Foreign SIM in Blackberry. Email?
 

Okay, here's my theory, which I tested yesterday, but would like to see if anyone has any experience.

I took my unlocked TMob 8700g, and stuck my coworker's ATT/Cingular SIM in it. I still got my e-mail, and all my PIN functions worked (it had an EDGE signal).

If I travel abroad (assuming to a country that has BBerry service, EDGE/GPRS), and put a prepaid foreign SIM (say Orange or SFR in France) in my phone, do you know if/think that I will still be able to recieve and send e-mail?

If your pre-paid has GPRS/EDGE services turned on, you should be ok. In most countries this requires an additional step (varying from ringing up the provider to sending an SMS to a specific number). You will be able to avoid the roaming charge, but the pre-paid GPRS/EDGE rates/kb tend to be a little steep.

What about the BB servers? If I have T-Mobile for example, and the host network in the foreign country (i.e Telenor Serbia) does not have BB servers setup, how will I be able to access T-Mobile BB servers on a foreign SIM?

What kind of roaming data charges are you looking at? Relative to voice roaming fees, I have found that blackberry data fees an acceptable cost.

Also what provider have you found that allows EDGE/GPRS data on a pay as you go basis?

It'll still work. it will access via the edge/gprs data network. I've done this.. The big problem is most pre-paid sims don't have data service enabled.

Before I got a "regular" sim, I used to use the pre paid sim, then every couple of hours stick my t-mobile sim back in and sync up my mail.

If you have Blackberry Internet Service, you won't be able to use a foreign SIM and still get BB service.

That's not the issue, and it's not for me.

I'm on an unlimited international data plan, so I'm most certainly not worried about that.

A friend is moving to Paris for about 3-5 months, and wants her BBerry service, but plans to forward her voice calls to her French mobile. Current plan by me: Stick SFR prepaid SIM in BBerry (yes, they offer GPRS service on preparid), and cross fingers. If not, carry two phones.

I'm moving as well as my family need me back home in my country. I'm thinking of cancelling my BB service here in UK and get a contract back in my home land. Provider there will give me unlimited roaming for roughly $40 a month. The roaming charge on the BB on the UK plan is stupid £ per meg. I'll be at the home land for quite a while.

Am looking at unlocking my UK BB Perl to use it there.

Foreign SIM in Blackberry. Email?
 

Hi Folks, I'm new around the forum. But this thread caught my eye. I'm about to buy an unlocked Blackberry Pearl, here in Canada. I am going to be in New Zealand for a month quite soon, and would like to purchase a Prepaid SIM to use in the Blackberry for phone/text purposes mainly. But I am curious if it is possible to have emailing capabilities with a Prepaid SIM?
From sifting through the posts, it seems that it might be possible? Can anyone confirm this? If so maybe suggest a Prepaid provider for NZ? Thanks in advance for any help. Cheers Moses Lawn

You'll get phone and text, but that is it.

Blackberry's work off so called "service books"; these configuration files are pushed to the device and are linked to the account you use. AFAIK no operator offers prepaid blackberry service.

The main problem with service books is that you can't just make them yourself and configure the phone to work, you need to signup for Blackberry service, and your operator sends them.

Sadly GPRS service is not the same as Blackberry service. The Blackberry only uses the GPRS access point for WAP, connections to the mail servers go over a dedicated GPRS Access point name which is hard coded into the service books.

FYI: On T-mobile International roaming, 15 day use of Blackberry to check and write email, once a day has only accumulated to 87 cents in roaming charges.

I did not keep the BB on all the time, but would use it for 30-45 minutes per day to check mail and send mail back home.

But then again, I have the "old school" variable rate plan.

Thanks for the info guys. I've decided to look at getting a Nokia E61i or similar device, which has WIFI capabilities. Cheers ML

PS Any thoughts on a reasonable prepaid SIM provider for New Zealand??