Travel Technology - I just found out that Nextel Blackberry 7100 works in South Korea

I just arrived in South Korea and I am at my hotel and I just found out that my nextel blackberry 7100 works in South Korea. It does not seem like the data services work but I had turned my phone to get some contact information and it started trying to get a signal. It picked up a signal. I did not think much of it because I've had it pick up signals before but with nothing else. It was strange that when I picked up the phone it said "You have 20 messages" I know that when I left JFK this morning there were none because I had gone through all of my voicemail. I usually rent a cell phone at ICN and so I went to check my nextel voicemail with my South Korean rental phone. Wouldn't you know it my nextel phone started ringing. My cellphone plan from the rental place is alot better so I don't intend on using my nextel phone but it was kind of cool. The nextel site did not offer it last time when I traveled to South Korea but it shows it now but it says only a few models but not the blackberries. Anyway wanted to report. I still have not figured out how to dial out with the phone.

Nextel also works in Singapore, also with no data services. The Taxi drivers all use them (as I understand is the case with Korea).

Amazingly, there are iDEN networks other than in North America.

Quite a few countries have Nextel service. Quite a few more have iDEN networks but don't allow roaming. The current list from Nextel is :

Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Israel, Singapore, Jordan, South Korea, Guam, and the Philippines.

Not bad considering South Korea is otherwise such a PITA for us GSM folk. I wonder if slipping a GSM SIM into a Nextel Phone would work there????? I have a Nextel so that'll be a major timesaver. I can't imagine getting a PTT call at 3 AM ICN time though!!!

Nextel also works in Singapore, also with no data services. The Taxi drivers all use them (as I understand is the case with Korea).

Amazingly, there are iDEN networks other than in North America.

I'm not sure about the i series (i90,i870,i8 whatever) or the pure nextel phones but the blackberry data services do work in Singapore.

Quite a few countries have Nextel service. Quite a few more have iDEN networks but don't allow roaming. The current list from Nextel is :

Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Israel, Singapore, Jordan, South Korea, Guam, and the Philippines.

Not bad considering South Korea is otherwise such a PITA for us GSM folk. I wonder if slipping a GSM SIM into a Nextel Phone would work there????? I have a Nextel so that'll be a major timesaver. I can't imagine getting a PTT call at 3 AM ICN time though!!!

The people at the airport use iden push to talk. They use iden phones but when I was at the carousel for three years I would try to see if my nextel phone would work. It would search for a signal and then instead of nextel it would say some other thing. I would try dialing anything and I would get an operator.

I wonder if slipping a GSM SIM into a Nextel Phone would work there????? I have a Nextel so that'll be a major timesaver. I can't imagine getting a PTT call at 3 AM ICN time though!!!

Hi,
You can't put a GSM SIM card in a Nextel iDEN phone and have it work. You can get an old Motorola i2000plus off ebay like I did, put your Nextel SIM in it and roam on GSM outside the US and use iDEN in the US. It does not work in the US because they don't have roaming agreements with any other carrier here. The i2000plus is a large clunky dual mode iDEN/GSM stick phone but for $9 it worked great in Poland and Switzerland last year when I went there for work and worked fine on iDEN in the US as a backup phone when I dropped my regular Nextel phone in the dogs water bowl by accident and killed it.

Example ebay listing of an i2000 ( not my listing or anything):
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nextel-I2000plus-Nextel-Communications-Cheap_W0QQitemZ5870206401QQcategoryZ64355QQssPageN ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I always thought walkie-talkie type devices were banned in SK. Interesting how that works.

Hi,
You can't put a GSM SIM card in a Nextel iDEN phone and have it work.


Uh... Yes you can.

Uh... Yes you can.
With a v505, i930 or i2000plus but not a regular IDEN only phone and have it work to make calls.

With a v505, i930 or i2000plus but not a regular IDEN only phone and have it work to make calls.

Simply not true.

I have used a European sim card in an iden phone many times and it just works. Don't need a special iden phone or anything else. Many European carriers have roaming agreements with Nextel allowing you to roam on their network.

And the v505 is a quadband GSM phone, so that'll never work on iden at all.

Simply not true.

I have used a European sim card in an iden phone many times and it just works. Don't need a special iden phone or anything else. Many European carriers have roaming agreements with Nextel allowing you to roam on their network.

And the v505 is a quadband GSM phone, so that'll never work on iden at all.

Well I stuck my wife's Cingular SIM in my Nextel i830 and no dice here in Missouri. Regarding the v505, it is a phone that Nextel sells for use in GSM countries as shown at:http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/support/guides/phones/v505.shtml

Well I stuck my wife's Cingular SIM in my Nextel i830 and no dice here in Missouri. Regarding the v505, it is a phone that Nextel sells for use in GSM countries as shown at:http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/support/guides/phones/v505.shtml

Cingular has no roaming contract with Nextel.

Get your hands on a Euro sim like KPN.

I'm surprised the i830 didn't come up asking you to "Enter Special Code". There's a workaround for that but by default Nextel phones are locked. As for roaming on Nextel, it DOES work. I popped in a Vodafone UK sim and up it came. Works just great, no PTT obviously though.

I'm not sure about the i series (i90,i870,i8 whatever) or the pure nextel phones but the blackberry data services do work in Singapore.
It didn't when I was there at the end of last November.

It didn't when I was there at the end of last November.

I just emailed my buddy who has the 7250 with nextel and he was getting data services in Singapore.

I could not figure out how to dial out but I was receiving text messages.

I just emailed my buddy who has the 7250 with nextel and he was getting data services in Singapore.
This is good to know for my next visit, but hopefully I'll be rid of my 7520 by then and back on Cingular.