1. hokiesteph's Avatar
    Hey everyone -

    Had a question about the storm's international capabilities: as a lifetime VZW customer, I know next to nothing about SIM cards, never really had a need to..until now. I plan on moving to Spain about a year from now. Right now, I have a Curve, which I know will be useless to me at that point.

    My question is, will I be able to cancel my service with Verizon and pop in a SIM card from a carrier in Spain so that I'm not using Verizon's international roaming? If I were simply traveling roaming may be a feasible option, but for a permanent move, not so much!

    I've been able to find the answer to any BB question I've had in these forums, so I'm sure someone here can help me out
    11-20-08 11:16 PM
  2. troutseth's Avatar
    IF you can get the phone SIM unlocked . . . you will be able to pop in a SIM card and use another service . . generally prepaid. Getting the phone unlocked could be as easy as a phone call to the international desk of Verizon or as hard as trying to find someone online with the right code for a few bucks.

    pre paid cards have a few advantages. . . . a little cheaper, depending on service 1 minute of incoming calls free, and local number to the country . . HOWEVER people calling you will be paying long distance as you will have a spanish number and of course you will not access your own number. Also, you may end up paying more to access data on a prepaid card than with verizon.

    I checked prices now to when I went to Germany 2 years ago . . . Verizon's prices seem to be more competitive now but still pricey
    11-20-08 11:21 PM
  3. troutseth's Avatar
    You can search on a few places that sell pre paid cards and ship them to you to see prices. This is nice as you won't have to worry about it when you step off the plane plus you will know your new number before you leave. You could also pick one up at 'drug' store
    11-20-08 11:23 PM
  4. imann101's Avatar
    I won't lie, I'm not an expert and what I am saying could very well be wrong, but from everything I have read about you won't be able to do that.

    I think it has the SIM slot so that when you're abroad you can use a SIM from a local company and avoid huge roaming fees, however, you are still a customer of Verizon.

    In order to use the phone with an entirely different carrier, you would need an unlock code. Which in a year, I am sure they will have. Unlock codes are essentially just a code you put in the phone that either verizon or RIM gives you allowing you to use it on other carriers. Since the phone has so many different wireless receivers, it will be able to work on various world networks, but not become a customer of their companies.

    In short, you will need an unlock code to use it fully on another carrier indefinitely.
    11-20-08 11:23 PM
  5. troutseth's Avatar
    last thing . . . search on 'callback' or bounceback. You call a local number . . plug in the number you are calling, and they charge you a discounted international rate by calling you back locally with your international call connected.
    11-20-08 11:24 PM
  6. troutseth's Avatar
    I won't lie, I'm not an expert and what I am saying could very well be wrong, but from everything I have read about you won't be able to do that.

    I think it has the SIM slot so that when you're abroad you can use a SIM from a local company and avoid huge roaming fees, however, you are still a customer of Verizon.

    In order to use the phone with an entirely different carrier, you would need an unlock code. Which in a year, I am sure they will have. Unlock codes are essentially just a code you put in the phone that either verizon or RIM gives you allowing you to use it on other carriers. Since the phone has so many different wireless receivers, it will be able to work on various world networks, but not become a customer of their companies.

    In short, you will need an unlock code to use it fully on another carrier indefinitely.
    You are correct . . . you will still pay your regular Verizon bill . . . but you can avoid the roaming and international per minute costs if you can get the SIM unlocked.
    11-20-08 11:25 PM
  7. hokiesteph's Avatar
    So if I'm reading these right, as long as I could find an unlock code - obviously impossible now - I'd be able to completely break ties with VZW & free to use another carrier?

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    11-20-08 11:31 PM
  8. troutseth's Avatar
    So if I'm reading these right, as long as I could find an unlock code - obviously impossible now - I'd be able to completely break ties with VZW & free to use another carrier?

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    completly break ties and use a prepaid SIM card are two different things. Will you be able to put another SIM card for Europe in there and text and make phone calls yes. Will you be able to use all the data and email features and get the phone fully on another carrier . .. unlikely as the OS and the service books are Verizon specific.

    Of course . . . there this does not speak to cancellation fees if you are still under contract.
    11-20-08 11:35 PM
  9. sanj0's Avatar
    This is only an idea, something I plan on trying when I go to Germany in the spring. Grandcentral.com gives you a local number (us only) and you can route calls to your mobile with it. People in Germany could call my GC number and it would cost them the price of an international landline and me whatever Verizons roaming discount ($4.99 extra) might cost.


    Verizons international data plan costs $64.99 (so $35 extra for the few weeks I am there). I could jump on that and use Grandcentrals web ui to make calls saving me the mobile to mobile costs, plus with data I could avoid using txt's.
    11-20-08 11:58 PM
  10. RicanMedic78's Avatar
    if it had wifi, it would just be free...

    that was a deal breaker for me right there. if anything, by not buying the storm, I'm protesting verizons rediculous practice of not allowing the implimentation of wifi on high end phones
    11-21-08 12:06 AM
  11. jmn-ny's Avatar
    FYI - I called Verizon and asked for an unlock code and they just gave it to me. I'm not a long-time VZW customer - switched from TMO for 3G & Storm. I do have unlimited plan so it's a lot of $$'s for them.

    If you do unlock, you can switch SIMs for a local Spanish wireless co and have cheap calls. BB support will be an issue - you'll have to find a company that will sell you a BB plan if you are BIS or possibly only a data plan if you're BES. I'd guess that's next to impossible for paygo. I haven't been able to figure out the cap for "unlimited" data on the Global Data Plan (there's got to be one - the "unlimited" US is a 5GB cap) but if it the cap is high, it could be a good deal.
    01-28-09 11:31 PM
  12. Prashil's Avatar
    I did what you are asking about...I am in India right now and heres what I did: I got the unlock code and unlocked it. When I got to my destination I purchased a Vodafone sim card available locally. I got a local number and I can make and receive calls at local rates. You will be giving up gps/ internet/ web browsing/ and messaging though. Happy travels.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    01-29-09 02:18 AM
  13. HD123's Avatar
    You asked if you can a cancel your service with verizon. Well, can you? Is your contract up, or are you willing to pay the early termination fee?

    you mention that you are moving to spain. Do you plan on using a pre paid sim (phone calls only) or will you want to get a monthly plan there so you can use all the features (data/email/gps/browsing)?

    this is where its not as simple as just popping a sim in like other phones;
    If you plan on getting a monthly plan there (and using all your bb's features), you will also have to ask Verizon to remove your ''pin'' from your verizon account. But if you do that then you cant use Verizon service until you the same thing but vice-versa.

    Quite annoying I know, but thats what we have to deal with.
    Simply put, you cannot use all of a BB's features with 2 different networks by just switching the sim. When you register your BB with a network and use BB data, the device pin becomes "locked" to that network.

    Unfortunately with BB's we have 2 ''locks'' to break;

    -one is the sim lock, so you can switch the sim for different carriers and use the phone for calls&texts.
    -the other is the ''pin lock'' which associates your BB's pin with a specific network to allow data service.

    So, you can sim unlock your phone, and keep switching the sim cards all around the world with different carriers and have no problem making phone calls and texts, but you pin can only be associated with one network at a time for BB services like; data, email, browsing, GPS etc.
    Last edited by dubai_bb; 01-29-09 at 05:36 AM.
    01-29-09 05:19 AM
  14. jayhammy's Avatar
    Hi,
    I just unlocked my Storm last night by simply calling VZW's international support number. Just tell them you'll be spending some time in Europe and prefer not to pay roaming charges but to have a local number. They were very helpful. 888-844-0395. You don't have to tell them that you're not coming back or that it's next year.
    01-29-09 06:34 AM
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