US-based Blackberry for non-US locations
 

I have Blackberry service here in Cayman but with the advent of the unlimited international data option w/ Cingular and T-mobile, it seems to make economic sense to change to a US-based service provider. Let me know if I am on to something with my particular example (data only - no voice):

Currently pay $50/month for unlimited local service in Cayman. GPRS usage anywhere else in the world costs ~1.8 cents per KB or ~$18 per MB. An unlimited Blackberry data plan from T-Mobile is $30/month and the unlimited int'l option is another $20, for a total of $50/month. The same unlimited options with Cingular comes to about $70/month.

I frequently travel to North America and several other continents so my GPRS roaming bills have been quite high, certainly more than what I quoted above. I also have a T-mobile pre-paid phone that works fine for my frequent trips to the USA but would gain a US-based number for the blackberry as well if I choose to have 20 cent/min. calling, which would reduce the need to carry two devices.

It seems to be a no-brainer and I am curious if any other Blackberry FT's would agree. :)

As long as you can get a US address to signup for the account you are good to go, plus you'll need an SSN as they'll run a credit check on you. In the worst case you'll be asked to pay a $500 deposit to enable the line. You will not be able to signup with your non-US address and I certainly wouldn't mention to them that you plan to use it outside the country most of the time, their unlimited intl. plan is meant for people that go abroad every now and then, not for those that live abroad.

It's possible that if they catch on they might cancel your account if you use it outside the US most of the time. There seem to be an awful lot of "unlimited" things these days that actually have limits.

But I still think it's a pretty good idea, and probably worth at least trying.

Got any good friends in the US that have T-mobile? Ask them to add you on to their account... if your phone is the only mobile on the account and it roams all the time, it'll likely get caught. If it's on a larger account and is the only one that roams, it'll look a LOT more like "frequent travel" as opposed to "based out of the US and abusing the service".

I just got a Blackberry with the $29.99 plan. Later in the year, I am going to be going to Europe for four months, and I want to get the $19.99 international plan. I have a voice-only line with T-Mobile that I will suspend when I go abroad. Will T-Mobile have a problem with my using it abroad for four months? Do they consider that "too-long" to be abroad using their "unlimited" data?

I spoke to T-mobile when I was in LA in Jan thinking of doing this.

They seemed to have no problem accepting me as a user, based abroad, no SSN as long as I paid the $500 deposit which I would get back with interest a year later.

I never went for it.

What I did do is get on the account of a friend in Canada with Rogers so have a pay monthly account there. Am thinking of getting it changed to a blackberry with voice but it seems Rogers are very expensive.

/E