[camperdown9]

Hi

On a podcast the other day someone was saying that becasue the Storm is both a CDMA & a GSM phone that Verizon customers will be easly able to roam onto Vodafone networks when they are over seas (I guess other GSM networks as well). This has made me think a bit and I have a few questions.

1) Are Verizon and other CDMA network customers currently able to roam on to networks in Europe? If so how does this work?

2) Is a handset thats both CDMA & GSM a new thing? I guess that it is. If its not a new thing then why do people like Blackberry make two types of the same phone is 8330 and 8310?

3) In some markets Vodafone has a product called Vodafone Passport. This lets you pay a small fee to connect a call and then you pay your regular home rates. Example if you are a Vodafone customer in England any you are on holiday in Australia then as long as you use Vodafone Australia to call the UK, you just pay a connection fee and then your home rates. Does anyone know if Verizon & Vodafone will agree to do a similar product?

Thats it

Alex

[Gawain]

1) Are Verizon and other CDMA network customers currently able to roam on to networks in Europe? If so how does this work?

Yes, but not necessarily with the same handset. Verizon and Sprint each have "world" phones, which are quad-band (frequency) dual mode (GSM/CDMA) capable.

2) Is a handset thats both CDMA & GSM a new thing? I guess that it is. If its not a new thing then why do people like Blackberry make two types of the same phone is 8330 and 8310?

No. The BlackBerry 8830 sold by Verizon is a "world" phone.

3) In some markets Vodafone has a product called Vodafone Passport. This lets you pay a small fee to connect a call and then you pay your regular home rates. Example if you are a Vodafone customer in England any you are on holiday in Australia then as long as you use Vodafone Australia to call the UK, you just pay a connection fee and then your home rates. Does anyone know if Verizon & Vodafone will agree to do a similar product?

I do not believe VZW has anything like this, I know they have a "North America" plan which lets you use your plan minutes in Canada and Mexico, but overseas travel means you pay a roaming per minute rate, different for every country.

This is the biggest gap with the CDMA networks in the US and Korea that I can see...not so ubiquitous across the globe...