for 20 Euros a month gives you 200 megs worth of downloads on most EU networks. (On Italian networks, it is 2 gigs). The problem is that a straight GPRS, EDGE, or UMTs connection won't get you Blackberry service.

[thriller]

all i need is to forward my email to my phone, you think that forwarding the email to SMS might work ?

[stufried]

In looking throught he old archives, I found a thread on "BYO Blackberry" where a few people managed to get Blackberry's (with BES enabled ) running on straight GPRS accounts. The disclaimer posted to the account makes it clear that this is not with every provider, but I wanted to pass this piece of information on.

[thriller]

Has anyone heard of Areeba, this is based in Cyprus and are getting a GRPS service in December. Will email them and find out if i can get the BB to work with that provider