Hello,

I am considering signing up to Verizon GlobalEmail.

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Glo...ail/index.html

For those experienced, I would appreciate views on the following:

(1) Overall views on the service, mainly experience using data (web surfing, etc) abroad and propensity (or not) for hidden charges.

(2) I am currently not in the US, but wanted to order it to a friend's house in the US and then have it shipped over. Verizon suggests to get device setup before travel to ensure it will work OK. Is this necessarily the case? Can I just set up while abroad or does this need to take place while in the US?

Thank you...

I have that plan enabled on occasion on my BB8830. It gets GPRS speeds, not 3G, in GSM locations and isn't too terrible. Coverage can vary significantly depending on the device. I had no coverage in Japan (not a huge surprise) but also not in Panama on the 8830. The Storm offers coverage in both those countries but has other issues.

You really should activate it in the US first as they need to enable the SIM and then you have to update the roaming settings on the device. It takes about 5 minutes to go through that activation so if your friend likes you enough they should be able to do that for you.

I have never had a "hidden" charge crop up. It only covers data, not SMS or voice, so those can ring up charges pretty quickly, but otherwise everything has been above board on the billing side.

I presume it will get better speed and Japan/Korea compatibility if you migrate to the Storm. If time is not of the essence, wait until September when the Storm 2 comes out with wifi. Wifi is a life saver when you have a roaming problem.

Thanks you all.

I assume by data it means not only email, but basic web browsing etc.

When using these "data" services and not using it in 3G, but rather GSM, is it possible to use Skype or related applications?

Also, related to WIFI, what is people's experience on finding free service. I don't have a device that is WIFI enabled, so malybe I'm missing out on the possibilities under the impression that most of the time it requires subscription.

Regards

The Blackberry Tour should be out sometime in July. It's an international phone like the 8830 and Storm...but it has the Storm OS and a real keyboard--not a virtual one. It's a cross between the Bold and the Curve, and will replace the "World Edition."

I can't speak as to Verizon, but ATT's equivalent plan includes all on device data. TMobile's is limited to e-mail. As a practical matter you can cheat on the e-mail only restrictions somewhat if you have a corporate Blackberry and can push the data stream through BES.

Here is the link to the Verizon page on the add-on at issue:

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Glo...ail/index.html

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry8700c: BlackBerry9530/4.7.0.141 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

The 3g speeds on the Storm are great but I'd wait for the Tour as well. Theplan itself is an excellent value. I use it probably 200 days of the year in Europe and Africa with exellet coverage and speed