Hi all,

Are there currently any US-based cell carriers that have an international data unlimited plan for blackberries?

I currently carry 2 phones - one personal (unlocked non-AT&T Nokia) & one work (blackberr). Both are AT&T.

Personal is 900 minutes (rollover w/ unlimited N/W at $59.99) + unlimited US data & texting ($30) = $89.99/mo, + taxes, less 18% discount

Work plan is currently 450 minutes (rollover w/ 5k N/W - $39.99) and unlimited US/International data ($64.99 - grandfathered in as international unlimited plan is no longer available) =$104.99/mo + taxes, less 18% discount, so about $15 more/mo for unlimited int'l data usage with no text plan.

I just had a job change within my company - but the new role is a lateral move where a blackberry isn't considered necessary for the job (which surprises me - but I asked my new boss & she isn't willing to pay for it).

So, now I have to get rid of one of the phones. I'd like to (in an ideal world) keep the personal number & transfer it to the blackberry plan ($59.99/mo + $64.99/mo + $15/mo - for 1500 text/mo) - however, since they are 2 separate accounts, I wouldn't get grandfathered in with the blackberry unlimited int'l data and unlimited int'l data doesn't exist with AT&T anymore.

I could (theoretically) dump the phone plan & keep the data plan on the blackberry & continue to carry 2 devices (but that's a pain, IMHO - especially since the B'berry wouldn't have a phone - I do it now, but would it really be worth it? probably not)

Or, I could keep the blackberry data plan & the work phone number (which basically means that I'd have to switch the personal number I've had for 10 years to my work number).

I guess my questions are:

1) Do any carriers have an unlimted int'l data plan for blackberries (I couldn't find anything reasonable) - if so, what are the rates?

2) With (currently) only traveling internationally about 15-20 days per year (personal, not work), is it worth spending the $64.99/mo for unlimited int'l data (plus $15/mo for 1500 text messages)? Unlimited US data & unlimited US texting is $50/mo - with 20MB of int'l data available for $24.99/mo - which seems to be added/removed as needed (as of now - but who knows what the future holds). Essentially, my math (and please correct me if I'm wrong) suggests that in order to make it worthwhile, with teh additional $15/mo for int'l data + $15/mo for texting, I'd have to use $360 worth of int'l roaming per year to validate it - that seems like a lot of data (at current rates of $.0195/KB and my last 4 day int'l trip used 1,600 kb, or about $32 in roaming had I not had an int'l plan - that means that the break even would be more than 41 days worth of int'l usage, right?).

Sorry for the long post - just looking for insights - thanks!

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Verizon has an unlimited international plan on BB 9650 and I think storm 2. Nice thing is they let you shut off the international feature when you aren't using it. It is about $70 per month but prorated for days used. When not traveling internationally you can revert to a domestic data plan for about half the cost per month.

Thanks - I'll check them out! ^

Port your personal number to Line2 and redirect the calls and messages to your Blackberry. It will cost you $60 a year. Jailbreak your iPhone, install iBlueever, and put tether on your Blackberry.

My understanding is that Verizon's plan (like TMobile's) is email only.

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That isn't my experience nor what they told me with the BB. I have had it for a while and am only billed the monthly charge. They told me it was all data. I think there are others here with the same experience.

I hope I am wrong. I can tell you that resisted the temptation to turn on and off my iPhone International (not on a one year commit) on the theory that I couldn't predict when ATT would eliminate it. There were many months I thought I was throwing $30 a away for nothing. Now, I am so happy that I wasn't penny wise and .... foolish. If you can grab it, lock it in. One foreign trip pays for the year.

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That isn't my experience nor what they told me with the BB. I have had it for a while and am only billed the monthly charge. They told me it was all data. I think there are others here with the same experience.

I had a TMO Blackberry for a couple of years with many int'l trips. I was never charged for data beyond the base unlimited package. I believe, but don't know for sure, that the key is having your Blackberry setup with a BES. My understanding is that a normal BES setup has all data flowing through the BES, so probably the carrier can't identify what is data vs email. Of course any data that flows otherwise would be easy to tag/count.

This is really just my educated guess at what happened and why some people have different experiences...

Another related thought... With a TMO Blackberry, you can make/receive calls as if you are in the US when you are on wifi. That alone pushed me to keep TMO over the other options. Just look for a TMO Blackberry which supports UMA.

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I had a TMo BB for a number of years as well. They didnt charge extra for data but then changed the rules a few years ago. Also while it was fine for WiFi calls I had terrible problems making actual cell calls. Also, BES costs more per month I believe.

AT&T has an unlimited data plan for BB, some have gotten it added to iphone accounts. It is 60$ a month I think, requires at least a 1 year commit. I've used it in Egypt, costa Rica, all of europe, south africa, couple others You have to call, you have to ask and you have to know what the name of it is. There is a pretty large thread over at howardforums about this plan.

After some quick reading, it seems it is $65 but replaces your normal domestic data plan. It seems people have only had success when asking to be transfered to the "international support" people. The code which shows up on people's bills for the plan is IPH_DOM_INTL_DATA_RZ.

Searching google using that code turns up several good threads about the plan...

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I have it for my iPhone. At least for the iPhone it appears to have been discontented. I had a terrible time getting it rolled over to my iPhone 4 when I upgraded as a result but they did finally do it. But the advantage of the Verizon plan is significant in that there is no commitment and you can turn it on and off at will while you travel. Then there is the Veizon coverage advantage.

It looks like data is included. Sorry for being skeptical, but it is always better to be skeptical ahead of time than fighting a $20,000 roaming fee after the fact.

Here is a related thread taking place on Verizon's official forum:

http://community.vzw.com/t5/Voice-an...an/td-p/191142