FYI--The newest OS versions can all play .WAV files (Pearl, Curve, Bold, Storm, etc. all should be capable)
[quote=Dubai Stu;10879591]Blackberry is very efficient, but also consider some of the attachments that don't go through. What ultimately made me ditch a Blackberry was that WAV files. My office voicemail sends me a WAV file containing the phone message. I play the WAV files on the road to keep track. I could not get them to play on a Blackberry or a Blackberry Connect device. There were certain other large attachments that I had problems with.
Moderator: Travel Technology, Travel Photography and JetBlue
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 29,503
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeyC
FYI--The newest OS versions can all play .WAV files (Pearl, Curve, Bold, Storm, etc. all should be capable)
There are MANY different types of "WAV" files. WAV is a file format and then inside of that there is an codec that is used. The most common is G.711a or G.711u but those are very large files relatively speaking. There are a few G.729 implementations and also a GSM codec that can also be used inside a WAV file that result in much smaller file sizes (10% or less of a G.711).
My experience is that the G.711 codecs are on just about every device, GSM is pretty widely available and G.729 is a proprietary codec that requires a license from a vendor.
We used GSM encoding on our VM system to strike a reasonable balance between file size and accessibility to users.
To bring the thread back around - I've used an 8800 and Curve tons internationally with the AT&T international blackberry plan and always worried when I opened the bill, but was always shocked that it was still the regular price.
The last time when I was in New Zealand I used the heck out of it for two weeks - tons of email, tons of web browsing, I was doing stock trades and had some streaming-data live trading applications, I pretty much smoked the battery daily, yet no extra charges.
Now I have a Bold I can't possibly imagine that they would let you roam 3G to your hearts content and not have any extra charges. I'm looking at a two week trip overseas soon, will the Bold really roam 3G internationally and still be within my no-additional-charges international blackberry roaming program on AT&T? That seems crazy (on their part).
If the Bold allows it, reset your data counter when you get on the plane and let us know what your data consumption is. For international this seems like a way better deal than PDA International.
]I'm looking at a two week trip overseas soon, will the Bold really roam 3G internationally and still be within my no-additional-charges international blackberry roaming program on AT&T? That seems crazy (on their part).
Since most BB traffic is highly compressed and the profit margins on data roaming are insane, it's not that crazy.
...And I automatically forward ALL calls to voicemail when I am out of the country to avoid people reaching me when I am roaming. More times than not it will be someone that has no idea where I am, or a wrong number, or the middle of the night.
Or, just suspend call forwarding - #004# and then resume *004#.
Programs: AA Platinum, BA Silver, CO Gold, AS MVPG, HHonors Silver, Starwood Gold
Posts: 169
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMSFCA
To bring the thread back around - I've used an 8800 and Curve tons internationally with the AT&T international blackberry plan and always worried when I opened the bill, but was always shocked that it was still the regular price.
The last time when I was in New Zealand I used the heck out of it for two weeks - tons of email, tons of web browsing, I was doing stock trades and had some streaming-data live trading applications, I pretty much smoked the battery daily, yet no extra charges.
Now I have a Bold I can't possibly imagine that they would let you roam 3G to your hearts content and not have any extra charges. I'm looking at a two week trip overseas soon, will the Bold really roam 3G internationally and still be within my no-additional-charges international blackberry roaming program on AT&T? That seems crazy (on their part).
Bumping this thread as wondering if there is an update to this? I have the T-Mobile int'l email add-on on my plan and wondering if I got the Bold or BB9700 would there be overage charges roaming on 3G networks abroad? Thanks
Bumping this thread as wondering if there is an update to this? I have the T-Mobile int'l email add-on on my plan and wondering if I got the Bold or BB9700 would there be overage charges roaming on 3G networks abroad? Thanks
Here's an update on Tmobile roaming in the UK with an 8320. I went online before I left and turned on the intl email and turned it off when I returned. Other than this charge, there was no roaming charge for email.
UMA phone calls worked fine and with no additional charge IF I had a good wifi signal - the calls generally didn't complete if I had less than 3 bars - which I rarely obtained. Both my 8320 and my wife's 8120 had this problem and found that the BB signal strength was much weaker than the signal we were able to receive in the same spot with a laptop.
A tip - IF you are able to get a good wifi signal and make UMA calls, I found it much less expensive to use Google Voice to make local (UK) calls than to pay roaming. (That is a UMA call to make an international Google Voice call back to the UK.)
Tmob CS warned me before I left that data roaming in the UK was charged at $15/meg - yes, per meg. So I tried to avoid using any data, but that is nearly impossible, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were no additional roaming charges. Don't ask me why.
With all that said - due to the difficulties I had in getting a strong wifi signal, I finally stopped in Car Phone Warehouse and picked up a Talkmobile PAYG SIM card. I should have done this in the first place as not only were the voice calls cheap, but data was 30p/day. I couldn't access my Tmobile email directly, but mine goes through gmail and I simply used the mobile gmail application. Much simpler than fighting the weak wifi signals (a BB problem) and the threat of the data roaming charges.
Also, Boingo has a $7.95 hotspot plan for mobiles which would have been great if our BB's had been able to pull in a better signal.
No. They charge you for most things other than mail (browsing, google maps, etc). PIN messages and BB Messenger are treated as mail. If you have a corporate (BES account), data that you can keep on the BES side of the partition is not charged.
My wife bolted from TMobile to ATT with her 8900 because of this (and TMobile's taking over a week to fix a roaming bug that stopped all their phones from roaming in Dubai). It is too bad because the UMA made it the perfect roaming device. I really wish someone made a VOIP client for the BB, but I haven't found one (and have looked really hard). I pack a NOkia E66 as my other phone which has a great VOIP stack.
Programs: AA Platinum, BA Silver, CO Gold, AS MVPG, HHonors Silver, Starwood Gold
Posts: 169
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dubai Stu
No. They charge you for most things other than mail (browsing, google maps, etc). PIN messages and BB Messenger are treated as mail. If you have a corporate (BES account), data that you can keep on the BES side of the partition is not charged.
My wife bolted from TMobile to ATT with her 8900 because of this (and TMobile's taking over a week to fix a roaming bug that stopped all their phones from roaming in Dubai). It is too bad because the UMA made it the perfect roaming device. I really wish someone made a VOIP client for the BB, but I haven't found one (and have looked really hard). I pack a NOkia E66 as my other phone which has a great VOIP stack.
Actually I do not get charged for even downloading webpages on my unlimited blackberry plan whilst roaming internationally - even though my plan only says unlimited email.
So for anyone with a new 9700 bold, will you get charged international roaming charges using the 3g networks? Thanks
VZ is starting to release more and more GSM able phones. Currently posting this via 9630 TOUR from MUC. I'm on a BIS plan, so the upcharge is $35/mo. For $5/month VZ offers a lower voice roaming per minute cost. In the case of Germany it is 99cents vs. 1.29.
As others have said they are flexible about starting and stopping int'l service as needed.
__________________ Moderator2 ("a.k.a. "Craig6z") - MilesBuzz and TalkBoard Topics Moderator
