Travel Technology - Bberry w/Verizon - GoGo? International?

For 10 years, I have had a (separate) phone w/Verizon, for which I now have a family voice/text plan. My old job had TMobile for Bberry; I'm using a BBerry 8820 (in addition to my phone), and love the ability to use it on GoGo's network and internationally for mail/data. In moving to a new job, I'm responsible for my own tech toys & services - a frightening thought for one who still doesn't really "get" this stuff.

In researching the BBerry options w/Verizon, I see that Verizon bberrys don't have WiFi capability, and thus won't work on GoGo -- am I reading that correctly?

Also, does anyone know if Verizon bberrys (Curve or 8830) can be unlocked for telephone use with SIMs elsewhere, or are they incompatible?

Finally, what's the sense of the board: am I better with Verizon or another provider? I live in LA (near Beverly Hills/Century City), most work travel is to NYC, CHI, DC, PHL & SF; most vacation travel is W.Europe, Israel, Hawaii, with occasional Carib/S.Am.

thx.

Verizon uses CDMA technology. The US implementation of it is SIMless. The only SIMs in Verizon phones are there for GSM roaming in Europe and Asia on their World Phones. Therefore, you can't just plop a SIM into a Verizon phone and use someone else's phone on their net. Activating third party equipment on Verizon is a major feat. Occasionally something can be back doored into their system, but it is not like GSM where you can just SIM swap.

The Storm II due in September will have wifi. I don't know about the upcoming Blackberry Tour.

Thanks, Dubai Stu. One followup: if I get the Verizon BBerry World Phone, is it unlocked so I can use someone else's SIM?

You can always unlock the phone (Verizon Global Support will walk you through it) so you can pop in a different SIM when overseas.

I suggest waiting through June and into July. Every BlackBerry device after the Tour 96xx (which is a great global phone in its own right, with keyboard coming in June/July) will have WiFi. This has been reported on numerous and reliable tech blogs.

There's even a Storm 2 that dispenses with the physical clickable keyboard that's allegedly coming by end of June and will also have WiFi. This was originally reported to release in Sept but evidence suggests June - all tech support training on it is under way and is to be completed by end of May. Several sites have a physical Storm 2 in their possession already.

Blackberry World Phones are locked to the Verizon GSM Roaming SIM card inside them, but as was previously posted, Verizon will unlock it relatively easily. The Sprint counterpart of the phone is factory unlocked.

The phone does not have the American GSM frequencies in it and will only work on GSM in places that have the 900/1800mhz band. This is mostly Europe and Asia, but there are small specks of these frequencies in the America (e.g. Cuba, St Pierre/Micquolon, Martinique, Brazil). The Storm will support American GSM frequencies, but does not go to 3g in North America. It only has the 2100 3g signal not the 800/1900 needed for ATT or Rogers.

You can always unlock the phone (Verizon Global Support will walk you through it) so you can pop in a different SIM when overseas.

I suggest waiting through June and into July. Every BlackBerry device after the Tour 96xx (which is a great global phone in its own right, with keyboard coming in June/July) will have WiFi. This has been reported on numerous and reliable tech blogs.

There's even a Storm 2 that dispenses with the physical clickable keyboard that's allegedly coming by end of June and will also have WiFi. This was originally reported to release in Sept but evidence suggests June - all tech support training on it is under way and is to be completed by end of May. Several sites have a physical Storm 2 in their possession already.

Yes, another endorsement for waiting until the summer ends. I've probably been reading the same sources as ArizonaGuy, and I've got an original Storm and will likely switch to either Storm 2 or the Tour (9630).

They say the Tour will come out June 13th, but those dates are almost always pushed back. Talk is Storm 2 might come out before Tour, but WILL have Wi-Fi, whereas Tour will not (just to clear any confusion).

Storm 2 and Tour will be on VZW.

I know that many providers fear that they will lose X percentage of their base if their customers can connect to wifi and cut out the need for the provider's wireless data. From their point of view, this seems like a shortsighted solution. At the moment they have bandwith problems and applications that consume large amounts of data are growing. Between Slingbox, Pandora, and other streaming apps, consumption rates are matching Windows Mobile devices.

WiFi (being shortsighted myself) is an easy temporary fix that most customers will use. It also deals with coverage issues, etc. Even if the providers don't match TMobile's Hotspot at Home, I'd love to see UMA based calling (at the regular rate per minute) to deal with coverage gaps and roaming.

Last year I was in a small town in Illinois that I didn't have coverage in (except for one or two spots), but free hotel wifi made it almost a non-issue. I had an E71 at the time with Truphone and made my calls over it.